So it has barely been two full (4-day) weeks, and as I have already mentioned, I am completely focused on the rules and routines with my first year students. I am literally not conscious of any content-based learning goals such as structures, vocab, grammar etc. Any Latin that gets covered in my class is purely incidental to the need to practice the routines.
Occasionally I feel guilty that I am not “mixing it up,” introducing more words and “entertaining” them, but then I stop myself and say: “First, you are not a clown. Have some dignity, and realize the value of what you are teaching them. Second, you have the rest of the year to teach them the language, but if you don’t establish the classroom culture, you won’t be able to teach them anything.”
A few of my students are a bit anxious about not being able to take notes, and so I have been promising that I would give them a list of the words we are using, with English translation. They know the words already, because I have not used many words, and every day, as we revisit and practice the same routines, they are hearing these words over and over, but I can relate to their text-addicted anxiety. So this morning I decided to sit down and type up a list of the words that I have been using with students, or plan to introduce in the next few days. I thought this would take me five minutes, but when I had really remembered all the words, I had a MINIMUM of 25 words that ALL of my students had definitely acquired, based on my observations and constant comprehension checks. Twenty five words acquired after 7 classes, without even trying to teach one word of language, but simply using the language to practice the rules.
So the lesson I am taking from this is: Don’t think for a moment that by focusing on rules that you are sacrificing content. I would go further to suggest that it may be when you are intentionally NOT trying to push vocabulary and structures, but streamlining your vocab for the purpose of building up the classroom culture—it is when you are doing this that they are REALLY acquiring the language. Why? because you are not overwhelming them with words, you are giving them the reps they need, and you are shifting your and therefore the students’ attention away from the content, and so the words flow freely into their long-term language brains.
John