Hi Ben,
I wanted to update you and the PLC about my recent French Immersion Camp trip with some former CI students of mine. These students are in their 3rd year of French at their high school feeder school. They were in my classes when the invisibles started and they were the first set of students who received NTCI. Even though my students attended a Magnet/Gifted school, not all of them arrived as typically “gifted”. Their French classes were 43 minutes long 3 days a week with one block of 80 minutes once a week.
Not all students made it to camp due to schedule changes, funding and other conflicts. The camp included many eclectic High school teachers who teach via songs, grammar, partner to partner activities and forced speech. That said, in my free time, I wrote down a list of distinguishing factors I saw in CI students.
1. CI students continue to advocate for meaning while communicating. My students didn’t care about breaking the “rules” of camp by speaking a word or two of English. They sustained conversation.
2. Students can sustain noise as long as the adult is trying to be comprehensible. I used hand gestures and other more simple language to explain more complex ideas/events. Particularly with my former students for as long as 20-30 minutes.
3. When forced to speak, students had automatic natural responses to questions. When they had to speak in a skit, they had amazing fluency and accent without hesitation.
One thing to consider is that these students continued to receive input after they left my class. Though here we all know what drives acquisition and what lights up those kids’ hearts.
Respectfully,
Steven