The thing on this article is whether we read to them in L1 or L2
1. Go through the chapter that will be read that day and find any scenes that might lend themselves to being acted out.
2. When class begins, the class reads from the book, keeping their fingers on the words (I don’t do that), while listening to the instructor translate into L1 in an uninterrupted process so that an uninterrupted movie is created in the minds of the students. Stopping to discuss grammar during this time of reading novels is sheer folly and a waste of time. Grammar can be taught during the L1 dominated time spent on working with readings from stories, but not novels.
3. PQA is used sparingly (see above) during this process to reinforce the aural grasp of the students. There is a fine line between interrupting the movie with PQA and keeping the movie going. If PQA on a certain structure in the novel is absolutely needed, do it. If not, avoid it. (Repetitions of certain structures are indeed needed if the the coming scene is to work, but, as stated, there can’t be too many interruptions because it is the uninterrupted focus of the student on the flow of the reading that brings the greatest gains in reading.)
4. The reading of the novel is done in L1 while the students read the text in L2. The RT scene is all done in L2.
5. Each time a new scene is attempted, it is created simply by bringing up actors, using them as props and telling them what to do. Tell the actors to “show you” whatever you ask for. Just direct the scene from the side. Occasional use of L1 to direct is just fine, to further the action. For example, we use L1 to coach the actors and/or audience to “show us” the people riding the horses in the scene.
5. Use L2 dialogue in the scene.
6. If a scene grows, stay with it. If not, excuse the actors and go back to the reading and the pleasant use of L1*, being ever vigilant for the next good scene adn the switching back into L2. Don’t forget that the primary focus of any reading class is on creating the movie while reading, not on the Reader’s Theatre.
*When we are NOT in an RT scene, we read to them in L1. It is so soothing to them and to us as well. We just settle in and get the movie going. All that is missing is the popcorn. This translation into L1 is effortless for them. It represents a brain break from the intense L2 work done in the RT scenes. If the students have a question during this work of translating into L1, I treat it exactly as I do questions in stories – a quick four second response. Any longer and it’s like someone turned on the lights in the movie theatre.
Important Note:
When we simply read aloud to the students in L1 while they follow along in the book, they are experiencing full CI in the form of reading a novel. They are fully in the TL during this time.
So, in PQA and stories, they hear it and know what it means, and in reading novels, they see it and know what it means (bc the English is there for them to listen to).
They seem very happy to watch the movie unfold in their minds during L1/L2 reading. Why would we have them read to us in the TL? Why would we let them translate together, or in groups, or silently to themselves, when they can’t read the text at the level of an unfolding movie, which is required for CI to work in the first place?
I remember a Latin teacher years ago in South Carolina who just read to her students. That’s all she did. I used to go in and try to follow along. It was marvelous. All sorts of connecting thoughts were going along as she read in L1 and I read in L2.
But I wasn’t aware of those connecting thougths, those deeper insights about how Latin is built, etc. – all those internal thoughts that seemed to be going on just below the surface, explosive and powerful precisely because they are happening at the level of the unconscious.
Yes, it’s Krashen again. Just as in stories the students are unconscious of the (aural) medium of delivery of the language, so also during these L1/L2 reading classes, the students are unconscious of the (written) medium of delivery of the language – they are just watching the movie.