I made it halfway through my first year of teaching before I realized that something wasn’t right. They were not acquiring the language. They did not want to be there. It was the second week of December and most were going to do poorly on their discrete grammar and vocab mid-term the following week.
I felt like I had let my students down. As I scanned the practice multiple-choice mid-terms with my Grade Cam, my heart sank as I watched the class average teeter between a low-C and a high-D. I recall walking to my car after the last exam period was over that first year and wondered whether teaching was the right profession for me. Google “impostor syndrome.” To say that I felt like an ineffective teacher would be an understatement.
I was teaching them about the language (with lots of English) instead of teaching them in the language. My kids rarely spoke the target language in class and almost never volunteered. They didn’t use Spanish with me in the halls like they do today. They memorized verb endings and vocab words to pass the quiz on Friday and couldn’t remember them (let alone use them in authentic, in-the-moment language) by Monday.
Where was the elation that I felt on the days when I was subbing when I had snagged a Spanish sub job on the Jobulator app the night before? I would wake up in the most chipper of moods because I was given the chance to spend the day in a Spanish classroom to help kids who I didn’t know and would never see again with their assigned book work for $90 a day.
I’m guessing that you can relate to some of this since you found your way here. There’s good news: I found the way out and so can you.
Before we get started, we need to throw something out the window. That something is the misconception that any of us have this all figured out. I promise you that every single one of the teachers on the Mount Rushmore of CI (you get to pick who these are for yourself) has “lost” a class at sometime in their career for one reason or another. I remember Blaine Ray telling me at his three-day workshop in Dallas that he was fired from his first two Spanish teaching jobs.
I believe that the overwhelming majority of teachers want to be as effective as possible regardless of their teaching style. I think you’re reading this because this is true of you as well and if you’re here, it’s because you know that there’s a better way than what you’re doing now. I discovered a way to do things that maximizes my students’ long-term language acquisition and made me love my job again.
This paradigm shift isn’t something that occurs over the course of weeks or even months, nor does it always happen linearly. Rest assured that some new things that you try will flop admirably. I can also tell you that you’ll often find success when and where you least expected it. You know what they say about how you have to eat an elephant, right? One bite at a time. By the way, click here for a list of acronyms that you will encounter when learning about comprehensible input and the methods that we can use to maximize it.
One last thing…I want you to be on the lookout for people who tell you that there is only one “right” way to deliver comprehensible input to your students. Unfortunately, it’s a growing problem within the TCI community. You need to do what you’re confident with based on your level of training, mandated curriculum or scope and sequence, personality, school culture, your own L2 language proficiency, and other demands on your time. Don’t let someone tell you that you’re not doing this right if you want to target three grammatical structures in a traditional TPRS storyask. Likewise, don’t buy into the claim that untargeted input can’t work. What works great for one teacher might not work so well for another in the next classroom down. Nobody knows you, your building, and your students better than you.
Alright, it’s call-to-action time! I suggest you start here:
- Like my Facebook page to receive updates about new content in your feed.
- Ask me a question about teaching with comprehensible input!
- Find a local collaboration group that meets in person. Even if it’s a bit of a drive, you’ll quickly realize that there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction and in-person coaching.
- Start reading these other teaching with comprehensible input blogs and check out these groups.
- Finally, subscribe to my email list to receive a weekly notification of new blog articles and completely free lesson plans and other resources:
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All the best in your TCI adventures,
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