Wileen asked this question in a comment earlier this morning:
…I am teaching all third-year classes in the fall (well, in two weeks), and they are all coming from more traditional classroom environments. Do you have suggestions in how to test the waters and for how long before resorting to traditional methods?….
I have suggested that we avoid making them change to what we do and focus on our younger kids. But John (Piazza) gives a much more thought out answer:
I am thinking about this a lot as well, as I come into a very traditional super high acheiving Latin program. For 3rd year, rather than making speeches and trying to convince them to enjoy fun activities, I am planning to make reading — CI reading — a huge part of the curriculum, with quick quizzes, comprehension, grammar and vocab quizzes, translation tests, dictation, etc. They will know that it’s rigorous, but they will be getting a whole lot of CI. I will also have them do composition work emulating the different genres, writing their own letters, poems, aphorisms, etc. Even if this production doesn’t help them with acquisition, it will tell them that I’m a serious teacher who knows his stuff, and has high expectations of excellence, blah blah. Projects? Why not? It’s what they are used to, and as long as I don’t have to do more work, I’ll let them do and present their projects to the class.
All my best efforts I’ll save for the first year students, and let the word of mouth filter up. 3rd year students may see a stuffed animal or prop in the classroom and ask: what’s that? I’ll respond: “oh nothing, just some fun stuff I do with Latin 1. You don’t want to do that, do you? Now let’s get back to our serious work.” If they end up begging for it, I might do it for 5 minutes with them at the end of class, and let it grow from there, but only after they’ve made it clear that they want it.
If you don’t teach lower level classes, just put some props in the back of the room (they’ll notice), and then when they ask, say “oh that’s just some fun stuff I used to use when I taught first year, younger kids. It’s not really serious, so I’m not using it this year with you guys. You’re too old for that, right?” Don’t offer, but don’t close the door. See if they take the bait. But if they do, just give them a little bit. Make it come from them.