Hello hello,
I hope you find yourself well :). I wanted to share with you a couple of things and ask for your opinions / the opinions of the PLC.
1.) So, great news! I’m winning my own battles for CI-based instruction in my school, which is very exciting. (I teach in a small school where it’s just me and one other teacher and we only offer Spanish, but still!) My administration totally supports what I’m doing in the classroom (TPRS/CI), which means next year I get to ditch the textbook for Spanish I and II. Additionally, the other woman in my department who is department head will be leaving after next year, which means I will be able to have complete control over the curriculum for Spanish I – IV (assuming that I’ll get her position, which I’m 99% sure will happen).
Thus, my question for you and also the PLC: if you had the ability to design a language program based on the principles of CI/TPRS, what would you do? In thinking about it, I of course want to focus on the high frequency word lists (curriculum), but then I’m trying to feel out how to progress from one level to the next, when using readers would be ideal to start? I also like the new bi-weekly schedule so I wanted to use that as well. I’ll also be incorporating standards-based grading revolving around the three modes of communication (jGR for Interpersonal, still thinking about Presentational and Interpretive). I know this is asking a lot, but I wanted to get people’s opinions as I start to map things out!
2.) The other thing was that I noticed that the next Central States FL Conference is going to be in St. Louis! And I thought it would be interesting to try to present and wanted to do something on Communication (the conference theme) in the TCI classroom. Maybe titling it: “The Three Modes of Communication in the Comprehensible-Input Classroom”. Thoughts? Anyone interested in collaborating on such a presentation? I have to submit a proposal by April 15th.
I know this is a lot, but I would really love any input that you and the PLC could provide. Thanks so much for all you do! I truly appreciate it :).
Best wishes, Nathan Beck