I am in year three of teaching, and year three of trying to teach with TPRS. This year, I moved to a new school because I got married and moved across the state over the summer. I am the only Spanish teacher in the high school (which will hopefully change next year), and am doing completely TPRS and CI with them. (Not perfectly, but doing my best.)
I just finished quarter 1 in a new school that I started at this school and the kids are loving it. Overall, there is great engagement (first and last periods are tough to get responses from, but at least they pay attention. And if they’re receiving and processing good input, they’ll learn even if it’s not the most thrilling.) Doing TPRS and CI allows me to talk almost the entire period in Spanish, and more importantly, have almost complete comprehension. Kids are apparently talking in Spanish a lot during other classes… which gives me great publicity throughout the building (my colleagues say students almost never talked in Spanish outside of class before.) Admin is supportive, and loves the fact that the kids are hearing Spanish all period long and classes are averaging well above a 90% even with tests as 50% of the grade. Kids tell me that they love coming to class and that they are learning lots – which is great to hear.
And the effect on a lot of kids with IEP’s: The Special Ed teachers and parents both remark that they are surprised those kids are doing so well (getting A’s) in Spanish, when they expected it to be really hard.
A couple level 2 kids who were taught from a textbook/grammar teacher last year have asked me why we don’t do more conjugating, and when I explain, they take it very well and thank me for doing it the way we do.
And better yet – my district’s curriculum director asked me what the district could do for me. When I proposed buying materials for an FVR library, the response was an immediate yes with $1000 J. She was not super familiar with TPRS but very familiar with Krashen and the input hypothesis from her ESL background, and was very excited about what I am doing. I asked her what I could do to ensure a CI friendly curriculum, and her response, “You are the Spanish department right now. The curriculum for the new teacher will be the one that you put in place.”
I’m sure the honeymoon phase will end, but I am also sure that good, understandable, effective, and encouraging Spanish input is here to stay in this district.
THANK YOU to those on this blog, the Yahoo listserv, and the facebook page who have inspired me and given me millions of ideas. I seriously am forever indebted to you all. The many of you who have shared are bettering the lives of my kids, who you have never met. I won’t begin listing names, because there are too many who have generously shared their ideas and lessons.
Tim