I was talking to Matava on the phone today – I call her whenever I need a story for an upcoming observation to see what kind of unpublished stuff she might have. I had picked out a few stories from her script books and she immediately knew that the vocabulary in those stories was too much for a first year class in October.
I had forgotten that, for best results, we only do stories where all of the vocabulary except for the new structures is already aquired by our students. We forget that. This is something that I have seen in Blaine, Diana, and now Matava reminds me of it again. It must be important.
Without this reminder, I would have received my four visitors (from area high schools) on Friday with a story that my kids could not do. When we make sure that we do stories in which our kids, again, already know all the vocabulary except for the new target structures, we guarantee the success of the story.
We can’t cowboy a story by trying to teach ten or fifteen new structures. That is just too many new sounds for the kids. Such a story would last a week and require all sorts of frontloading via PQA and who has the time for all that?
So now I am trying to find a really simple story that my kids can do for my guests on Friday. I will publish a simple one that Anne sent me today. I may or may not use it. So any ideas for a simple story to do with kids who are in their first year in October are welcome.
Merci d’avance.
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
1 thought on “Only The Structures Can Be New”
Thanks for this reminder – exactly the reason my story bombed this week – too many variables and too much new vocabulary. I’ll pare down for next weeks. No wonder the kids were not following.