Here is a good question from Briana. Hopefully she gets some good responses:
Ben,
Thanks very much for pointing me toward Lori Fiechter. It turns out that our schools are part of the same network (the New Tech Network), and I was able to contact her directly. It’s always such a relief to know you’re not alone!
I have been working with CI/TPRS for 9+ years, but I am the only TPRS/CI teacher in a 55 miles radius, and as far as I know, one of only three in the southeast Idaho where I live, so I don’t have anyone to look to here for coaching or support.
I do have a question that I would love some help with. I looked at what was available on the blog for Multi-Level classes, but didn’t see anything that was very pertinent to my situation.
I am teaching at a new school with a one-to-one environment with roughly 300 freshmen and sophomores. Because of scheduling, I have combined Spanish classes. Most of the students are Spanish I and II, but I also have a Spanish III student in one class (she took most of her Spanish on-line. She is probably a 4-percenter, so seems to have learned quite a bit, but is very reluctant to communicate in the language), and I have about six heritage speakers scattered throughout all four of my classes (that is kind of a separate issue). Among the Spanish II students, I have a large group that I taught last year with TPRS (of course, they are awesome!), and I have Spanish II students coming from a traditional grammar approach and some from a teacher who student taught with me (it sounds like she leaned heavily on the book but may have done some storytelling and comprehensible input activities). We have had three weeks of instruction, and I am not at all happy with what I have done so far. With such a range of learners (from those who know nothing to Spanish II students who are on fire and speak to me in Spanish all of the time to native speakers), how can I keep everything comprehensible for the beginners while keeping the Spanish II’s (particularly the ones I brought with me) engaged and continuing to progress?
Some of my thoughts: because of demands from the district curriculum, I didn’t really teach the past tense structures last year, so I am thinking that eventually I will focus on telling stories in the past tense, which will be new for everyone. However, how do I build a base of vocabulary to even start storytelling with the class and not have the Spanish II students bored? I did read about circling balls, which I loved (wish I could back up a few weeks and start there!). I may even try it now, but I don’t know that there would be much new vocabulary/structure for the Spanish II students. However, they love to talk about themselves and it would help establish class culture and norms better than I have done so far. Other wisdom that can help, please???
Thank you,
Briana Livingston