So the process is that the kids read the paragraph quickly, we translate it, all that in five minutes, and then off to the CI races with TPR as long as it goes, then some basic R & D about the text for major reps (“Who turns?” x 50 variations on that, etc.), then some nice PSA to parallel all the basic R & D questions, but where the kid with the good heart is willing to play the insect lady, and then, if it happens, some Readers Theatre for dessert, the sum of all those things together adding up to what I am calling in this article Compact R & D. All that could fill a block class but I do the best I can with a 53 minute class.
To say that again, the sequence of strategies for this new way of doing R & D is:
1. the kids read the paragraph quickly
2. we translate it
3. TPR as long as it goes
4. basic R & D
5. PSA to parallel all the basic R & D questions
6. Readers Theatre
Once we get to the PSA section, and Jasmine has indicated her willingness to play, she comes in as the insect lady. See what happens. Or don’t bring Jasmine in as the insect lady if it doesn’t feel right. Instead, ask Jasmine how she feels about what is happening to Jean-Luc. Just start asking questions using the verbs you have isolated:
– turns
– approaches
– escape
Ask her if she approaches boys. Ask her if the boys can’t escape. If RT happens and she and a Jean Luc boy are willing to get up and act, go for it. We have decided we are all becoming experts at RT in San Diego this summer. Use the Annoying Orange technique. Bring Jasmine totally in. Ask her all sorts of questions relating to the book.
Go wide with previously taught verbs if you want. Ask her if, when Jean-Luc returns to Denver, she will pick him up at the airport. Go wide, but use only verbs they already know. If you find yourself using the future tense and they are resonating with that particularly singular sound in the French language, hit them with a hundred future tenses.
Just don’t go too far from the original targeted verbs from the paragraph. Learn to sneak new verb tenses in whenever you can. If it feels like this is the time to learn to bring in the future tense (you know by how they respond), go for it. Unless you feel it’s not supposed to be taught at this level. Then you are buying the book lie. Overcome the book lie about when things should be presented. Go into some heavy PSA using the future tense. Live a little! The book police will not get you, because they are not real! Get mega reps on the verbs from the passage in the future tense if it happens. Go with the flow of the language. This is not a hippy statement. This is good pedagogy. Search the word FLOW on this site for more on that concept, a crucial one if you are to really get CI working for you in your classroom.
These past eleven articles on cRD provide a preliminary overview of this new idea. There are three additional articles that are added to enrich the discussion. All of this will certainly evolve, as all our ideas here evolve and are used by different people in different ways, depending on their own preferences and teaching styles.