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If You Target Verbs
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27 thoughts on “If You Target Verbs”
See, that’s the kind of practical stuff we’re talking about over in the “TPRS Curriculum?” thread. So freaking awesome (I have a thing for that F word today, I guess). Just like that I know what to do on Monday. No more worrying this weekend. AHHHH! I love my job!
I thought it was frickin’….
Thanks Paul, for taking care of my first eight weekly plans for the year. In the words of James/Ben “this freakin/frickin” awesome 🙂 !!!!
Paul has saved the day! I’m ready for the first day of school!
Plus, I don’t have to worry about what comes after.
Yay, Paul!
Umm…Paul, who are you, you awesome mystery man?
I looked for a bio twice and didn’t find anything.
Hey Paul, if you’re out there, can you elaborate on what exactly you do with these fine phrases? And, since it looks to me like this must be French (flies/steals), can you share with this German teacher in French exile what you use for a phrase for “gets angry”?
Many thanks.
Paul is the guy who did TPRS quietly and suberbly in Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver for the past 16 years. There are videos of him through the DPS School Tube links. He is on this blog but he never reads it and I have to hit him whenever I see him. Sabrina is in his room now at TJ and he has moved to East. He is an awesome person. Kind of a French guy caught in an American body. An anchor to Diana and you are right Leigh Anne a mystery guy. And a serious student of yoga.
Why are the tpr words separate from the target structures? Do you tpr the target structures? When do you use the tpr words in stories? I am a bit confused.
This is Paul’s I can ask him. I was confused about that too. I think it was just from his own notes and not meant to hand in to anyone. It’s not a plan, I think just an effort to get some practice on first year high frequency stuff. I try to TPR everything at this time of year and I know you are really big on that too.
Related:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2013/06/14/tpr-to-begin-the-year/
https://benslavic.com/blog/2013/08/07/tpr-to-set-up-ci/
Thanks for checking, Ben. What you say makes sense. Yes, almost everything on the list seems very high frequency. I like to put the things we tpr into story/pqa mode asap. Just my style.
Yes but unlike others you make sure you get enough reps on the targets. That’s where people fall down. I know this because you were very clear about it last spring when we had this discussion.
The importance of TPR. You made that point. What I got from what you said was that you just don’t say the verb a few times, you take it as far as you can with reps on that particular verb. That may not be what you said but it’s what I took away from that last conversation about targeting structures.
So we have a sequence with our structures:
1. TPR them, if we can.
2. PQA them. Enough has been said on that for the next 100 years.
3. Put them into a story.
4. Read.
This is the basic comprehensible input process. It is magical and we owe it to Blaine so let’s not forget that as this thing keeps expanding.
Why target structures? Why not just talk to the kids randomly? Then you spend too much time in class out of bounds. I’m not just making this up – I spend the better part of two years as I was testing this stuff out of bounds. I came back to the above sequence and I’m glad I did. Why is this?
Children growing up hear the language 24/7. We don’t have that much time. So we have to target structures. So when we saunter over to a kid in our class in CWB whose card has a picture of her scuba diving, we say scuba diving in various ways – I hope to expand on this later here – but we don’t say anything that doesn’t have scuba diving in it.
So, applying the above formula to this process of CWB, we:
1. look at the card and TPR scuba diving, writing the term on the board in English and the TL.
2. The TPR naturally forms into PQA as we begin asking questions about where the kid dives and with whom and all that stuff.
3. We don’t go into a story from there at this time of year with level one kids.
4. We don’t read – too early.
5. We certainly don’t write – way too early.
6. We just go to the next card when the energy drains down a bit on the scuba kid.
7. We go slower than we ever thought we could. We go so slowly it is painful for us.
I like the breakdown of ideas in the post above Ben. As I do a self reflect for how I’ve started my year (1 1/2 weeks into it now), I can see that I need to work mainly on the SLOW piece. Maybe this year because I feel a little more comfortable with CWB and just teaching in general, I let myself get too excited and start going to fast. Something to work on for the new week. I know that last year I really did go SLOW and there is a difference you can feel in the room – you KNOW everyone is with you and that is so important.
I’ve had some challenges in my upper level classes too and I think part of the issue is SLOW, but I think there are some other dynamics going on too that are causing some attention/behavior issues.
1. We started 2 weeks earlier this year. I feel like I and the students are really still on summer vacation but sitting in a classroom. Anybody else experience this who has switched to an earlier start date for the first year? Maybe this is just me, but I think it may have something to do with the kids being inattentive.
2. My two mixed level classes (2, 3, 4) have some challenges. One particular issue is that the 3 and 4 level kids were used to me being more lax with some English and that is spoiling some of the hard work I did with the 1s last year to stay more in Latin only (they are twos now). In my pure Latin 2 class, students are much better focused and comfortable on just being in the TL.
The result of this stuff is that I’m having to really be firm on jGR (which I struggle to do in a class of 40), and I may have to start sending out disruptive kids to other teachers, and/or doing more dictations (one thing I find that will quiet most any class down). Really the strongest ally I have is jGR, which I am considering doing more frequently (if I have the time for it). I’m reading that post carefully right now. Any other ideas are helpful.
Hi David,
Do you think your mixed class would respond well to a frank discussion of their role and of your role in their acquisition of Latin? I am thinking of doing that with my older classes (especially the one that will be my new 8th graders, about to begin their 4th year with me – they were my toughest class last year in switching them to all CI). I have 6 expectations for them on the wall (look, listen, respond, signal when unclear, respect others, positive attitude). I plan to go over that slightly adjusted list compared to last year. I will then ask them what they would have for me on a similar list, after discussion dies down show them my list for myself and discuss anything they didn’t already mention. My list for myself (with explanation, I’ll shortern this when I show it in class):
1. Provide lots of Comprehensible Input. That is, avoid English and use lots of Chinese that they can understand. They can understand because I provide i+1 Chinese: just a little more than they’ve already acquired. I also make sure input is comprehensible with use of gestures, word association, translation to English, pictures, and acting to remind of the meaning of the Chinese. CI also means I need to keep tabs to ensure that all students are understanding in many ways: by respecting them and their use of the signal to clarify, by teaching to their eyes, by comprehension checks, by short assignments, by quizzes and bigger assignments. Point #1 trumps all other issues in planning use of class time.
2. Make it interesting by personalizing the content. Get lots of student ideas into the discussion and the things we read. Make it about them and people and places they care about (or love to hate!).
3. Make it appealing by keeping activities fun. Adapt to the personality of each class. Some like more games than others; some don’t want to compete; some love drawing and some do not. Balance out these activities so each student gets to have something they like on a regular basis.
4. Make it possible for all students to succeed by making sure classroom management issues do not interfere with students’ acquisition of Chinese. This means if an activity didn’t provide point #1 above, or student misbehavior interfered with acquisition, adjust the activity or don’t use it.
5. Provide frequent feedback to students (some in the form of grades) and regular contact with parents to let them know how I perceive their acquisition of Chinese to be progressing and offer suggestions to increase acquisition.
Oh boy, I wrote a couple paragraphs and lost them to a “restricted page” alert thing. So I will be brief:
Hi Diane,
I really like what you are saying here, thanks! I have had lots of conversations with these kids already, right along the lines of what you are saying, but haven’t usually given them the opportunity for much input, it is mainly me telling them what is expected for CI to occur, what it looks like, jGR, etc.
Giving them the opportunity to contribute some ideas about stories, content, etc. is a good idea (AS LONG AS IT IS REALLY CI of course). I have a number of kids that make suggestions all the time of what they want to do in class, but it AIN’T CI. It is: “an activity that allows us to “work” in groups so we have a chance to socialize with our friends in English.”
But, framing the conversation as “what would you like to do as long as it really is CI” is a good idea. I think these kids would like me to ask them that – they have been with me for 1 – 3 years since I’m the only Latin teacher and they KNOW the CI routine – however they just don’t always want to do it. I really don’t mind what kind of stories we do or what we read, as long as it is interesting to them, and is CI, (and for this class is appropriate for school – yes, they are that kind of class oftentimes).
Thanks for the input Diane – will check back and mention how things go – I see them tomorrow.
Hi David,
I think my notes must have been unclear. By asking for student input, I didn’t mean that they get to suggest whole activities or entire content, but the normal personalization piece of doing TPRS. So not “what would you like to do as long as it really is CI,” but more like “today we’re going to talk together in Mandarin, and when I ask you questions for input of contributing details, make them fun and interesting to yourselves.” Or, in reading activities, I try to use things, people, & places we’ve used in discussion in class in PQA, etc. Better yet, I use edited student writing and make that into reading content.
I hope that makes my comments more clear. I would not suggest opening the discussion quite so widely as I led you to believe. I would accept respectfully submitted feedback and suggestions from students over time, but not as a general conversation with the whole group at once. For me at least that would be handing too much to the students. However, it could be that your students (being older than mine, too) may be able to handle it better.
Hi Diane,
I understand what you are saying better now. But I do ask for input from my students on this level all the time: we do CWB, PQA and Stories that always ask for student input. I think what I have to deal with, especially in my difficult class, is the typical desire of students to do a sort of school work that is fake, not real focused on receiving CI. They know what I am expecting of them and don’t want to step up to the plate (this is for a minority of students in the class, but still a minority that can greatly affect the overall attitude and character of the whole class).
Yeah, I think maybe it’s because my students are younger. I feel that some of them really didn’t “get” their role (or mine) in CI. By telling them that my first priority is always to use Chinese that they understand, plus a little bit, that sets it up so it’s not a battle with me personally. It’s about how language is acquired. I can also assure them they yes, I want them to enjoy class, but that my first priority must be CI.
Another idea I had today that I think might help kids stay in the TL, create a cooperative mood and get us on the same page with stopping the blurting at least – I could make staying in the TL a sort of contest. We have a thing called “Embedded Support” at my school. Teachers have 20 min. of time at the end of two block periods a week to keep students or release them. I have not planned on releasing kids much this year because in a CI type class I have found it better just to keep most of the kids for the extra 40 min. a week than deal with a transition and hold some kids and not others.
But to give a class the incentive that the class with the highest number of TL minutes could earn an early release every week or two could be a good reward. Or maybe better, reaching a feasible goal will earn a release. Plus it makes for good logic I think – if students use their class time well and are not disruptive, then they can earn a short reward and release once in a while.
The only thing I don’t like is the idea that it is usually it’s a minority of students that are disruptive and I hate to see a minority ruin a reward for the majority of kids who are already well behaved. Also, CI and learning a language should be it’s own reward, but I’m dealing with some kids who don’t share that goal yet, at least until they experience more of it.
Any have experience with doing something like this? Would you recommend it?
David – Holding them for tutorial with early release a reward sounds like a good start. I have some 3s that are almost as bad about blurting out. I enforce the jGR (we call it DEA) by giving them grades on it every week. I am starting out by giving very harsh and honest grades to them. They can either shape up or drop the class. They no longer need it to graduate. Their cohort is no longer dominated by kids that refuse to go to class and sleep when they’re there. It’s 3rd year – you are right to expect them to step it up.
This is probably also a good time to do the culture sections out of the CLC books (so you can share the jGR grade with all 40 kids) – think of this as a brain break instead of time wasted not doing CI. That way they can’t say that they are bored by always doing the same thing either.
Also, I’ll combine some of the CWB or story elements with dictatio by having them write down what they’ve created. It’s extraordinarily scaffolded: I have a word/google doc up typing as I ask them more questions in Latin – it’s really just a good way to get more reps while enforcing discipline.
Hi Dan,
Good to hear from you. I like these ideas, especially the dictatio-combined-question idea. Somehow when kids are writing things down it brings a sense of legitimacy (at least in their minds). It’s as if writing something is “school” and “something I get credit for,” but oral language is “time that I don’t have to pay attention and can blurt out English.”
I’ve told my kids before that some of my classes do more dictations than others. It really depends on the needs of the class and dictations and other similar activities are one way to focus blurting kids.
I’m sitting down planning my first day of summer school that starts tomorrow and I was reading what you wrote about the dictation and the need to write. What if a three sentence dictation were a form of notes. The three sentences would obviously have to to deal with the target structures and would have to relate to PQA something or other. This would give the kids something to stick in their notebooks and something for parents to have them “study”. I’m gonna play with this idea.
Drew, I’m saving this idea to potentially use for next year since the school I’ll be teaching at seems big on seeing “production.” For those who need it, this idea of dictation as notes offers a product while also giving us something that could actually be very useful in terms of future readings, etc. I’m looking forward to playing with this idea. Thanks for sharing!
Is there anyway you can give them a partial early release, of that is all they have earned? Or personalized activity time from Fred Jones (as suggested by Bryce Hedstrom) You give them points for staying in language among other things.
The TPR is listed separately to emphasize its use as a brain switching activity – get them up and out of their seats throughout the first few weeks. Keep it fresh and remind ourselves not to get too bogged down in always being in our seats. Same old principles apply: kids watching kids do stuff. Don’t forget to allow the superstars to give you and others commands à la James Asher. Manipulitives, etc. You might even get a tiny dose of output going with “Moi, lui, elle, toi” in the first month (who said, who took, who threw?).
The word sets are there just to have something to look at and keep one focused if need be. They need to be paired with high frequency adjs and advs. Just pick 12 & 6 respectively and work them in over the first month.
With love, PK
Oh thank you for this! Just what I need at the time I need it most–day one of staff meetings a mere twelve hours after stepping back into “civilization.” More than a bit loopy and dazed, I went to the meetings with my head still in the forest, and wondered how I would “get it together.” Here is my answer! So grateful for this!!!
I learned today that level 1 and level 2 French will be combined this year. Can’t remember why–some scheduling glitch. I am not worried about this. In fact I am excited to have more kids in the class at once. But I feel I probably need to prepare myself for the “worried parents” of the level 2 kids that may claim their kids are being held back. I plan on differentiating as I go along, just as we do in a “regular” class by giving certain jobs to the level 2s and that kind of thing. Is this enough? Should I have some sort of “additional plan” for them to “prove that they are doing level 2 work” –whatever that means– but I anticipate this question so I need to be prepared to answer.
I am excited to give this level 2 group way more aural saturation than they had last year. I jumped into reading with them way too early, so in many ways, this combo class will benefit them even more than they might realize.
Any suggestions about additional differentiation? Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Jen,
I did multilevel combos 1/2 and 3/4 for 3 years. I told the parents that students who mastered what I did in French 1 would be competent at a level 4 class. And even that is not true. For students to produce with the speed and accuracy I use they would have to have a 4 year degree, and even then! Besides, we now teach some “levels 2- 4” stuff in French one with CI.
I did not differentiate accept to give them about 20-25% different vocab than they had the year previous. What I heard from the 2s was how nice it was not to have to work so hard at the beginning (high comfort level and ease of comprehension) of the year. What I saw were the 2s asking questions about the language as they didn’t have to process so much in the TL. Their writing was great! I also told them that studies show the upper levels actually gain more from mixed level classes.
I had one student take my level 1 class three years in a row – she just loved how she kept filling in the gaps that occurred during the first 2 years. It was what she needed and I was happy to let her be happy.
We have a test in Denver that does a pretty good job of identifying the really high kids – I made sure I moved them up to level three where they would be challenged without breaking down.
What was interesting to see was that by February an outside observer might not know who had one and who had two years.
I would love to see a study with kids taking level 1 for 3 or 4 years and compare them to kids who have taken the levels in sequence. My hunch is that the students who were exposed to “level 1” would have more output-ability. 😉
Cheers
…my hunch is that the students who were exposed to “level 1″ would have more output-ability….
I think it is because the launching pad would be much better and so the rocket would be able to go higher. A three year French 1 foundation speaks of the kind of thing you see in sports where the baseball player who has three years of ball playing/camps, etc. when he is 10, 11, 12 years old can hit the ball so much better later on his high school team than the kid who only played one year at the age of 10.
This clearly supports the thousands of hours theme that we are always talking about here.
I agree with you completely Paul and thank you for answering.