I got this question today, and provided a makeshift answer, since the problem won’t be resolved until our Alisa writes her book:
Daniel Salinero wrote:
I’m really enjoying your book. On page 32 you mentioned that most of us only have three or four hours per week with our students. This book is probably geared more towards middle and high school teachers. I’m an elementary school teacher in an international baccalaureate school where we offer foreign language studies. At this time, I meet with my students between 30 and 40 minutes each week. This frequency and time may increase next year, but I was wondering do you know of any classes that have successfully used CI with this small amount of time? Any suggestions? Right now my classes have been mostly an introduction to language with lots of games and activities exploring culture as well in grades 2-5 (7-11 year olds).
My makeshift answer:
Hi Daniel the games and activities will eventually burn you out. We can’t just keep collecting them. I know of one teacher who invented 200 games over her career and it was a formula for disaster, as she realized later on. A teacher cannot just keep inventing games up! We don’t need games but a “system” of creating exciting new CI every day. Then the work for us drops by 100%, literally.
The current problem in our field is that there are few elementary teachers who are doing what is being done more readily now at the middle and high school levels. It is a complex topic, too complex to get deeply into here.
I hope that Alisa will one day write “the book” on elementary CI but she hasn’t had the time. So it is all a work in progress. I certainly can’t write it bc my background is AP.
Please feel free to contact me anytime.
Ben