We have discussed the very important issue of teaching small groups of kids in smaller classes or in home school settings using comprehensible input but we don’t have a category on it for ease of reference. Today I am adding two new categories to meet this need: one called Home School and another called Small Classes.
This is in reaction to a request by Christina Bacca in Virginia about using CI in small groups, with a side bar question about homework in those settings.
Please respond so that Christina can get some ideas on how to proceed. Let’s target our responses to the idea that Christina is responsible for groups ranging from 2 to 15 kids.
I feel that on this one we will need feedback from the whole group, so thank you for that in advance. Below is Christina’s request:
Hi Ben,
Briefly, here is what I need help with. I went back to teaching in September 2013 so this is my second year back. I am sold on CI completely. However, I teach homeschoolers. The advantages are that my classes are small, parental involvement is high and the kids for the most part buy into it and will do their homework. I don’t have any discipline issues.
The downside is that I only see these kids 2 hours a week (one hour 2x a week). So when I started with no prior CI experience I chose to use a textbook that had an extensive online component. I have used it mostly for the culture, readings and some grammar. It isn’t ideal and I used to hold the kids accountable for doing homework.
If I saw them everyday I could do away with homework but in order to have this be the equivalent of a high school course they need more hours and it has to be done on their own.
I’ve been doing the Super 7, hitting the high frequency words, using novels, and doing PQA, CWI, movie talk, L and D, R and D and am continually reading the PLC and the TRPS listserv.
I have Spanish levels 1-4. How can I use only CI materials and still give them the homework they need on off days? I’m thinking of using Carol Gaab’s curriculum but they need to hear it too. What about the LICT series? I just don’t have time to make up everything on my own to give them another 2-3 days of input when they don’t see me.
Up to this point I have recorded stories on soundcloud.com, had them do re-tells at home and bring in a signed sheet saying they did it, they do comics and embedded readings too.
I am just burning out trying to determine what structures to do next with each level and how to extend it to home time. I would love any input from the experts on your PLC. I feel like I need a master overview for direction and resources for their homework, otherwise I’ll just give them the stupid text exercises.
I don’t know if there are any other homeschoolers on the PLC with more experience.
Thank you for reading this long explanation.
Christina Bacca