Dirk in Portland is one of those new young commando-like teachers who really get the value of CI and just go into their classrooms firing off rounds about any and all topics. He’s not trapped in any past stinking thinking about nuances of CI with the book or this and that madness. He sees the value of constant in your face CI and he uses it without hesitation. I guess that is what commandos do, in fact. He probably has a hat with CI Commando written on it. Dirk’s post below about how food shows up in his class reminds me of a story that Mark Mallany told me last Friday about a kid who was failing another Spanish class but came into his TPRS class at Thomas Jefferson High School here in Denver and quickly became the Food Expert, and to whom Mark defers anytime food is mentioned in the CI. Mark will be pleased to know that out in Oregon there is a kid who hosts his own T.V. show in Spanish (class) called World of Cheese.
Here is the latest from Dirk:
Yo:
Lately I feel like my class is something like a radio or TV talk show. I am simply the host. I am not a serious person by nature – too sarcastic and interested in the offbeat – so I find my stories and things I bring to the class or react to from students are very gross or weird. My desk sits in the middle of the two halves of the classroom which has no windows, much like a TV studio. I still give five words to start – next year I will trim the required word list way down but for now I still use it as a familiar routine for them. If one of the 5 words lends itself to PQA then we go with it as long as it is engaging. Instead of nicknames for kids I have started making backgrounds for fake TV shows which they would hypothetically host – reflecting of course their own interests and personalities. One kid one time gave a weekend PQA about eating red cheese so he now hosts a show called “World of Cheese,” sitting in a comfy chair under a drawing of a cheese wheel and answering my questions. He just smiles. If he doesn’t understand the question I write it and it appears right above him with the meaning in English.
I find that often when I just make provocative statements or have dramatic reactions to things in the world or on the news they listen and are most engaged. I will rant about how I hate milk or why soccer is better than football and they will listen. Even if I talk about my weekend – not too thrilling – they listen and watch without needing any redirect or reminding. I guarantee that they all know the word for bellybutton since I often rant about how I think bellybuttons are gross. If you saw in the news the story of the man who carried the fetus of his twin in a tumor in his stomach for 30 years you know what I am talking about. Also the new KFC Double Down sandwich provided some excellent input based ranting.
Then sometimes we read what they have written the day before or try to make a story but I feel like whatever we are doing just goes out from the middle until it runs out of steam. Then we go in a different direction from the middle – my desk – making sure I stay in Spanish really the only constant. I can give a listening quiz on anything I have written down on the projector during the course of class. Sometimes I ask them questions and circle but other times they just want to listen so I talk and rant and rave about random stuff. I want to get to the point where I am not making them do stuff like answer me and sit up straight and all that. I don’t know if that can happen in school. The other day, for example, we compared cheeseburger restaurants for 20 minutes. Everyone listened and some people talked in English, sure, but I got lots of reps of a bunch of descriptive and opinion phrases.
When they listen like this for real bout real and not canned topics there is not a single need for any behavior reminders. No management needed. I want to get to this flow zone all the time – the only way seems to be to throw out “mandated” or “planned” content and go with the flow.
Flowin’ is what rappers call it when you can just keep rhyming and freestyling – improvising lines that are better than anyone else. I don’t really know what we’re doing anymore but at times it is exhiliarating and at other times exhausting. Does this make sense?
Dirk
[ed. note: dude did you just ask me if flow in CI makes sense? Yes, it makes sense. There is more on “flow”in input based methods if you do a search on that word below on the right column search function]