Robert has some ideas that might be shared with students when starting out using comprehension based instruction with them, either at the beginning of the year or if a switch is being made in mid-year.
I support this advice. I believe in transparency. I probably talk about the method with my classes to a fault, so it can be overdone. It’s a challenge to know when and how present this to the kids and Robert’s is the best advice I have seen on this topic so far:
“I’ve been doing some serious research on how people acquire, not just learn, a language. While there are a lot of methods out there, they don’t reflect what is really going on inside our brains. According to the reading I’ve been doing, your brain demands meaning. That’s why we see animals and people in the clouds or Jesus’ face on a tortilla; our brains create meaning if there isn’t any. And we remember things better and longer when we encounter them in a context that has meaning, significance, interest, emotion and humor.
“Out of all the methods out there, the one that I’ve found that does the best at helping people acquire a language is called TPRS. It’s completely different from a lot of the things we’ve been doing, so all of us – me as well as you – will need time to make the transition and get used to the new way of doing things. But I’m committed to this because I know that you guys will acquire a lot more French in a shorter period time than with anything I’ve been doing so far.
“With TPRS we’re going to set the textbook aside and just talk to each other. Conjugating and picking out subjects and matching prepositions – that isn’t how we acquire fluency in a language, so we’re setting that aside. Instead, we’re going to get to know each other better, laugh at silly things together and just have a good time ‘hanging out’ in French.
“Think of it as being like a game or a sport. There have to be some rules or you can’t play the game. So here are some rules of the game:
1. There has to be a single conversation with the whole class in French – no private conversations and no English
2. I have to make sure you understand everything I say in French
3. You have to show me that you understand or signal that you don’t understand. I explain later how you do that.
“Any questions?” [Take time to answer the questions]
Then, start them off with the Circling with Balls activity. Do this exactly as if this were the very first day of class and you had never seen them before that day. In many ways this really is the first day of class – the first day of a class that has huge potential.
Expect more resistance from upper-level students simply because they are already comfortable with the “more traditional” methods of language learning (not acquisition). If it all starts to become overwhelming, concentrate on doing TPRS with the beginners and do what you have to do to get through the rest of the year with the upper levels.
And remember, the worst day using TPRS/Comprehensible Input is better than the best day of teaching grammar.