Hi Ben.
This Monday will be week 3 for me (I started in January) and as you suggested I’ve been using their book (traditional teaching) for half the period (about 23 min) and CI activities for the other 23 minutes left. This is with my high school French classes levels 1, 2 and 3. So far, in the CI part of the class, we have done calendar/weather talk, card talk, one OWI for each class, followed by a write and discuss about the character and later a story. I have done a graded oral quiz with French 3, a graded dictee about the story with French 2 and I will do these two quizzes with all 3 classes. From now on what other CI activities do you suggest for the 3 classes? Keep repeating calendar/weather, card talk, OWIs for another 3 weeks? Remember it is 3 weeks but for just half the period.
I haven’t been doing CI with my middle school class (French for Germans) as we only meet 4 times a week for periods of 34 minutes each time. It’s hard to cut the class in half. I’ve been doing just book with them but speaking slowly and clearly in French and they have been understanding me and answering in French with more than one word. Do you suggest I continue like this for the rest of the year or maybe alternate a class with just book, the following with just CI etc? Their parents seem to pressure them to really learn French as they need to know it when they go back to Germany so sometimes I get a little nervous to stop the book as they might think “I’m not doing my job”. What’s your suggestion?
Thanks!
Mila
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
