Stay On The Tracks

The CI train needs to stay on the tracks of the three structures. The train goes off the tracks – the CI is largely ineffective – without the three structures present in every sentence uttered in class. The three structures, in fact, drive my entire week of instruction (see Weekly Schedule New (2011).
If, during the CI, I sense that I might be getting switched to another track,to  some other structure or some other topic, I send in the fire trucks. I get medical attention for my CI. I circle my way back to the target structure. It doesn’t matter what we talk about in PQA, and, in stories, we have the ready made script to follow along, so the real work is in keeping all the CI focused on the structures.
Each sentence in the entire CI session – PQA or a story – must have in it at least one repetition of at least one targeted structure for that day. If not, the time is then wasted. The kids can really only hear, their mind is only really on, those structures. All the rest is peripheral and is, as it were, collateral learning that is completely unconscious and peripheral.. The acquisition occurs because of the constant repetition of the structures.