Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
This Time Of Year Is Critical
Share:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Ben Slavic
Get The Latest Updates
Subscribe to Our Mailing List
No spam, notifications only about new products, updates.
Related Posts
CI and the Research (cont.)
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Research Question
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
We Have the Research
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
77 thoughts on “This Time Of Year Is Critical”
I, as much as you, would like to hear any and all remarks on this matter since I have heard every single one of these comments in the past. I know they will come again, especially with this form of delivering curriculum. Discipline is an issue for me, in general, as a newer teacher let alone as a teacher that is trying to connect on a human level.
During this summer’s workshop, I bought Blaine’s “green bible” and there is some mention of what to do:
“Each and every time the teacher hears a complaint against TPRS, address the comment in one of the following ways:
1) Say, “There are a lot of things I can do. All of my choices are worse for you. You can test me on that or just believe me.
2) Say, “It really hurts my feelings when you say that. I feel like I don’t want to teach. I don’t want to hear that. Whether you want to do a story or not, don’t tell me that. When you come into class, I want you to say, ‘I want to be in this class.'”
Personally, #1 seems too threatening to me and like its setting up sides or growing a wall between teacher and student. I think my HS students would come to resent remarks like #1 suggests. Things might become worse.
#2 seems to be better suited for teachers of elementary and middle schools. It feels like I’d be begging or showing my students a soft side that a HS student would use as more ammunition to continue being rude. So many kids, by the time they reach HS have just been stomped on so much that they see no reason why they should stand up now.
I’m not into #2 – the “it hurts my feelings” thing. The kids I teach want to hurt my feelings, some of them. No shit. It would make them happy. Think of their lives to get them to be like that. But that’s the way it is. Our schools are much rougher places than we think. As microcosms of society in general, as the society gets uglier, and it is getting uglier by the day, our schools get uglier. We need something more than “it hurst my feelings”. And #1 there – threatening to make it worse for kids – I don’t threaten kids, I ask them to grow.
This comment is a repeat comment to an issue Jeff raised in his post:
One thing we can do, which I plan on doing next week, is to haul out the rigor/metacognition/self reflection posters we built last spring. I am going to devote entire classes in English to talking about what is happening in the classroom, using smaller group discussion and then having them report back to the big group for processing. Those posters are great for that. I wouldn’t be surprised if jen is doing that too right about now.
Hopefully doing that will get some of the black hole kids to realize how ugly their academic behavior is and get them to change. As they see creative kids around them having fun and getting involved, maybe they can be prompted to try to do the same against their training in schools in the past. Maybe they can change and grow.
But that is not to give up on getting the really negative kids out of the class entirely. We should keep working at that. We can’t shackle our classes with those few Pig Kids that – in many of our classes – are right now, will today, start making their presences known and start digging their heels in on us now in weeks 3 and 4. The idea that they are our kids and we must teach them and therefore they must stay in our class is a very very dangerous one in a CI class – with what we do, one kid can ruin a class for the year.
If the admin/counseling team just knew that, if they just appreciated the role of GOOD WILL in our classes, since we don’t just deliver instructional services via worksheets and memorization like many of our colleagues, they would pull those kids out in a heartbeat.
Ben,
I was just re-reading this thread to prepare for later and I wonder if you could specify what sort of discussion topics you give to the students to discuss in the smaller groups. It’s time for some meta cognition.
I don’t give them a lot of time in the smaller groups bc we all know that doing that means to them “time to visit”. But I do ask them to look at these posters:
https://benslavic.com/Posters/metacognition-poster.pdf
https://benslavic.com/Posters/student-reflection-checklist.pdf
https://benslavic.com/Posters/rigor-poster-french.pdf
I just ask them if they do that stuff or not. Then, in the larger group, if they don’t want to share how it went in the small group (what they said about their skills in the areas discussed in those links), then I lecture on the need for such awareness and I discuss the posters FOR them, if they don’t yet have those metacognitive skills. Then I pull out my handy dandy jGR and remind them, beyond any shadow of a doubt, about the connection between those behaviors and their grade.
Another thing we can do, which I am doing in one of my classes and it is working, is to take the kids with the best attitudes and putting them in the eight seats nearest me.
In my traditional row seating, that means in rows 1 and 2 of the four middle rows. Then, now that I know the kids and don’t need the alphabetical seating chart set up like I did in the first two weeks, I can separate problem kids in the other rows and INSIST on using that chart without fail every day.
I’m just learning TPRS and am just finishing a week (high school) of one-word stories, practice with circling, and class competitions for number of minutes staying in L2, Spanish. In two classes there’s laughter, cute suggestions, willingness to play. In the other three, I ask for suggestions and there’s nothing. I’m beginning to hear some of the comments Ben mentioned and am doing my best not to doubt this CI path, because those two good classes are giving me a glimpse of where this could go. One boy however has stayed after class twice to tell me “I can’t learn this way and neither can the others I’ve talked to.” I fully expect to hear from his parents. On the other hand, yesterday I heard “That was fun!” and another student told me that learning this way seems easier for him because he feels like he’s inside the language instead of just learning about it. But those negative comments hit hard and I see lots of non-participation and blank faces. Thanks for this thread, it’s just in time.
Hi Dana,
I want to encourage you to stay on the path. It’s the right thing to do. You say you’re experiencing success with 2 of 5 classes. In reality, you’re reaching many, many kids in the other 3 classes too, but it’s overshadowed by negativity.
This kid’s comment, “I can’t learn this way and neither can the others I’ve talked to”, is two-pronged. First, he’s recognizing that you’re a beginner at this method and he’s trying to challenge the power structure. You’re trying something new and that makes you vulnerable. That ironically, that willingness to put yourself in this situation in the first place is what makes you an excellent educator. You care to do better.
We don’t know the kid’s history. It might help to know if he’s been in traditional classes before. It would give us a better target to aim at but here are a few thoughts with regard to “I can’t learn this way”:
*What does he feel is missing from the environment?
*What does “this way” mean to him?
*Does he understand your expectations of him?
*Does he understand what “learning” looks like in a CI classroom?
After gathering some more invformation, I would consider options for a response to his concern:
*work with him (and parents) to understand that, actually, he _can_ learn this way (evidenced by his ability to speak his first language)
*work with him to understand the difference between ‘learning’ and ‘acquiring’
*request that he give it a chance and revisit later after he’s able to read longer, more complicated language
*if he chooses to be belligerant, and if you are able, suggest he take a different class.
I hope others will chime in here, because this is neither expert nor exhaustive advice.
It’s also very likely that, as a good friend of mine says, the issue he brings up (I can’t learn this way) is not really the issue. So, probing to find out what the real issue is would be wise. Does he feel he belongs? Does he feel he needs to be better than the other kids? What’s at the root of this comment? You need to find that out first, I think.
Secondly, “Neither can the rest” is a bogus line that you have to dismiss out of hand. I always like to repsond to such vague comments with “Who exactly do you mean by “the rest”? There will be 1 or 2 friends. But, You can simply say, “I can work with you on your issues. If others have problems you should encourage them to see me.”
Hope this helps some. Keep up the good fight. It’s soooooo worth it.
…those negative comments hit hard….
OMG do they!
But, Grant says:
…keep up the good fight. It’s soooooo worth it….
For me, there is no turning back, and I WILL find ways to neutralize those kids. They are wrong. They CAN learn this way, they just don’t want to. And I have no illusions about the fact that when a kid says to a teacher, “…I can’t learn this way and neither can the others I’ve talked to…” that that group of “others” is really usually only one student.
There are two factors at work here:
1. We have kids who don’t know what rigor is, which is that hard listening they have to do defined in our rigor posters. (I won’t put up any of those as posters, actually – not yet anyway, bc I believe that too many posters confuse them. I just have the Rules, Word Wall (not being used much bc I really think it’s a level 1 tool), and the Question Words. I’ll just project them right from the posters page onto the screen when I want to have that discussion with them. What is the purpose of those rigor discussions? Basic training. They have to be able to react and be alive in class, and I will teach them how to do it with these rigor meetings. That is the first force in play here. In some classes there are just not enough kids to hold up the class for the forces of fun and reciprocal play and L2 co-creation.
2. The other force is that a kid who is perfectly capable of playing may not be able to because of us, because we are breaking one of the three cardinal rules of delivering comprehensible input:
a. SLOW
b. checking for understanding
c. staying in bounds
There are LOTS of articles on these three topics here. Search them for details. Both of the above forces must be dealt with by us. Comprehension based instruction will not work in our classrooms unless the kids get what rigor looks like in our classroom and unless we do the three things listed above.
Dana we have a tool in Infinite Campus that allows us to print out a roster. Today I am going to print it and in each little box next to the kids student i.d. # (NOT their name) I will put a grade from the rubric, 0 through 5 and post it on the wall and invite them to look at it as they leave the room. Just one number with a copy of the jGR next to it on the wall.
The kid you are talking about above that complained would see the 1 or 2 you give them, look at the scale on the jGR, and hopefully cause a ruckus which will bring in the parent, where you can explain your position that standards have changed and you also are having to retool your teaching to keep up with the changes. Then you can print stuff from the Administrator/Teacher/Parent Re-education category to have in front of you for the phone call. After that phone call or meeting, you will have a child who is ready to change or you will have a child who has dropped the class. That is my big message to younger teachers on this topic, by the way. Too many years I tried to save the kid when they couldn’t be saved, to the detriment of the class.
Once I got rid of the two Pigs in that class last year, it was smooth sailing. Hope for this with this kid. But you can’t get them to drop w/o talking convincingly to the parent and getting admin backup first. You pretty much have to have an admin or at least a counselor supporting you in some way in this discussion. Once the parent is aware that it’s the kid’s problem, then they can make that decision about staying and changing or leaving. You hope they leave. But turn the tables. Stand up. Be brave. Do this work. Deep breath. Ready, on five…..KRASHEN! Go get ’em, Tiger!
(Taking a deep breath….)
This is not about the students.
This is about us.
It is about our need to be loved and successful.
Reality check #1: There will never be a time when every student is happy. Ever.
Reality check #2: There will always be a student who complains.
Reality check#3: When we create a classroom that is safe, students will feel safe enough that negative emotions that are usually held in check in other rooms may emerge in ours. As a divorced mom, I can tell you that often adolescents are at their worst with the people that they trust most.
Reality check #4: If a student isn’t in our room, then someone else will be dealing with him/her. Getting a student “out” means someone else has to do the work of finding a place to get the student “in” and then someone else will have to do the work of dealing with that student. In some buildings, it isn’t possible to get a student “out”. You get ’em, you keep ’em.
Reality check #5: Every student matters.
Reality check #6: We can consider ourselves successful teachers even if we have oppositional, frustrated, scared, maladjusted, non-language-loving students in our room every day.
There are patterns in how people behave during the school year, and yes…after a couple of weeks the “honeymoon” is over. That IS when the real work of loving our students begins. Love is NOT getting them to behave so that we can be a “good” teacher. Love is showing them that they matter, we care, and therefore we will kindly but firmly continue to maintain our standards AND use the language in a comprehensible way in order to share time, thoughts, humor, ideas, problems, solutions and emotions as a class.
When a student’s behavior overrides our caring structure the first thing we have to ask is…what might I have done to allow this to happen? If we were too lenient, too worried about being liked, too tired to be firm, then we must acknowledge that and get back to business. If we haven’t let up on love nor leadership, then the truth is that this student has an enormous need to be recognized and s/he is willing to risk our disapproval and more to get that recognition. In his/her mind, it is better to be acknowledged, despite the cost.
Why??? Any number of reasons and probably behind our personal and professional capacity to figure out. But I’ll risk a guess: for many students, there is a need to test us to see if we really mean what we say. Frankly, many people don’t. Heck, most people don’t. This is a true test. Hey teach, you going to walk the walk?
How we respond in these crucial weeks is not a test of our strength as classroom managers. It is a test of our level of integrity.
Do we respond with our hearts and minds? Or do we respond with our egos?
with love,
Laurie
This discussion resonates with me. I once had a student say exactly that to me: “I can’t learn this way and neither can my friends.” She claimed to be speaking up for those who didn’t have the courage to say so to my face. I had a confrontation with her mother who came armed with a booklet detailing “the program” that I was supposed to be teaching. I think it was a draw.
What surprised me afterwards is that at the next Parent-teachers conference, all of the girl’s friends and their parents went out of their way to tell me that they enjoyed my classes. I managed to impose a minimum of acceptable behavior in class from the girl and tried not to obsess about the negative vibes I picked up from her all year long. Being a perfectionist, that wasn’t easy. As soon as I came into the hallway and saw her at the far end, waiting, I could tell whetuer or not she was going to be manageable. When she wasn’t, I invited her to leave, which she would decline and pout for the rest of the time. As long as she pouted in silence without disturbing her classmates, I let her sit there.
What happened? Towards the end of the year she opened up, telling the class some some personal things that let me see that she shared some of my own children’s pain at being taken from the tropical paradise she had grown up in. From then on I saw her differently, and probably treated her differently.
In September of the following year she was a model student and one day came up to me after class to apologize for her behavior of the year before. She actually explained to me that she had done some growing up over the summer and had done a lot of thinking.
I’m sure I’ve referred to her before, because she was a landmark case for me, making me realize that students who are a pain in class are students who are in pain. I made this girl very uncomfortable as a teacher because I’m a native speaker and the teachers she had had before emphasized grammar and traditional learning. She was intelligent and did well with them, but felt lost when she was actually expected to communicate in English in my class. Suddenly she was no longer the star of the show, she was struggling to understand, getting relatively low marks because some of the kids were gobbling it up and off and running. She taught me more than I taught her, because I learned to see the suffering that her behavior had been hiding. And just recognizing it, acknowledging its existence, was enough to allow her to take off the mask and be her real self.
I respond with my ego. My ego says get the really seriously disruptive kids out of there if I can, especially if their behavior threatens to be an unsettling force in the classroom all year. If that is not possible, and if the kid can be brought into line, we have our rubrics and standards in place and the conversation with the parents should revolve around the kids’ ability to show up for our classes in the way we require. Most kids fall into that category, and very few into the former. But the blanket phrase that if you get them you have to keep them to me is a dangerous one. Yes, I have learned to work with the Mildreds, but, at the end of the day, it has been too costly for the class as a whole. So for the really disruptive kids, yeah….I come from my ego. For most of the kids, yeah, they can flip the lightbulb on in their minds about what our comprehension based classes really entail and the vast majority step up to the plate. But those few? No. I would rather have my class work than spend the whole year trying to love those really tough kids into behaving properly at the expense of my class. I guess I’m just a classroom manager at heart. Anyway, it would be up to Dana and certainly not any of us in this community to tell her what to do with the kid who “can’t learn this way”, whether he falls into the category of kids who will be disruptive all year or who can step up to the CI plate. She makes the decision about how she deals with that kid.
I had a kid tell me today that he wants to go back to the textbook. This kid was not one of my good students last year when I was doing mostly output. So I said to him (in class in front of everybody) “okay, you can go back to the book. First, memorize the dialogue on page 79, then complete the first 5 pages in the workbook. Then we will meet everyday either after school or at lunchtime to go over what you have learned.” “No, I don’t want to do that,” he said in a very quiet voice. End of story.
It kills me to talk to a kid that way but I also know from teaching him last year that he really doesn’t want to study foreign language at all. His mom is supportive and I always know when she has talked to him because he starts making an effort again for a few days. I wanted to share that because it seemed to work, at least in this case, and I really was prepared to do what I said until he could see what a drag that would be.
That is very badass classroom management. I wish I could do that. Bam! Like you say, it worked for him. But I love the bitchy edge.
My first responsibility is to my class, not to any one individual in it. I must maintain the integrity of the classroom environment above all else. The highest integrity move I can do in my comprehension based classes is to speak no English and to enforce all of my rules, from the Classroom Rules, which are indicators for rigor, to my new Three and Done rules, which address disruptive behavior.
I know I get way too into this stuff, but it is all driven by a kind of insane desire to actually make the method work, which it cannot unless the behavior is there.
We would normally get the behavior we need to make comprehensible input work if our clientele were made up of paying adults, but that is not the case. So we have to go overboard on enforcing the rules or get gobbled up by the kids.
That is why I am opposed to the idea of not pushing back hard to get the worst offenders out if they are genuinely disruptive and it becomes a form of hell for me. I must guarantee the quiet focus of the classroom so the hard work of listening quietly (rigor) can occur. This alone will guarantee that the method works.
I just wish I could have been there for that body slam on that kid. You have no idea. I just think we have to grow a spine, honestly. We really do.
I think that it is also helpful to occasionally (or regularly) point out (pop up point outs) that we have specifically and deliberately chosen each activity in our classes because we have a researched-based pedagogy behind it. AND that we have a PLN that we belong to that helps us to make our choices.
Sadly, many teachers just do what they want because it works for THEM, and that is what students have come to expect. They have no idea that we actually think about the students every moment of every lesson and every moment that we are planning lessons. Not to mention the hours we put into professional development. I think that repeated exposure to this idea that we are actually professionals and that we really are doing this for them has merit.
Particularly now, when there is so much media coverage of our supposed inadequacy.
with love,
Laurie
I have printed out the ACTFL standards and posted them on my bulletin board and have already pointed it out a few times to my students, explaining why we do what we do and how the interpersonal grade goes with the standards.
For those experiencing resistance, my advice is to stick to the course. I have a girl in my French II class this year that was skeptical and a little resistant last year after taking Spanish for two years with a traditional teacher. This year though she stated so that the whole class could hear that she is a visual learner but thinks that languages are different and prefers all of the input!
I think that we need to remember that ultimately we are the professionals in our classrooms and while we want everyone to like our classes, we can’t please everyone. We know what is best for our students whether they like it or not.
I’m glad you mentioned that about “visual learners.” In my largest class–27 students–over half wrote on their first-day surveys that they are visual learners. They were not able to understand their teacher last year when she spoke in Spanish and hated that part of class. I told them to keep me honest about going slow and staying in-bounds. And that we all learn our first language (unless it is signed language) aurally. That it is a great disadvantage if you have to have people write things down so that you can understand them.
But yeah, they are worried about all the focused listening in my class. Gestures are helping…
and the proverbial “point and pause” will be your forever friend with these kids.
I haven’t yet found the time to present the Learning Styles Inventory on this site. Too much going on. Maybe this year. It is a simple questionnaire that the kids fill out that tells them if they are visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Maybe someone can find one online.
It is a kindness to say to a kid, “You are having difficulty bc the way you learn is different from the way I teach. But, since I am not going to change bc the standards now require me to teach in this way, you can try to change, even though it is awkward for you. I will help you and I am really glad that we know why you are having trouble. All you have to do, I will help you in class, is to try to find the place in your brain where this language stuff happens – it is not like in math class! And look at those posters over there a lot, for they will tell you what it feels like to learn in this way. I am sure you will find that place in your brain and I will do all I can to help you by speaking really slowly and so you can understand me.”
When you and the kid know that she is a visual learner, it makes the kid take the class a lot less personally, and things go more smoothly. Most (90% of kids in my own experience) successfully find that “place in their brain” and it’s all good for the rest of the year. This is also very useful during parent conferences.
Ben,
I was planning on using the learning style survey that appears at the bottom of the page of this link:
http://oregoncis.uoregon.edu/pdf/curriculum/Learning_Style_Survey_MS.pdf
I hope this is relevant. I am one of the scared ones, the perfectionists who has to remind herself regularly not to worry quite so much what people may think. Today was Monday of week 4 and I have observed a lot of these issues. I am convinced in my heart and mind that training the class to interact as per the jGR is key to their comprehension soaring and their confidence to produce language increasing, so I’ve explained and encouraged with as much positiveness as I can find in me. But with mixed results. There are two girls, one in French one, the other in French two, who are new to the school and who provoked the counselor to tell me she’d never met such painfully shy kids. They are now responding, reacting with facial expressions, contributing ideas and enjoying class. But some others who have been with me for a year or so already are back to avoiding eye contact, leaving the work of the lesson to someone else. A couple of boys in Russian three come straight to mind. I should have got onto this sooner! Now it will take more patience and persistence on my part, but it’s my goal, my game if you will, to win them round. The pages of rejoinders that I’ve had them use to help them join in, have started to be more popular now they see how excited I get to hear their voice! Wow, what growth they’ll have made as people if they can step out from behind their steely face and realize that they can be part of the action and what fun it is to talk about stuff, just like normal, but in another language.
…some others who have been with me for a year or so already are back to avoiding eye contact, leaving the work of the lesson to someone else….
There could be any reason for this. I don’t try to figure it out. I have the jGR to grade them with. Let them do that. I just look at this:
5 ALL SKILLS IN 4, PLUS NON-FORCED EMERGING OUTPUT.
4 (A/B) RESPONDS AUTOMATICALLY, IN TL, TO ALL INPUT, INCLUDING USING “STOP” FOR CLARIFICATION.
3 (B/C) RESPONDS REGULARLY IN TL OR VISUALLY, INCONSISTENT USE OF “STOP” SIGNAL.
2 (C/D) ATTENTIVE BUT DOESN’T RESPOND; DOESN’T USE “STOP” SIGNAL. USE OF ENGLISH.
1 (D/F) NOT ATTENTIVE: NO EYE CONTACT OR EFFORT. USE OF ENGLISH.
and this:
5 = 95% and above
4 = 85% – 94%
3= 75% – 84%
2 = 65% – 74%
1 = 55% – 64%
0 = 0%
and go from there. Once the grade is in the book, and I don’t whimp out on that, doing so regularly, whenever I need a grade*, and they confront me, I point to the rubric and tell them that, whatever THEIR perception of their SHOWING UP for my class is, this is MINE.
…if they can step out from behind their steely face and realize that they can be part of the action and what fun it is….
It’s their choice to put on those faces. My favorite part of this is explaining it to parents. Not only do I have the ACTFL Three Modes on my side, and the standards, and this from Robert that the grade is:
…based on a set of observable criteria (behaviors) that demonstrate communicative competency based on the ACTFL Performance Guidelines for Grades K-12 [and] that aligns with the Interpersonal Skill of the Three Modes of Communication…..
but I also get to explain how even if their child learns no French in my classroom at least they will learn basic job skills and interview skills of looking other people in the eye and communicating with them.
*I call this grade “ACTFL Three Modes” and I am willing to do battle with anyone who challenges my right to use it bc it is not a particpation grade and never will be. Rather, it is a grade that demonstrates observable communicative competence in terms of the national standards. If the day ever comes when somebody swoops in on me and tells me that I can’t use this grade as 50% of my students’ grades, and I have no support anywhere, I will know that that is the Good Lord’s way of gently telling me to leave the profession, because I don’t ken to people who have studied this field of foreign language education merely casually – if at all – telling me what to do. I don’t respond in fear to anyone.
Ego and Love aren’t the only two responses. I rely heavily on educating the students on what is actually going on in their brains.
My favorite explanation involves a simple circle drawn on the board. Just today, in fact, I told a class this:
“When you were learning to talk 14 years ago, each time you heard a word and understood what it meant, it left a dot in this circle. Over and over again you heard and understood the word. Eventually the circle was filled with 1000-2000, whatever, dots and from that point on that word was imprinted in your brain. The 10,000-20,000 English words/phrases/patterns that you know all have circles like this in your living brain, and together they give you language without you ever needing to think about it. They work together because they know what to say, what sounds right when you’re listening to people and what it all means….
We’re doing the same thing in Chinese. [I start filling in a circle with dots]. I’m going to give you terms this year and let you know exactly what they mean. Each time that happens your brain gets a dot in the circle. I’m like a painter flicking drops of paint to paint that circle in your brain. But if you’re not paying attention and playing to the game, my attempts, these bits of paint, end up outside of the circle. [start putting dots outside of the circle and impersonate wandering eyes, side conversations, zone outs…]
You won’t learn Chinese then, because you won’t have received enough of the words/drops of paint. Your circles won’t be filled in in your brain. You need many hundreds of these in your high school career to own those words. When you own the words and you come back six years from now, breaking my heart because you haven’t taken Chinese in college, but you still remember how to say a whole lot of things…that is when you own those words.
It is for this reason that I am justified in making 35% of your grade based on your interpersonal skills. And it is for this reason that over the weekend I made about 75% of your grades alarmingly low. ”
This isn’t going to work for every student, ie, the really tough black hole types, but it’s really worked for the vast majority of mine. (Disclaimer: I’ve had nearly 100% support for the method over three years for a variety of reasons – one significant one being that I don’t have kids who want to hurt my feelings.) And it also really works, I found this year, with parents on back to school night! A number of kids in a class asked me to share with their parents at back to school night the painting-the-circle image. “I was totally glued to you,” was the students’ reasoning.
Very helpful word picture for the importance of getting lots of reps.
What you are talking about here is love Liam. It is providing students with patience, logic and information that they can use to become better students and better people. That is what love looks like in the classroom.
with love,
Laurie
ben, seeing you mention rigor and the rigor posters makes me want to mention it here: I had my first observation at the new school that I’m teaching at. The assistant principal came in and observed the entire period of Spanish 1. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know he was going to be coming in, so it wasn’t necessarily a “fun” lesson. In fact, today we started reading Tumba by Mira Canion. Although reading classes don’t always appear to be “fun” like the stories can be, the read and discuss technique is still interactive. At the end of the period he came up to me and said “That was awesome!”. He also said that he can’t believe how much rigor I”ve been able to put into a level 1 class. He was very impressed. It probably helps that he is a big supporter of a lot of reading in the classroom.
Chris, awesome! I have found that one really positive observation (especially the first) from one admin. is really hard to reverse. Once the opinion is around in the office that yours is a good class, it tends to stay around. Great great great! Talk about a good start to your career at that school.
Thanks James. We had our post-conference today and it went extremely well. He is astonished at how much Spanish I have these kids comprehending only a month and a half into the school year. He said that what he saw he’s only typically seen mid-year in level 1. He also said that I should present at an in-service because he’s seen very few teachers bridge the gap between teaching and learning like I do. AND he said that if we could get 95% of the teachers in the building to do what I’m doing he could only imagine what our school would look like.
It was definitely awesome listening to how impressed he was and I’m looking forward to having discussions about SLA with him because he’ll probably wonder later in the year why I haven’t been doing conjugations. I know for a fact that once I explain, his mind will be blown and he’ll be on board with what I do more than he already is. The post-conference was amazing though, I definitely needed to hear the things he said because I tend to get very down on myself professionally and personally.
Chris,
I am so glad you are getting some positive feedback. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with your ability to communicate what you are doing in your classroom, and an administrator who is willing to listen.
Keep up the good work!
Liam, my fellow Milwaukeean! Thanks for sharing this great visual interpretation of the CI method. I’ll have to try that with my new set of kids next semester.
Hey there Sean! Any time is a good time for it! It’s very worthwhile, I’ve found.
Liam, to avoid sounding creepy…, let me make sure you remember who I am (ha!). I met you in San Diego at the iFLT conference a couple of months ago.
Of course I remember! Now in Chicago, right? Spanish?
I’m definitely seeing this blahness lately, but what’s keeping me going is one of my classes, my biggest class. it’s such a nice, positive, excited group and the stories are working really well. The other Sp 1 class I have is much more whiny and complaining. The Sp 2 class I have struggles with a different way of learning than they are used to, but I’m plowing on. Stories aren’t great with them, but they respond well to Movie Talk and to novel reading.
I guess what I’m saying is Thank Goodness for this PLC. It’s nice not to feel so alone.
I am also seeing a lot of this problem in one of my French classes. Surprisingly, it is the class of students who I taught last year. It’s like they’re just tired of stories. They don’t respond to my questions, or make eye contact, or participate at all. It is even difficult to get them to contribute details – about 3 or 4 students do the work for all 17 of them! It was so frustrating today that I stopped them, and had them do a dictation, where I just read them the rest of my version of the story and they wrote it down. Then they had to write 10 questions about the story as well (in French). Saved my sanity for the last 20 minutes, but it was not very fun for anyone. I also experiment with having them write down their answers to the PQA yesterday, and at least that way they all had an answer down. They got a lot more creative too doing it that way.
Looking for PLC help! Related highly to this time of year being critical. A boy in grade 6: I had him where I wanted in terms of class expectations, and he was showing such progress. Today during their first quiz, he fell apart. Hardly got anything done. Pouted. I had to talk him through each question and how to think to derive an answer. He’s a child with a “foreign language waiver,” which is to say, learning disability(ies) diagnosed that mean language processing and/or other academics are so challenging as to deserve one less class. His parents overrode that & put him in Chinese (as have others before). I support that. This child is fluent in English; his brain can acquire language, and I was seeing that he was. He practically said to me today that a foreign language waiver means he can’t learn another language, which is not true or even what is in the information about a waiver. The parents are helpful and value Chinese.
Suggestions? This kind of attitude is a killer. I have directly told him so multiple times, multiple ways. I placed the quiz at a time I felt the kids were at least 80% ‘there’ with our content so far, basing it on class sessions and interaction with them.
Two factors I can see: re-education of the boy about attitude and how to acquire a language; re-education of the learning development tutor about Chinese and what I expect of students. She has tried to be helpful but doesn’t get it. She’s talked about sitting in on class – that would be great. Hasn’t happened yet.
From my email to the tutor (she’s very nice, but I’ve heard her tell him that “Chinese is a difficult language, but very interesting” as if that would be helpful!):
Bit of a disaster during the quiz today. (he) chose the quiz time to talk about his language waiver and why he was in Chinese. He spent at least 15 minutes of his time stewing or telling me that he knew nothing. Walking him through, though, he knew a lot, but needed my reading aloud for him – the words then sounded familiar in most cases. He still would insist he didn’t know anything. I read aloud on this quiz when students asked and so there was no reason to be so negative. In fact, if he had dropped the attitude and focused on what he could do, and then thought logically based on what he knew, he would’ve been in a pretty good position.
Anyway, it came out of left field for me. I felt he was making great progress in class, volunteering to answer questions and getting them right more & more, and feeling more confident. He was also excellent about asking me to clarify when I became unclear. I wonder if the title “quiz” caused a lot of his change of attitude and effort. He’ll need time to finish another time and I’ll have to contact home about it.
He’ll also need to develop better ways to review. He said he worked “so hard” and “only read characters” which is NOT the skill I am emphasizing most. I am emphasizing aural comprehension primarily, followed by reading comprehension with assistance. I also think it will be best not to say anything more about Chinese being difficult. I think it will feed negativity. In fact, the oral language is much simpler than English, but it sounds quite different and that takes getting used to. His learning issues will present some challenge for him in any language. And for an adult it will feel “hard” if you’ve not been learning a language recently. We can talk about this if you like.
My guess is that it had nothing to do with Chinese. It sounds like you were the recipient of a pile of misplaced frustration and hopelessness. This child may be “hitting the wall” in other classes, on other quizzes, or in a personal/social situation.
We all need the skill of ‘bouncing back.” That is easier for some of us than for others. This young man was having a “growing moment.” It’s one quiz. Let it go. Offer him opportunities for success. If the behavior continues, see what is going on his world. On that note, you can gently remind him of more appropriate, quieter ways to handle “hitting the wall.”
with love,
and not surprised to hear about kids acting out in school these days…
Laurie
Thank you, Laurie. I think you hit it – I just got this back from his dad about how the kid had 5 quizzes this week and was all stressed out. Dad said:
I did not help him with Chinese last night but with his math homework I experienced almost the same thing. He spent the majority of time saying he could not do it and once he calmed down he did great.
Those three or four good ones need to be muffled a bit. Just thinking out loud here. Maybe you can talk to them individually and tell them the class is getting out of balance and to offer less cute answers. (In my experience when a class begins to rely on a few kids, the whole class goes out of whack.) Then feel the burn of the awkwardness. Then go to the gradebook and rip the non-participants a nice jGR grade of 2. Then do it again the next day and prepare to be met with the resistance that comes with enforcing jGR for real. Explain the need for the non-participants to participate. Most kids are ok even with Ds. So take them down to the fail, take the B kids to the C, make the parent calls and explain the need for the child to behave as if it really is a language class because it is, up the difficulty of the quizzes, do something to hit this class where they live. Otherwise, unless you hit the grades, they will not respond, it sounds like. Why do we all get one of those classes each year? Usually after lunch.
And Kristen confront them. Get your Annoying Orange thing going. Or just stop and tell them how you feel when they don’t show up and do what they’re supposed to be doing. And always ask yourself in class if they don’t respond because:
a) they don’t understand (you then go slower down to a ridiculous snail’s pace if necessary).
or because:
b) they do understand but are following the lead of one or two jerks who lead them into not responding because that wouldn’t be cool (in that case you find the ring leaders and annoy them and break them down, all with a smile as we have said many times here before).
It’s as if you predicted what was going to happen today. Basically half of my 6 classes (yay for block scheduling), are all aboard on the CI train, and the other half… well, they’re losing steam.
Lots of chatty kids, unresponsive kids and kids that say they “aren’t learning that much”.
Today, two kids said:
“In French class the kids are learning the alphabet with a song and learning numbers, and the French teacher gives out lists of vocabulary that they can learn and worksheets to practice with. They’re working on the basics while we’re just doing sentences.
All we know how to say is that that someone swims, draws, does, plays football/baseball/softball/basketball, reads, paints, and how to ask who/with whom/what/where.”
I tried to be nice and respect their opinion, but I told them that lists and worksheets don’t help them acquire a language as much as actually interacting with it.
But it was as if they couldn’t hear what they themselves said: THEY (my students) know how to form sentences and ask questions but the French kids know their abc’s and 123’s.
Why do they see knowing the alphabet and numbers as learning and DON’T SEE being able to connect with someone by talking about their favorite activities as learning?
And the French kids (and the other Spanish teacher’s classes) get to learn an alphabet song, oh my. Apparently just hanging out and talking in Spanish is too boring. I’ll do music, but something that’s actually CI.
They’ve been writing dozens of words in their timed writing, but still they don’t see it as learning.
Needless to say, it was very heartbreaking to hear.
It’s their conditioning. Throughout their school careers, those non-interpersonal, non-personalized, non-contextualized lists of things to be memorized are what has counted. They have been trained to discount the truly human. From our perspective, we tend to react, “How can they be so blind and unaware?” because we know the true nature of communication.
It truly is heartbreaking.
With that said, I do have an alphabet song that I play. I play it not because I think it will assist acquisition but because it is set to a marching drill, so I can get the students up and moving in a brain break while giving a sop to their perceived need to have the alphabet presented “in order”. (The song is from Barbara MacArthur’s CD: “Sing, Dance, Laugh and Eat Quiche / Eat Tacos / Learn German” (depending on language). I play a couple of other songs from the CD just for the fun of it. For example, there is a “color” song on the German CD. I have sets of color cards that I use when talking about colors. I will hand those out and play the song. Students see how quickly they can grab the color that has just been sung. Again, it’s a brain break activity.)
…why do they see knowing the alphabet and numbers as learning?…
Because:
1. they don’t get the piece about how learning a language is an unconscious process that involves total (unconscious) focus on meaning and not on (conscious) words (nor should they be expected to).
2. their parents all gained their own fluency (not!) in a second language in that way, so the parents hear about what you’re doing, find fault in your expertise, the kid hears it and repeats it back. We all seem to have to go through this. But Bradley once we are through it, every time, the students who parroted the false information from their parents end up being exposed for their ignorance, and you, having stuck by your guns against incoming fire (a very apt image) end up with larger enrollments over time and slowly slowly the naysayers become less vocal as the culture in your building changes, slowly over time, and one day you wake up and, as happened to me, all that is behind you and you look back and realize that sticking to your guns and continuing to fire out slow rounds of comprehensible input in spite of it all was the right thing to do so you allow your heart to break when they say it but your heart never really breaks, it cannot, it is your mind that breaks in those little moments of insult, but over time you win. You just win. Because you are teaching in the real way. And that’s all there is too it. Courage. Courage. Du calme.
I was thinking about the alphabet recently, and how in my own acquisition of English (and my daughters’ acquisition now), learning the alphabet played no significant role in my acquisition of English. It’s just a song of linguistic noises–Hell, I think I must have thought “elemenowpee” was one letter, or one word, or something else that made no sense to me. One of my students was recently confronted by someone who asked why he didn’t know how to say “hello, my name is” in Latin. I wrote it up on the board, since he wanted to know, and then I mentioned (about as diplomatically as I could be) that teachers teach different words/phrases earlier than others, and that I think it’s more useful at this point in the year to talk about their cards than generic phrases from textbooks. Bradley, you are in the right, and if your students press their classmates from those classes, they will find a lot of bored students who THINK they are learning a language. Stay the course!
I have a big list of those things like hello my name is and I just put it up every once in a while and teach it once. They feel as if they are learning hello and good bye and it’s just a stupid waste of time but it keeps the dogs at bay. Then, when I can actually use it in a story contextually, they have a vague memory of it and it can begin to actually be acquired in context over many stories and via lots of comprehensible input in other forms.
I really like the idea of introducing all that BS that people think is real language teaching–as filler, brain breaks, etc. So they are getting it, but in a way that does not interrupt the CI. If language education in the US is flipped on its head, then we can do the same thing, that is, flipping these priorities back where they belong, and using so-called “essential” things like 1st year output, greetings, alphabet, etc, and using them as filler when kids need a break from the real learning.
Agreed! It’s a great opportunity also to make sure that my competition-loving, “I learn languages through games” (!) kids are kept happy. A mid-class chance to play trashketball has bought me a lot of cooperation at times they’re doing something more beneficial for acquisition.
Hi Ben,
The timing of this updated article hit home for me. I have a parent with twin kids with one in my Spanish 2 high school class and another in a rival high school using traditional methods. I did my best to explain to her the benefits of CI instruction and TPRS methods for language acquisition. She was polite on the phone although she mentioned three or four times that she would gladly speak to the administration because her son felt frustrated with the lack of structure and the misbehaving students that slow the class down. It was awkward for me because I felt it was a subtle threat. This is my most difficult class with 40 students. I told her I would have a talk with my class and that I would put my foot down so to speak with regards to class behavior.
My first step is to review class expectations and behavior. Students need to know that distracting others will not be tolerated and consequences will follow (I assume and pray my admin team will back me up on this).
Secondly, I want to create a positive reinforcement system so the students police each other and am considering the class points system to earn a party if they reach a certain goal. I learned from La Maestra Loca about her point system at CI Cascadia and am thinking this may help me.
Does anyone in the PLC have experience with a class point system to earn free time or a party after a set period of time? Other than hammering the students on class behavior/expectations and rewarding the class for doing a good job, this is it.
I feel that I will know within a month if this ship sinks or sails. Thanks for your help.
Jeff
…I felt it was a subtle threat….
Not so subtle. Direct and inappropriate.
Wow, man….40 students that’s insane. Any admin that thinks that putting 40 kids in a room to learn any subject is insane.
I know! And the room is the size of a closet, but at least it has a window. It´s better than last year when I was a roaming teacher with no classroom.
Greg what’s going on up there today with that class?
I contacted like 4 parents. Some of the kids didn’t like the grammar and said they wanted to go back. I just said I’d need to see a turnaround before I’d even consider going back to the CI. I now contact parents on first offense too.
Some students were rude and said “our previous teacher taught like this and she got fired” (not true). They were a bit better after several worksheets.
They still think I am bluffing though. I was wondering if I should make a condition with them where they have to have no offenses for X number of classes before I can go back to CI. Only problem with that is a few could sabotage it. Any input you’d have on how to transition them back to CI in 2 weeks to a month would be appreciated.
Parent teacher conferences are Friday.
I’m thinking of coming up with a contract written together with the class about how many days we need to behave in order to go back to CI. I would be very specific about behaviors that are prohibited- mocking, passive agressiveness, etc.
Would be signed by all in the class. What do you think?
I wouldn’t do it. Contracts require attention and monitoring and the kids wouldn’t honor it and you have enough on your hands just teaching. No bartering. No discussion. Go Big Grammar. I think when you start letting them talk they will say all manner of things to get to you, when the thing should be cut and dried. They aren’t the expert. And as Invisibles pile up in the Gallery, they will feel more and more left out. They suck at doing what you want to make it a successful CI classroom so now they pay the price and you have one less problem on your plate. Let it sink in on them how they need to change, you don’t talk. Give them a nice big grammar souffle for the next few months. YUM!
Ok, but when I actually do go back to the CI. How do I make the transition? Like what do I say to the kids?
Hey and you know it’s just my opinion and I am hoping someone in the group chides me for being too tough here but I feel this way so I’m saying it. Maybe having taught over 35,000 classes to thousands of kids over nearly 40 years made me that way. But the entire concept is based on the idea that kids need time to reflect on their actions. Teachers so often think that one conversation, or a phone call, or a little lecture in class, will bring change. But our kids have experienced those things for years and are currently experiencing them in other classes. So Greg that is why the two months of grammar. And when the other classes keep piling up one word images and story drawings on the wall under their class period in the Gallery, it slowly sinks in on them that they are doing grammar for a specific reason, that you have strong lines about classes that don’t do as you say. Time is needed for this dawning of awareness. Time is also needed for the class to get over their honeymoon period with the “cool kids” and turn on them when they realize that you have gone to the extent of changing their curriculum. It shifts back to you gradually. You also totally need to be ready, when they do return, with CM 1, 2 and 3. That is a classroom management program of three levels that Tina and I developed over the summer but wasn’t as developed when we saw you in Chicago as it is now. I am working on it to be new Bite Size Book as fast as I can. I haven’t even answered your question yet. But this is already too long so I’ll hit “reply” on it.
So when to get back to CI? It totally depends on your read on those kids. When the other kids turn on them for cousing this grammar disaster, and they will, the offenders – those two or three, or maybe one, I always think it is one kid who makes a little “cell” and seating charts have to respond to that of course – those offenders will perhaps apologize and then you have won. So that would be the first time to go back to CI. And this time, if you haven’t already, be ready with the Three Modes/Listening Skill rubric that was in the handouts in Chicago (Tina updated a version we used here on the PLC for years called jGR and anyone new reading this here today can search jGR for all the details). Time to hit reply again.
Now what if the offenders remain jerks during the entire grammar period of however long? I see no reason, since you are within contractual rights to teach as you see fit, even if you are using methods from the previous century, to keep up the grammar for the rest of the year. I have no guilt about denying the good kids CI. They would get it from some other teacher anyone if they had not gotten you for this year. I NEVER feel guilty when I am protecting and nurturing my mental health in this most difficult job.
Finally getting to an answer to your original question of HOW to transition? First, give them a class-long lecture on SLA. Second, on the next day, tell them you are going to try with them to create a (one word image) character like all the ones on the back wall in the gallery. If they fail, it’ll be another month of grammar. If they succeed, it’s another week of grammar for the first half of class, and a OWI for the second half. If they succeed with that, back to full time CI the next week. Keep constant eye contact with the SINGLE KID, THE ONE KID WHO IS AT THE CORE OF THIS LITTLE COUP.
That’s what I think. Others reading this thread should disagree so we can get the unique combined opinions of all the other great teachers in our club. (And I totally get how busy we are.) Don’t you love the time ramping up to October? It’s the most intense time of year, because we have a shot at making it all work, but we haven’t yet. And by the end of October, if a class isn’t on board with what we demand, we have to work all the harder to make it all click by January. Don’t you love change? Just remember, it’s not just us in our classrooms. It’s the whole country. We’re breaking free of old ideas all over the place. Steady on.
Ok, that sounds like a good plan! I´m going to try it. I think I could turn this around in a month. We had the class today and there already are some of the good kids putting pressure on the troublemakers. The good kids asked how we can go back, I just say “the whole class would just have to really convince me with a turnaround in behavior”.
I ran this plan by my admin and they are supportive. I had to let the in on it just in case they get parent calls. They trust me and they like what you and Tina are doing. I’m so lucky in that sense…..
This is music to my ears.
…there already are some of the good kids putting pressure on the troublemakers. The good kids asked how we can go back, I just say “the whole class would just have to really convince me with a turnaround in behavior”….
Really it’s about getting peer pressure going and you are doing it. With each new class your stock will go up. Just don’t get snarky with them now that you have the upper hand. Quietly teach the grammar, resisting the desire to say how you “could be” speaking the TL. Let the peer pressure mount and I am sure that you won’t have to go the full two months w the grammar. Good work. Nobody said teaching is easy. Keep us posted.
(Others are in the very same boat. It’s October soon and that is when the Good Will Bank Account is drained from the rush of enthusiasm at the end of the year and we all have to be ready for that when it happens. The secret is in nailing the small group or single person trying to undermine our work. Did you see how Robert handled that kid? He challenged the offender in class about lack of respect and won. It’s all so complex, but we can do it. We have to. I would rather leave the profession than let a single rude child negatively impact what I think is potentially the most joyous job in the world.)
Jeff, whatever you can make work with 40 kids makes you a genius. We have a TCI colleague here in Chicagoland who has done a lot with having a student job be a timer, tracking how many minutes the class stays in L2 every day for the week, then comparing those times with another class. It’s a competition to see which class can stay in the L2 the longest. The class that does then gets donuts. I remember one or two other teachers here mentioning giving donuts out to their classes as a reward at the end of the month or so.
Oh, and with that parent, don’t forget about the Free Writes. Free Writes make sense to parents and admin. Let’s see the twin do a Free Write with that traditional teacher.
Thanks Sean,
Yes, I just started using the L2 Timer and it is a motivator. I have also started the Free Writes with plenty of moaning from this one class! I could try the donut idea although I would have to get a collection going (donuts can get expensive). I think I will do the point system instead and see if we can time a party with the end of each 6 week grading period.
My thing Jeff w the points/rewards approach is that it is extrinsic motivation when in our field the nature of the subject matter, all that interaction, eye contact, etc. would require a more intrinsically motivated class.
Totally agree, Ben. Jeff, if you do give out rewards, which I understand why you would due to your situation, I would downplay it… hardly mention it, and see how they take it. I don’t think you want your students to think that you place value in the reward as a end goal. I think many high school students actually get that such rewards are done by teachers as a kind of side-kick to the real value of learning.
This class has been rough. Partly it is because I taught some of the students last year using the traditional method as I was hired as an emergency sub mid year (I had to pick up the pieces from a teacher that quit). These students from last year are resisting any real communication. It has been really hard for them to come to class with an openness and after a month in school I still don´t feel like there is a foundation of trust.
Jeff. These kids learned to not care. I may sound blunt but when that teacher left them, it left a huge impression as to how adults can treat students. Without knowing the situation, the students are just left with you as a sub yet the “damage” was done. I taught a 2nd year class who went through a whole year with various subs. It was a class of 39 and it was rough. I tried to use CI but the best way was to do about 10 minutes, read as much as they could tolerate and then do book work independently. The last thing was something that they got used to their 1st year.
I would focus on building up community. There is still time. Have one-on-ones with the ring leaders and split them up. Get to know them in English. for the first 5-8 minutes of class like “highlights of the week”. When I do these questions, I use a “talking piece” like a ball or marker and have only the person with the talking piece talk. Everyone else listens. Do what is best for your sanity but fold in that relationship piece and focus on the good.
Jeff I suggest doing CI only for the last five or ten minutes of class, presenting it as a way to kill time at the end of the (important stuff of grammar) class. In that way, you aren’t forcing CI on them. As they see how much fun building a Invisibles character can be, they may ask for more CI time. If not, I’d have no problem throwing the book at them for the rest of the year. In general, few teachers realize how hard it is to “bring back” a traditionally trained class to the reality of comprehension based instruction. It is just so hard to do!
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. Steven, you are right that I need to focus on community more. I am not sure exactly how highlights of the week works but it sounds good. I realize now that I will have to do some ¨projects¨ in order to free up time so I can have some one on one conversations in English with the ring leaders. Good idea!
So today I had a hard edge with them and went a little ballistic. I gave them a lecture on rules and expectations at the beginning and let them know that today was a huge grading day (Tina´s suggestion). Then, with the two first offenses (students changing seats without permission), my reaction was pretty explosive. It caught everyone, including me, off guard. I guess the stress caught up with me. I raised my voice with them for the first time this year directing my energy at the offending students. There was a little weird scene that played out as they tried to explain their seat changes but I wasn´t going to back down to any student today. Both cases deescalated and were resolved, fortunately without making anyone feel shamed. I even pulled off a OWI with the class although from all the juice flowing I know I wasn´t calm and slow. It was ugly and butchered but it was CI. I definitely need the one on ones with the offending students but at least class order was established.
WHAT IS UP with kids changing seats all the time????
Mine try it constantly. It’s like, “Welcome back to class kids, and may I remind you once more that you need to bloom where you’re planted?”
By the way, Jeff, I would recommend also having a check-in period at the beginning of every class. I would let them chat in English and I would use that time to double-check their seating and get a “read” on the class and see how they are acting that day.
How did the “grading day” go? Did you enter the grades already? I would also follow up with some in-class phone calls. Give them a sheet to fill out. Whatever you KNOW will keep them silent. Probably something involving writing in English. So no one is confused. So they will shut up and work.
Of course, once they get the drift that you are calling home, they will just be pretending to work so they can listen for clues i it is their parents you are leaving that message for. (Of course you are not using names, just saying “I am your child’s Spanish teacher in Spanish 2 at X School”)
I gave them a quick quiz at the end of the OWI and almost everyone did well – I always assumed that was the point of a quick quiz. Easy questions so that we can get more reps in on the story/image. As far as the Interpersonal Communication Grade goes, I haven´t entered grades yet. If I look at this one day, they did pretty well and showed growth. I will have to try in class phone calls and I´m sure it would have an effect on them.
I would enter the grades, the the next day say, This is another assessment day. And do that every day if need be. If you enter a lot of grades and be strict on the kids, and make a lot of phone calls home then I would imagine it would help a lot.
You can also have them read, write and translate. This gives them CI, but is easy on you, and keeps them working on the text. I would let them know that they can do more interactive activities once they can show you they can handle. Have them write their little hands off. I would also do daily quick quizzes at the end of class, or at least weekly/every other day dictées or translation quizzes. Let them feel the pressure. I’m in the same situation with my last class of the day. They’re totally getting this because they can’t seem to pull it together and show me (or each other) the respect that is required of a full on CI class. Thankfully, my other classes are great, but I’m not going to put in more work and get all stressed out just because they aren’t showing up and putting in their 50%.