Adding in Details
Lets’ review the steps of circling, because they are so important:
Statement
Question
Either/or
Negative
Optional are:
Throw In
Ask a detail
Who
What
When
Where
Why
If Mark ran, the instructor can ask the class:
Statement: Mark ran! (ohh!)
Question: Class, did Mark run? (yes)
Either/Or: Did Mark or Ryan run? (Mark)
Negative: Did Ryan run? (no)
Throw In: Did Eric run? (no)
Now here we can add in a detail. You could tell the class a “secret” (explained later) that Mark ran quickly:
Class, did Mark run quickly?
You can see how your adding just this one simple detail greatly increases the number of questions you can now ask. With this addition of a single word into the circling, you can use Point and Pause (explained later) to ask if Mark ran quickly or slowly or to the left or to the right or up the hill or down the hill, etc.
But be very careful when you add in such details at the very beginning of the year. Make sure that the students are ready for new sounds that are unfamiliar to them. Wait to add new language in. Asking if Mark ran quickly, for you as a speaker of the language, is only a simple detail, but to the average student it is a detail of immense auditory complexity.