Kids play in sandboxes. To them, when they are in a sandbox, even if they are doing “work” (building a sand castle, making something out of sticks), to them it’s still play.
What about us? Do we as CI teachers play in sandboxes? Most certainly yes we do. The sand we use is the language. We get a class and we try to build things out of words, castles sometimes, and to us it’s play. So we have this CI sandbox thing going on, and we play when we teach.
What about teachers who teach languages in the antiquated way? Is it play to them? No, it’s work. And it’s work to their students as well. Their sandboxes, which are made for sand, are empty of sand.
People are now starting to notice all the new CI sandboxes in schools. They notice that there is actually sand in them, sand that is being used. out. There are all these new teachers of languages having fun in their sandboxes with CI, and the teachers who have no sand in their boxes (they aren’t teaching using CI) are looking in a suspicious way and not without envy at us.
The reverse is not happening; there are not a lot of CI teachers looking at the empty sandboxes with envy or suspicion. Most of us have been there and done that. We know it doesn’t work. Who would want an empty sandbox, or worse, a sandbox filled with paper?