Am I Doing This Right???

I read variations of this question on the iFLT / NTPRS / CI Teaching group page almost daily. Making the change to CI can be scary and intimidating.  When I first began, I didn’t know how to let go of the stress of covering X grammar rules in a semester. Using a textbook was “safe.” It provided the step by step process for teaching about language in a methodical and BORING way.

However, I know from my own experience that learning about language doesn’t mean our students will be able to use it in meaningful ways. So, I made the leap into CI. For me, it was a summer TPRS seminar in Indianapolis. I knew without a doubt that I would go back to school in the fall and change up everything. 

Along my journey, I have asked myself many times if I was doing it right. Often, the answer was a big, fat NO! At some point, someone said to me (I don’t know if it was Laurie Clarque in a session at Central States, Michelle Whaley at iFLT, Carol Gaab, Kristy Placido, or my CI buddy in crime Leslie Phillips – probably all of them did!), “do your best until you know better; then when you know better DO better.” Those are powerful words! And the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders.

To this end, I thought I’d share a little of my journey.

YEAR ONE
My first year of jumping whole-hog into CI I also jumped whole-hog into finishing my MA in Second Language Acquisition.

Can you say…?

That means I relied heavily on the TPRS Look, I Can Talk books, Martina Bex’s Somos Curriculum, and any and every idea I came across on the iFLT / NTPRS / CI Teaching group page. I only knew how to pause and point, circle, assign jobs, and original Movie Talk. I literally had no other skills.

None.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.

And guess what? In spite of my lack of experience and haphazard planning my students acquired a TON of Spanish!! I had no clue if what I was doing was correct procedure and I frequently questioned my own language skills. Many days I would get on the Facebook page, find an idea, and run with it. (As a side note, recently, several of my level 4 students have commented how much fun they had and could we do some more of those spur-of-the-moment lessons!)

YEAR TWO
My second year, my administration decided to give me all of level 2 and 3 and then asked if I would give up my plan to teach the first-ever level 4 section. I had just finished my Master’s with a study abroad class in Spain, so I felt like I would have a TON of time. What I didn’t know when I agreed was that I would have record number of students (220 – you can read about how I survived that here) and that I would be invited to return to Spain to present at an international playwright’s conference.

So, once again, I was planning by the seat of my pants, I gave absolutely zero homework because there was no way I could touch 220 pieces of paper on a regular basis, and I relied very heavily on the facebook page, Somos, and novels.

And guess what? Once again, in spite of myself, my students acquired a TON MORE Spanish!! All I had to do was ask a few questions and all the Spanish they had acquired the year before came flooding back and we could immediately build on it.

YEAR THREE
And now we are in year three. My level 4 grew from a single section of 9 last year to two sections totalling 37 this year! The students could see the progress they were making and were sticking with it! Almost all of my level 4 students have been with me for 4 years and had one year of a traditional grammar syllabus. I never did add homework back in because they were so successful without it last year.

Almost all of my level 3 students have been with me for 3 years. Unless they came from another teacher or school, they have never had traditional grammar instruction. They can quite literally run circles around where my level 3’s were at this same time last year.

This year I also changed my curriculum foundation to be 3 novels at each level. I target the structures I know they haven’t had yet using Movie Talk, TPRS Story Asking, music, and more.

And guess what? The gains my students are making are undeniable. Every time we finish a novel, their writing improves dramatically and their speaking improves moderately. They can use more and more language daily.

I still ask myself, “Am I doing this right?” The answer to that probably depends on the day and the responder. I have good days, mediocre days, bad days, and awesome days. I never stop trying to improve my teaching and I try more and more ways of making my content compelling.

Will I ever reach the day when I can say without a doubt that I am “doing it right?” The answer is, “maybe.” There will always be a way to improve, new gains in language acquisition research, and new and amazing ways to present language.

And you know what? I’m OK with that. I will always do my best until I know better. Once I know better, I will DO better.