Welcome! After becoming frustrated with students’ communication abilities in Spanish and with my own lack of progress in the language, I ditched the textbook and jumped into the world of TPRS/CI with both feet. I spent 18 months devouring blog posts by some amazing people and finally decided to begin my own. Whether you are new to TPRS/CI or are an advanced practitioner, I hope you will find something useful here.
My journey to a 100% Comprehensible Input (CI) classroom has been fun, interesting, and at times, a bit painful as I worked through the growing pains of leaving the textbook behind. Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) is the foundation of all that I do and I am so fortunate that I was able to attend a workshop in Indianapolis in the summer of 2016 with Mike Coxon. I highly suggest a strong foundation in TPRS storytelling – it truly is the go-to strategy I use most frequently in my classroom. I cannot stress enough how important it is to develop a strong foundational skill set. Once the art of “circling” is mastered, you can branch out in a variety of totally comprehensible paths to language acquisition.
Like many of you, I also love, love, love teaching culture! Many of the activities that I feature in class revolve around culture: foods, music, and economics together in a lesson or unit provide a tangible link for students to hold onto. I’ve discovered that when I create meaningful content, I foster a classroom community that thrives on learning about and embracing others.
There are so many resources out there at our fingertips that it can be overwhelming to figure out where to go and who to follow. In the early days of my TPRS/CI journey, I consumed as much as I possibly could from these amazing folks: Ben Slavic likely has the most comprehensive website on TPRS techniques and classroom tips out there, Martina Bex has a plethora of ready-to-use lessons that you can download and use in minutes (which I have literally done on more than one occasion), Allison Wienhold also provides a wide range of resources regarding novels. I also read anything and everything from author, teacher, and blogger Carrie Toth – talk about a fount of knowledge! And don’t forget Annabelle Allen‘s site is loaded with quick, easy tips and Brain Breaks that you can implement with zero prep.
Join me on my journey through the world of TPRS/CI!
