Episode 10

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Published on:

2nd Nov 2025

Episode 10: “CI in the Wild: My Big Takeaway”

When it comes to Comprehensible Input teaching, nothing beats real teachers sharing real classroom takeaways — from epic CI wins to wild “this actually works!” moments.

🎒 Ready to level up your CI game? Grab the CI Survival Kit, now with Ask-a-Story Slides in French, German, and Spanish — your monthly lifeline for fresh, ready-to-teach CI lessons and ideas: https://imim.us/kit

In this episode of Comprehend THIS!, guest hosts Vicki Schrader (ELL and CI educator from Surrey, BC, and author of multiple CI novels) and Pat Rolfes (26-year veteran high school Spanish teacher from Minnesota) join Scott Benedict to reflect on what CI has truly taught them — about teaching, language, and kids. From the “aha” moments that proved input really is everything, to the real-world hacks that keep CI sustainable when plans fall apart, this episode is full of heartfelt stories, teacher-to-teacher wisdom, and a little bit of caffeine-fueled honesty.

#ComprehensibleInput, #TPRS, #LanguageTeaching, #WorldLanguageTeachers, #CIPodcast, #TeachingTips, #SpanishTeachers, #FrenchTeachers, #GermanTeachers, #CISurvivalKit

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Transcript
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Okay language teachers, let's be honest.

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Some days CI feels like pure magic,

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and other days you're wondering if anyone

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in your class even knows what day it is.

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But here's the thing, it works.

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And this week we've got proof.

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Meet Vicky Schrader, the Grammar Queen

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turned CI novelist from Canada.

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Yes, she's gone from drilling verb charts

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to publishing entire novels.

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We're diving into the wild world of

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comprehensible input in real classrooms.

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Not the Pinterest, perfect kind, but the

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my story crashed and burned

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before second period kind.

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You'll laugh, you'll nod,

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you might even feel seen.

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So grab your coffee, or like me, your

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Diet Pepsi, or

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whatever is keeping you alive,

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because this episode will

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remind you why CI is worth it.

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Even when your students think TPRS stands

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for Totally Pointless Random Stuff.

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Let's do this, it's episode 10, CI in the

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wild, my big takeaway.

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Let's go ahead and welcome Vicky after

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our short messages,

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and we'll be right back.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I think honestly, to me, it's the whole

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idea of making sure that it's

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comprehensible, making sure the kids are

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on board and that they're understanding.

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And I will still, to me, I think that

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that was what made me excited about

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grammar, when I was learning grammar,

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was that for me, it unlocked a lot of

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keys for what was

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happening behind the scenes.

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But when I was learning

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grammar, I was in university.

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I already had six years of French.

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I already had a lifetime of English.

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And they played off of each other.

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It was like, "Oh, so that's what's

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happening in English.

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Oh, that's what's happening in French."

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So for me, that was really exciting, and

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I felt like that was a

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really important thing.

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But when we're just

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starting out, it's too much.

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Absolutely.

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So then in the classroom, I've gone from,

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you know, there were the days, I'm like,

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"Okay, day one, here's your textbooks.

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Let's sign it out and read the first

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piece, you know, the first stop.

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Oh, it's in context, right?

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There's a story at the front.

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So clearly, there's a context for it.

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So that must make sense.

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And the students that I teach are used to

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doing worksheets and that sort of thing.

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They usually have some sort of background

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in the language before they come,

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but it's like super, super dry from a

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teacher who doesn't speak the language.

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And they maybe never even

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spoken a word of English.

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So that style is something they can fall

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into, but it doesn't

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bring the language to life.

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And that's what CI has done.

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I have this year in my level

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one class, there was a girl.

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You can spot them right away.

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The one who is the student that I just

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described, some of them, you know, they

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can answer your

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questions right off the bat.

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And you start thinking,

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"Oh, why are you in level one?"

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But then you see, you can see it.

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But this one girl, she

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was a true level one.

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And she would turn to our friends, like,

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"What did she say? What did she say?"

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I'm like, "Okay, so there's my

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barometer, right? Watch her."

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She is now writing.

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So we went from day one,

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like circle the day of the week.

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Like, "Can you point to it? Can you

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repeat after me with the circling

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questions and all that?"

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She's now writing about a

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hundred words in 10 minutes.

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Right? In her daily journal, she can

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write for me and tell me what's happening

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if life's going sideways or what.

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Which is really, really cool.

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And that's the CI piece for it, is just

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they don't need grammar rules.

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They need to be able to communicate.

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They need to be able to tell me that

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there's a problem in another class.

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They need to be able to tell me that

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their teacher doesn't understand them.

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And they'll feel like it's a racist

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incident, but it's not.

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It's a misunderstanding between teacher

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expectations and student background

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knowledge or past ways of

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being, just the whole shift.

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So it's easy, easy to sort out, but they

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need to be able to have

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those basic conversations.

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Absolutely. And a couple of things that

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you mentioned right off the bat about,

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first of all, grammar.

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When do we introduce grammar, even in

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their native languages?

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It's lower elementary school when it

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starts to get, when they start actually

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talking about grammar.

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And what's the assumption already? That

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they're relatively fluent

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in the language already.

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I mean, obviously not sophisticated

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language, but they can talk. We can

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understand them. We can

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talk. They can understand us.

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We don't have to do a lot of

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simplification or modification of the

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language back and forth.

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You know, we don't have to do that pigeon

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speak at all for them to be able to do.

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So, but what we do when we have, we teach

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from a textbook point of view or a

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standard curriculum, a traditional

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curriculum, we hit them

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with grammar from day one.

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And grammar, someone told me this, I

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never really realized I'm going to fix my

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camera because my

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camera's got me off just a bit.

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Bill Van Patten said, and I never really

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thought of it this way, he goes,

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textbooks are always ordered.

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What's easiest to teach, not what's

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easiest to learn. So what's the first

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thing they throw at them?

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Gender and gender agreement.

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Which for, you know, you don't, we don't

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have that. You don't have that teaching

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English, but teaching other languages

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that have gender, that's something that

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English kids don't

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understand and no concept.

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So it's a really difficult thing to

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learn. It's easy to teach. And then

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subjunctive, which is relatively easy to

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learn in French and Spanish.

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It's relatively easy. It's one of the

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earlier acquired things in

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the native speaker world.

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But it's really difficult to teach. They

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put that off into level three or level

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four because we don't have a similar

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concept and it actually is going away in

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English subjunctive.

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I hear it hurts my ears every time I

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said, if I was president, like, no, it's

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if I were president because

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you never were the president.

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So that always irks me and I hear it all

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the time and it stands out in my ears so

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that you made that

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point about the grammar.

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You and I was funny that you pick

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comprehension because you teach English

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language, meaning you could have multiple

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languages represented in your classroom

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and you don't have a common language to

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fall back on to make it comprehensible.

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Which I find is really funny because, you

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know, years ago, I was not part of the

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story, but my best

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friend was she was living it.

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So she explained it to me and it was kind

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of funny. If you've ever been to a

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national conference, one of the things

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they used to do was a native.

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It was immersion dinners

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is what they called them.

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So you pick the language, either one you

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already spoke or one that you were

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learning and you went to

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dinner with this group of people.

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And the rule was you only spoke that

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language during the evening.

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So it was a way for us to be able to

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relate with actual adults in the language

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that we teach instead of with kids with

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the language we teach.

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And it was great. I like German and I

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didn't I didn't want to

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use my stuff with Spanish.

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So I went always with the German group.

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So I did not was not part of this one.

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I was at that and TPRS, but I was not

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part of the Spanish conversation one.

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But it was Blaine Ray and it was Stephen

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Krashen were at the same dinner tonight

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that and it was Spanish.

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So they were having this conversation.

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The conversation was going well for like

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30 minutes, no problem.

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And then someone introduced the word.

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I don't even know the context of how this

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came up in conversation.

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But the word Chispa, which means a spark

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like either a spark from electricity or

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like a spark in your brain that went off.

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And so it came up and now they were lost.

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Someone was lost.

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They couldn't understand what Chispa was.

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And so for next 10, 20

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minutes, they were drawing pictures.

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They were acting it out.

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They were doing all kinds of things to

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try to make this other

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teacher understand what Chispa was.

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And it wasn't working.

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And then finally someone went about and

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said, oh, my gosh, Chispa means spark.

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She said it in English.

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Chispa means spark.

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Can we possibly move on from this?

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Yeah.

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And a little bell went off and Stephen

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Krashen's brain because Stephen Krashen,

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you know, the whole impetus of what we do

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and his idea originally because he came

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up with also the natural approach.

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He co-founded the natural approach where

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you don't use translation.

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And he was against translation.

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He said no translation,

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no first language at all.

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And he was going about this.

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And then Blaine says no, but sometimes

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you just need translation.

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And Stephen Krashen says no, you don't.

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You absolutely do not need it.

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And this is the time when a little Chispa

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went off in his brain and goes, oh, I see

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why you might need translation because

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sometimes it's the simplest, most direct,

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effective way to make

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something comprehensible.

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And we equated this to let's say you're

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in class and you've been speaking and

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trying to get this one kid

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to understand this one word.

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And you've wasted 30 minutes doing it.

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And the other kids are like,

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can we just move on from this?

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We got this the first time.

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And you've got that frustrated kid who

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goes, it just means spark.

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Let's move on and think about that when a

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just if they didn't understand it, just

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writing it on the board really quick.

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Guess what?

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Bingo.

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It's done and we can move on.

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So it came.

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He goes, I can see

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now where the point is.

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And in your case, you don't have that

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always to fall back on

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because you're teaching English.

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I know at my school, we have 43 different

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languages represented at

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our school, 43 of them.

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And I couldn't imagine being an ELL

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teacher and having, you know, 30 of those

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43 languages

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represented in one classroom.

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How the heck am I going to

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make something comprehensible?

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So I find that funny that

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you chose that particular one.

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And then the thing that you said that

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made me go ahead and think about was how

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what's this non-native speaker?

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Non-native speaker

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doing teaching the grammar.

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And I'm like, I'm the complete opposite.

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I don't want a native speaker teaching me

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the grammar because they

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can't explain the grammar.

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I can't explain in

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English why go goes to went.

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I know it's in a regular verb and I know

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that the technical term in English,

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because the same one's in

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German, is weak and strong verbs.

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And, you know, to go is a strong verb

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because it goes from I go to I went.

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But I can't explain the rhyme reason or

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wherefore why it does that.

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I can't do that.

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Yet I can explain why the

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accents move around in Spanish.

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Why sometimes the word has an accent and

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sometimes it doesn't.

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It's actually to keep their pronunciation

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consistent along the way.

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I can explain those things,

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but a native speaker can't.

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They just go, well,

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that's just the way that it is.

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And so I never liked getting that grammar

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explained to me from native speakers.

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If you are the same as me, give me a

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thumbs up in that chat box or in the

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comment box if that's you as well,

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because I always got frustrated.

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I asked, you know, I took German, French

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and Spanish and I would

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ask the native speakers.

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So why does it do that?

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I don't know.

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It just does.

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You know, that's the answer.

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And it's the same answer

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I would give in English.

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Yeah. And in English, if a student asked

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me that, I could probably do it.

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It'll probably take me about 30 minutes

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and I'm going to use

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words that are out of bounds.

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So because it's a complicated thing, I'm

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probably going to go into some language

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history that is going to

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completely bore them to tears.

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Whereas if I tell a story that yesterday

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she went to the store and today she is

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going to the store, the kids are just

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going to hear it and they're going to say

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it and they're going to use it and

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they're not going to question it.

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Right.

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They don't because it becomes so natural.

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You packed a lot in there.

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Yeah.

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I always have my sticky notes that I

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write my little notes as you talk.

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I'm like, look, I mentioned about that.

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I got to mention my band.

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OK, so let's see if I can go through and

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figure out like the translation one.

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Who is it who said maybe, you know, this

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quote, when you speak, when you speak my

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my second language or my my learned

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languages, you speak to my head.

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But when you speak my my first language,

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you speak to my heart.

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So your example of the spark word.

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If if I do the song and dance and draw on

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the board and try and do all of that

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stuff, yeah, OK, they can get it.

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But that translated word now

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I've got the fullness of it.

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Right.

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And five, two seconds versus five, ten,

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fifteen, twenty minutes.

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Which one are you going to take?

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Right. Like the song dance was fun.

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It was entertaining for them, maybe.

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But we just wasted a whole bunch of time.

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It's like the play where they try and get

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teachers to go on tangents.

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They do it to us all the time. Right. And

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then I like when I do

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it and yeah, I do it.

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I entertain the tangents.

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And then I explain to them

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what the word tangent is.

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And I tell them, you know, I draw that on

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the board for the tangent line.

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And I say, that's what we just did.

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And then I'll set a circle around that

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and we'll bring it back in other lessons.

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I'm like, all right. So that was a 10

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minute. What was it?

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Where did we go? Was that art? And

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they're like, what was the tangent?

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But yeah, if you can speak to their heart

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in two seconds versus the song and dance,

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then why wouldn't you do that?

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So for me, I've been in the class where

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every student speaks a

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different first language.

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That was much more

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common in my last school.

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The school I'm at now, it's

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predominantly Mandarin speakers.

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So I've actually I finally, after 20

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years of teaching,

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started actually learning.

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So for all of my parent meetings, an hour

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and a half where everybody

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else's take 30 to 45 minutes.

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Translator mine help all of the efforts

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to use language with

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whatever the hell is there.

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I thought, you know what, let's actually

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try and learn some of this.

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I just do a lingo. I need to. I've

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listened to I love to the C.I. sample

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classes in Mandarin, like

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Linda Lee has one on YouTube.

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And I just love it because I start to

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soak up a little bit more.

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But I really need a Mandarin CI language

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class that I can join.

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But I have been doing my Duolingo and I

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wouldn't face my pick up the words.

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And then with that, and I can say to the

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students, OK, well, in in

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Chinese, it's like this, right?

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And I'm guessing they know

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I'm guessing. I'm like, right.

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You know how that works. They're like,

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yeah, yeah, that's right.

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I say, OK, so then in English, we can use

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some of those

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comparisons and it saves time.

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Yeah, it does. So we don't need to just

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resort to circling questions.

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We can do, you know, it's

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like this whole toolkit.

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So I haven't I haven't abandoned

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everything that I used to do.

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I've just added to it and see

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I becomes more of my default.

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And if it's not my default for a

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particular lesson, it's

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definitely the undercurrent.

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Right. It's definitely the undercurrent.

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The third person, S,

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is the one for English.

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Yeah. Right. It'll be the first unit in

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the grammar textbook.

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And yet it's late acquired. We

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know that it's late acquired.

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So that same level one class, they did

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some writing earlier this

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week for our Halloween story.

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And I haven't I haven't given it back to

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them. All I did was I went through and I

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made a PowerPoint slide with some of the

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things that they're doing in the writing.

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And I just pulled sentences straight from

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their writing and I targeted a couple of

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different structures just because I

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wanted to do, you know,

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maybe a grammar commercial.

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But I'm actually the whole lesson.

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But they were completely leaned in on it.

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It was on the PowerPoint.

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I said, OK, here's here's actually the

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grammar label on what's happening here.

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Like third person S. But before we did

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that, we actually like it ended up being

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actually building because in one they had

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like no one that they were like, like,

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she is like ice cream.

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Like she likes ice cream. You know,

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they're those kinds of things so they

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could completely see it.

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And then I said, OK, now the next one I

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need you to know. And I

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actually talked to them.

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This is my level one class. I talked

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about how, you know, when you learned by

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by worksheets, that's language learning.

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There's this other thing, language

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acquisition. And I talked to them about

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those two strategies and they can see how

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I use both of those in class.

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I said this one, I'm going to show you

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this. And some of you know it. You do it.

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I know you know it, even though it's

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something that takes longer. And the rest

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of you, I just need you to learn it

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because your other teachers, because

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everywhere they go in the school, they're

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using the language I'm

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teaching them or trying to.

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Yes, because it's English. They're in an

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English speaking school.

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So I said, I just need you to do this

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because this is what your teachers are

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going to be looking for.

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They expect you to do this, but they'll

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never tell you. So hear it right now.

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So we actually made that really, really

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explicit from their writing. And I can

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hear around the class. They're like, I

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think that's my sentence.

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That's my. Yes, this one's yours. Pay

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attention. This one's yours.

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I had a kid who was like every sentence

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was mixing present and past.

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And but he saw it and it was really,

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really cool. And yeah,

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level one, really, really cool.

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My level three class is

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they're a little higher.

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So I do a little bit more. They get a

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little bit more grammar stuff in there.

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But yeah, trying to build a common

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language so that I can start pulling on

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some of those differences for them has

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actually made a big difference.

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Yeah. And you said something

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about that third person. S.

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And English, I use that as an example a

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lot in my classroom, you

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know, that we don't have verb.

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We don't have verb endings in English and

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we do in Spanish. And unlike French,

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because I know that's the other language

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you you learned, at least.

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What what Bill then point out to me as

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well about that, what's late acquired and

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what's early acquired is stuff that is

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early acquired is stuff

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that actually changes meaning.

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And what's late acquired is stuff that

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doesn't change meaning. So someone can

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still understand English if

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he goes he talk or she talk.

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Totally. Because we have that subject

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built that we have to add that subject

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and then the verb is there.

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Whereas and French needs that and German

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needs that they need the subjects because

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in French, although they're all spelled

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differently, they most of

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the verb sound the same.

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They're all spelled differently, but they

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sound the same. So you need the subject

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pronoun to differentiate

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who's doing the talking.

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German's the same way because in third

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and in plural, the we and the they form

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are the same verb form. It's

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the same as the infinitive.

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So, again, you need the subject there to

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tell. But in Spanish, we don't need the

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subjects because every verb is different.

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And you hear the differences. So we don't

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need the subjects. We can leave them

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completely away and go on there. And I

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use the same thing in English.

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So, yes, they forget to put the S on the

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third person singular because why it if

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you leave it off, it

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doesn't change the meaning gender.

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If you say El Chico versus La Chico, it

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doesn't change the meaning at all. It's

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still the boy, whether you said that with

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the right gender or

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not, it's still the boy.

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So it didn't change the meaning. So the

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brain saying not as important, not as

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important, not as important, but other

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things that actually change the meaning

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of what you're saying, the brain says,

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oh, I need to key into that because

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that's making a major,

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whether I make a left or I make a right.

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I've got to know that decision point. So

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I think that's really, really

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interesting that we go through.

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And it's funny that English got rid of

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all of our endings because we came from

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German and German is full of endings. And

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so we have simplified.

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They always say make a joke. German say,

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if you take away all the grammar rules

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from German, you're left with English.

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And that's kind of like what it is.

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I was also going to talk about it. You

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mentioned you need a C.I. class in

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Mandarin. One of my dear friends, Dr.

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Terri Waltz, she

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turned me on to italki.com.

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And what italki.com is, it's a kind of

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like Uber for language teachers. So

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people join this program and you get

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native speakers from around the world.

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You want, you know, Ukrainian versus

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Russian or you want Colombian Spanish or

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Quebecian Spanish versus I mean, Quebec

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and Spanish, Quebec and

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French versus Parisian French.

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You can find the actual dialects that you

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want. You're paying them in their local

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currency and they have different rates

Speaker:

depending on what they want.

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And you can do traditional tutoring with

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them. But what she did is she told them

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the basic what she wanted

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them to do in the lesson.

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She says, I want you to tell me a story

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and I want you to ask me lots of

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questions about who, what, where, when

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either or yes or no about a story.

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And I want you to do this. And she

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trained them how to do C.I. And then when

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she paid them, that's

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what they did for her lesson.

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And they're relatively cheap because what

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we think is cheap is really expensive in

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their own currency when they think about

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it in their own currency.

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You know, they don't the cost of living

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in Colombia is a lot different than it is

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in America or Canada. So they don't need

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as much money and you

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can find different ranges.

Speaker:

They've got reviews. But I really like

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that. I also recommend to my students to

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if they need some tutoring practice.

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It's a lot cheaper than the sixty dollars

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an hour that they might be charged here

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in America when you can get it for maybe

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ten dollars an hour and get an actual

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native speaker in there.

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So that's another thing I was just going

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to mention. You can find that in

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Mandarin. Yeah, that's good. Go ahead.

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Oh, no, just that's cool.

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Now, I was just saying my biggest thing

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because we never even got to my answer to

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that. For me, it's that personalization.

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Because the textbook isn't personalized

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and it's dry and they say it's pretty

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their personalized questions.

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They're just asked the same question to

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every kid. That's not personalized

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because I know that

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kid doesn't play sports.

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So why am I asking if he plays hockey? I

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know what his answer is going to be. No,

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you know, he's a skateboarder or she's a

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reader or, you know, he likes art or

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whatever the concept may be.

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So that personalization is one of the

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things because I can connect the language

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to the student. And when I make that

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connection, that was the biggest takeaway

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for me, partly because I didn't have a

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lot of experience with the textbook.

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So I didn't have anything to compare it

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with. But that personalization was such a

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big thing for me to get the kids to want

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to pay attention long enough so that the

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acquisition can happen.

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And if I talked about some random Juan

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and Maria and no offense to anybody, Juan

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and Maria, but every Spanish textbook,

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those are the common names they put in

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every story is Juan and Maria or Carlos.

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You know, it's the same ones and nobody

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cares about those people because they

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don't know those people.

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And so the personalization was a really

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big thing for me because that got my kids

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to click and to understand and to know

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what's going on and want to listen to the

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story because it was about them.

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And if it wasn't about them, it was about

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one of their friends. And it was about

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topics that they were under that they

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wanted to know more about.

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So they were more apt. And you talked

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about tangents. My kids always want to go

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in tangents. What was your first prom?

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What was your prom like?

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How did you go to your first driver? What

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was your first date like? And I'm like

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you. I go right into them. But my trick

Speaker:

is I go into them in Spanish.

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And I have every kid on the edge of their

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seats going, I want to hear because I

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asked this question. I want to know the

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answers. So they're

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really trying to comprehend.

Speaker:

And so those tangents are teaching

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moments for me and they're great teaching

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moments. And they think we got them off

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topic. And I'm like, we had a win because

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I got them all engaged in

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Spanish for the whole period.

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So, you know, it's

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kind of funny that way.

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You did not just.

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No. And you know what? Personalization

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has actually I would count that in part

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in my field column because there was a

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long time where I was doing the person.

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I'm like, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. But

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they're not leaning into it because when

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I'm talking to you, this darling over

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here is like, you know, well, we're not

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going to listen to him.

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Right. And you go around the class like

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that with a whole bunch of people, you

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know, they're still building their own

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relationships. They're really not

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connected to each other yet because

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they're in my class because

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they're all new to the like.

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They just come from some other place.

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So they're not really connected. So they

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don't really care. So then for me, is it

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triangulation when you start like, I'm

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like, all right. So who who is the

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skateboarder? Who's the hockey player?

Speaker:

What what sport does does this student

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play? What's what sport does that? Who

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doesn't play sports, you know?

Speaker:

And I started throwing it back to them.

Speaker:

And that was when the personalized

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questions, they started a little bit more

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attention. Oh, she's

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going to test us on the right.

Speaker:

Always is they're going to be a test.

Speaker:

Well, there is it's going to be live. And

Speaker:

the tangent, as long as they're in the

Speaker:

target language, they're in line with

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what you're interested in.

Speaker:

Well, that's your engaging, right? It

Speaker:

again, Dr. Krashen talks about how it has

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to be compelling, right?

Speaker:

Yeah. A comprehensible and compelling. So

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if it's what the students are asking and

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they're all in. So if one kid is asking

Speaker:

and the rest of them are sitting back and

Speaker:

they're like, how can we do this?

Speaker:

And play video games underneath the

Speaker:

table. Well, then that's not the time to

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go on. But if they're

Speaker:

all leaning in, go for it.

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Absolutely. And then you bring up

Speaker:

something I hate jargon. I

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am one who just hates jargon.

Speaker:

Now, because like, triangling and

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circling, if I have to explain what that

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is, and it's a

Speaker:

concept people already know.

Speaker:

When you tell them what PQA is and you

Speaker:

tell them what circling is and you tell

Speaker:

them what triangling is, it's something

Speaker:

they already know and probably

Speaker:

already do in their classroom.

Speaker:

But we added this weird word that I had

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to explain. I can't stand that. And I

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apologize. I know Blaine and works really

Speaker:

hard in coming up with

Speaker:

these words, but they're not.

Speaker:

I don't find them helpful. And the people

Speaker:

I teach don't find them helpful. I mean,

Speaker:

I didn't understand what PQA was for

Speaker:

many, many, many, many, many,

Speaker:

many, many, many, many years.

Speaker:

I think I understood the words,

Speaker:

personalized questions and answers, but

Speaker:

they never demoed it in demonstrations

Speaker:

because they went right into the story.

Speaker:

Until I learned, I read Ben Slavik's book

Speaker:

PQA in a week and I'm like, oh, that's

Speaker:

just conversations. That's having a

Speaker:

conversation with a kid.

Speaker:

Can we not just say that's what it is?

Speaker:

Because now you don't have to explain to

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me a term. It's a conversation.

Speaker:

As soon as you say conversation with a

Speaker:

kid, everybody in the room got what

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you're talking about. We didn't have to

Speaker:

go and explain this whole technique.

Speaker:

And same thing with circling. That's just

Speaker:

scaffold of differentiated questions. We

Speaker:

all do it as teachers. Yes, no, either,

Speaker:

or what, where, when, how questions.

Speaker:

Can we not just say what it is? Why do we

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have to come up with a term that we have

Speaker:

to explain to do that? And

Speaker:

triangling was another one.

Speaker:

That's just using your teaching verbs. So

Speaker:

it comes from the point of using the I,

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then the you, and then some form of third

Speaker:

person. They or he or she.

Speaker:

So you're getting all forms of the verb,

Speaker:

first, second, and third, three points of

Speaker:

a triangle. But why, why

Speaker:

give it a name? Triangling.

Speaker:

When I can just say, we got to make sure

Speaker:

we ask first person, second person, and

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third person questions to

Speaker:

get that verbs in there.

Speaker:

So I always find that funny. So I put

Speaker:

that in the chat there so people can

Speaker:

understand who didn't ever heard that

Speaker:

term, triangling, but it's a really

Speaker:

effective technique.

Speaker:

And it's something that we, a lot of us

Speaker:

naturally do, but then we had to add a

Speaker:

term to and then we have to explain the

Speaker:

term and which makes it more confusing.

Speaker:

I'm sorry, I went off on my own little

Speaker:

tangent there, but it's okay.

Speaker:

It actually took me a long time to see

Speaker:

triangling and circling as forms of

Speaker:

scaffolding. Yeah. And it was like a

Speaker:

little epiphany moment. I'm like, oh, so

Speaker:

really what I'm doing is I'm just putting

Speaker:

more rungs in that ladder so

Speaker:

that I can make it accessible.

Speaker:

Because that's one thing I'll draw for

Speaker:

students or parents who are arguing

Speaker:

about, you know, like, why can't they go

Speaker:

to level three? Why can't they go to this

Speaker:

level? It's like, well, would you go to

Speaker:

grade 10 now straight out of grade seven

Speaker:

now? No, you wouldn't. Right.

Speaker:

But I draw that ladder. You've probably

Speaker:

seen that image where it's like huge,

Speaker:

huge distance between the runs. I'm like,

Speaker:

we want to put these in. Like, don't you

Speaker:

want to climb this ladder? Isn't that a

Speaker:

whole lot easier? So that, that was a

Speaker:

nice little moment to realize that it's

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really, I'm going to make it easier.

Speaker:

And trialing is a really great, effective

Speaker:

way and more effective to teach it in

Speaker:

context, verb conjugations. As they hear

Speaker:

them, they see them. It's physical

Speaker:

because you're pointing to the people.

Speaker:

What do you do? I do this. What does he

Speaker:

or she do? Same kind of thing. And that's

Speaker:

where you get to the conversations too.

Speaker:

Because like you said, when you're

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talking and you're focusing on that one

Speaker:

kid, if that kid is not in, if another

Speaker:

kid in the classroom, that they're not in their friend group, they don't know.

Speaker:

They're not in their friend group. They

Speaker:

don't care. But then when you bring it

Speaker:

back to them and I call it, you know,

Speaker:

it's kind of like fishing and then

Speaker:

gossiping. So I'm fishing for information

Speaker:

from the kid and I'm focused on that one

Speaker:

kid. But then we gossip about that kid.

Speaker:

Did you just hear that? What was his

Speaker:

activity that he liked to do? Class, what

Speaker:

would he like to do? Like he's not even

Speaker:

in the room. We're talking about him. Oh,

Speaker:

he liked to skateboard. Right. He liked

Speaker:

to skateboard. Now I bring it back to

Speaker:

them. Does anybody

Speaker:

else like to skateboard?

Speaker:

So I'm bringing that other class in. So

Speaker:

I'm focusing on the kid to give him his

Speaker:

10 minutes of fame. And then I bring it

Speaker:

back with the rest of the class. So it's

Speaker:

that constant juggling and back and

Speaker:

forth, back and forth. But that's how you

Speaker:

get the other class in there. But it's a

Speaker:

really, like you said, it's a really good

Speaker:

technique to be able to do that. And it's

Speaker:

scaffolding. We're constantly scaffolding

Speaker:

so that kids don't have to make those

Speaker:

giant leaps from one level to the next.

Speaker:

That they're able, we're giving them

Speaker:

enough holding points to be able to do that.

Speaker:

Holding points to be able to move along.

Speaker:

Like, you know, ladder is so much more of

Speaker:

a tame representation of it. Think about

Speaker:

like mountain climbing. Those kids who

Speaker:

like to climb the mountain walls at the

Speaker:

gyms. Can you imagine if, you know, each

Speaker:

little stepping thing you had to go is

Speaker:

six feet apart from each other? You know,

Speaker:

some kids got a stretch. Yeah.

Speaker:

Try it now. And they're like, I can't.

Speaker:

Well, same thing. Exactly. Exactly.

Speaker:

So I was thinking it's um, I like I like

Speaker:

your term gossiping. I was thinking it

Speaker:

was it's like being a good host. Yeah.

Speaker:

Right. So I'm talking to you. But as

Speaker:

teachers were never there's I know, we

Speaker:

teach the eyes. So then we're looking at

Speaker:

that student in the eyes. But as

Speaker:

teachers, we're never only looking there.

Speaker:

We're also surveying what's happening in

Speaker:

the whole entire room. So

Speaker:

like a good host at a party.

Speaker:

You've got your one person that you're

Speaker:

greeting and you're giving them your

Speaker:

heart, you're giving all your attention.

Speaker:

But you're also having all your

Speaker:

attention, but not all your attention

Speaker:

because you're of other people at your

Speaker:

party that you need to. So what do we do?

Speaker:

We bring them in. Like, oh, so and so

Speaker:

have you met so and so so and like so and

Speaker:

so enjoy some things. What do you enjoy?

Speaker:

Do you enjoy skateboarding? Oh, you enjoy

Speaker:

mountain climbing? You know, like, oh,

Speaker:

you know, and you make that conversation.

Speaker:

You're trying to build

Speaker:

that that connection.

Speaker:

And same thing in the textbook. So if I

Speaker:

do actually go to a textbook and I do

Speaker:

grab a textbook story or I do, okay, we

Speaker:

need to do this unit and grammar or

Speaker:

whatever. Right. And so just speaking to

Speaker:

the teachers who are doing that, like if

Speaker:

you've got that article in the front that

Speaker:

you textualizes the grammar, whatever

Speaker:

that story is, you then

Speaker:

pull it into the class.

Speaker:

Anybody else here are famous scientists?

Speaker:

Anybody else here want to be a famous

Speaker:

scientist? Have you done research? Have

Speaker:

you, you know, and you bring that

Speaker:

whatever they've used as their novel

Speaker:

article or short story. Triangulate it.

Speaker:

Do the same thing. Circle. Do all your

Speaker:

circling questions, pull it into the

Speaker:

classroom and make it real. And that's

Speaker:

that's one of my bridges. If I do

Speaker:

actually go grab one of those resources

Speaker:

for whatever reasons.

Speaker:

Yeah. And you know, it's funny you go

Speaker:

party because I used to call PQA. It's

Speaker:

like, cause people never understood it.

Speaker:

And they're like, I don't understand

Speaker:

small talk. I don't do small talk. I

Speaker:

think it's like at a party. You meet

Speaker:

someone. So that's your first student you

Speaker:

do. You talk and they go, well, how long

Speaker:

did I talk for? I'm gonna

Speaker:

go until it gets boring.

Speaker:

And then you use yourself to go to the

Speaker:

bathroom or get another drink to

Speaker:

refreshing your drink and you find

Speaker:

someone more interesting to talk about.

Speaker:

It's the same thing in the classroom.

Speaker:

Obviously we're not gonna leave the

Speaker:

classroom and go pee and we're not gonna

Speaker:

go get a drink in the classroom. But you

Speaker:

know, when it, when the conversation

Speaker:

starts to get boring, that's when you

Speaker:

know you need to move on to a new

Speaker:

student. And then you compare and

Speaker:

contrast and you bring the other class in

Speaker:

to make everybody back as a whole. So I

Speaker:

used to use that party as an analogy a

Speaker:

lot because it's kind of like what it is

Speaker:

when you're meeting someone.

Speaker:

You find them interesting, you talk and

Speaker:

then when it starts to get boring, you

Speaker:

know, I gotta go use the restroom. I'll

Speaker:

be right back or I'm gonna go get some

Speaker:

more drink. I'll see around, you know,

Speaker:

something and you find someone else talk

Speaker:

to. So it's kind of the same kind of an

Speaker:

idea. And I think it's really, you know,

Speaker:

these are really great techniques and

Speaker:

strategies to be able to use that I

Speaker:

didn't really have before CI. That they

Speaker:

were not even a possibility and the

Speaker:

textbook doesn't really allow for it.

Speaker:

They talk about the PQA personalized

Speaker:

questions, but they, their version of

Speaker:

personalized is that you ask the same

Speaker:

question to all 30

Speaker:

kids. So I'm gonna ask.

Speaker:

Well you can also, sorry, you can also

Speaker:

hand it off, right? So with the party

Speaker:

analogy, what's the other trick for

Speaker:

getting away? You do the introduction

Speaker:

thing. Yeah, right. Oh, look, here's

Speaker:

this, you know, here's so and so let me

Speaker:

introduce you. Do you want to ask them a

Speaker:

question? Do you want to ask them what

Speaker:

they like? And you feed the question to

Speaker:

the student and then the student has to

Speaker:

ask the question and then the other student has to ask the question.

Speaker:

And then the other student has to answer.

Speaker:

Well, there you go. Now I can sneak away,

Speaker:

right? But I mean, obviously not as a

Speaker:

teacher, not sneaking away, but going

Speaker:

back. Right. And yeah, just make them

Speaker:

talk. It's just you want

Speaker:

to ask that question of.

Speaker:

It's just basic human skills that we do

Speaker:

with just social skills that we need to

Speaker:

do. Just bring them in the classroom. I

Speaker:

can't believe we already spent 40 minutes

Speaker:

on the first question.

Speaker:

All right, what's next? The

Speaker:

conversations really go good.

Speaker:

This is a good question. The moment you

Speaker:

knew this works, what was that one moment

Speaker:

that convinced you this is how kids

Speaker:

really acquire

Speaker:

language, not just memorize it?

Speaker:

And is there a student or a class that

Speaker:

you're never forget?

Speaker:

This is not going to be the first moment.

Speaker:

I got to think about that one. But that

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girl that I mentioned this year, right?

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She's leaning over. Oh, oh, I can. Okay.

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So there was a kid last year too. Right

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from day one, they're leaning over to

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their friends for everything. What did

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she say? What did she

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say? What did she say?

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And now she's writing here we are. What

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we've been in school for eight weeks with

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a whole lot of holidays and professional

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days in there, too, actually. So lots of

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four day weeks and five day weeks. And

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she's she can write half a page in 10

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minutes of meaningful information about

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her life or about the story. How cool is

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that? I had another kid last

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year. That's the same thing.

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At the end of the year, he's the same.

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And then at the end of the year, I was

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marking their final writings. And I was

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reading one. I'm like, this is fantastic.

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This is absolutely fantastic. It was so

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beautiful. I took up my phone and I

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actually took a picture of it and my

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exemplary work. And then I learned the

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name. I'm like, I'm gonna be kidding.

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It's him. Right? Like just it's this

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growth is beautiful.

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And they start speaking up for their

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friends. And I'm just like, wow, you are

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just leaned in and this is beautiful. So

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so that's I mean, how can that not

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convince you? I've had kids who can grow

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with grammar, too. But you know what? The

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kid that stands out who really grew up,

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like super, super grammy.

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He was with me for grammar. He was with

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Adriana, a real parent for his other ELL

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block. He had two ELL blocks. He was he

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was teaching ELL in our school at that

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time, too. So he was with me for his

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grammar block. And

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then he was with her for

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for TPRS style English block. And he was

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listening to music in English. And he was

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doing all this stuff. I'm like, he's

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growing so well. I must be an amazing

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team. Like, well, no, I'm like the

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smallest piece of that.

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He'd be late to my class because he's

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still writing her story for a for a quick

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break. He's like, I gotta get more in.

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And then he would tell me about it. I'm

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like, oh, he grew so much.

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Like, no, that was not me.

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I would say for me, she was I'm sorry,

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she was so kind and gracious with my

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approach back then. She said, you should

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try this. Yes, yes, I should.

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She is amazing. She is amazing. The thing

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for me was like that second semester I

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taught in a school that majority Asian

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kids, 80 percent Asian and most of them

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were fresh off the plane Asians.

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And so there is like no interaction with

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the textbook. It was just boring

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crickets. It was boring. They did their

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work, but they you know, nothing really

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happened with it. There's no growth. But

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then second semester, I couldn't get them

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to shut up on a speaking quiz. You know,

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I only wanted 30 seconds. No, five

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minutes set. I'm like, okay, we need to

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move on. I need to be able to get to the

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next kid. You've said enough.

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And I don't know. It was my first year

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teaching. So I didn't even know what a

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clock was. So I'm like, my second year

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teaching, like, why don't I just set a

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timer? And when the timer goes off, they

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have to stop. I never thought of that. I

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just kept letting them talk. And I have

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some kids talk for seven minutes. Some

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kids talk for eight minutes. And I'm

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like, that was just a matter of weeks

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between first semester and second

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semester. What was happening because of

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this? So that said to me, this works. I

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got kids to be able to actually talk and

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not shut up. That was the big thing.

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And then is there a student or that I'll

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never forget there is he I had an amazing

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kid. He was amazing. I had him in Spanish

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class. But in our school, we had

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something called enrichment or

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intervention. Couldn't think of another

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word. Enrichment intervention. So kids

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who had poor grades in a class, they were

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pulled in for intervention. But as a

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school, we're like, well,

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what do we do with the other 85?

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85% of the kids who didn't need that

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intervention. Well, that was where

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enrichment. So teachers would choose

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whether they were going to do a

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enrichment or a intervention class. And

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we made sure that classes like math and

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English were on opposite week. So they

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weren't trying to pull the same kids.

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Well, in Spanish, I didn't have very many

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interventions. So I did my intervention

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maybe once every every other month, I did

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it probably there. But I did a lot of

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enrichment. A lot of teachers would

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choose fun enrichment things didn't have

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to even be with your

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with what you taught.

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Like some did kid teachers like films,

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they did film studies in class, they'd

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watch a movie during this time, this

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block of an hour and a half, they would

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do a film study about it. So all

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different kinds of enrichment that kids

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would like to want to go to

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if they have good intervention.

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Well, I did one time, I did TPRS, but in

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German, for we didn't have a German

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class. So for kids who want to learn

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another language, I thought maybe this

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would be fun. Well, this kid picked up. I

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mean, this is only an hour and a half.

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This is only an hour and a half one

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class. And I did it for four weeks in a

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row. So you're talking about an hour and

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a half times four, but space seven days

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apart from each other. And he was picking

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up the German endings, like you wouldn't

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believe not just the verb endings, but

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the adjective endings.

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And unlike, you know, French or Spanish,

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where the adjective endings, you know,

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are relatively consistent in German, they

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change depending on if it's a noun. I'm

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sorry, if it's a subject, if it's an

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indirect object, if it's an indirect

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object, or it's showing

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possession, the endings change.

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Same ones. And then you got gender to

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worry about as well on there. So and we

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have three genders in German. So it gets

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really complicated. But he was picking up

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on them just from hearing it. Because we

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didn't do any of the normal stuff. We

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were just doing oral stories. We didn't

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do any readings. We didn't do anything

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else. We just did story after story after

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story. So he had no answering questions.

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No, I mean, like writing them down. No

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reading. He was just hearing the stories

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and he was picking up on these endings.

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And I'm like, this is what it's all

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about. I mean, obviously, he was a

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talented language acquirer. But it just

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shows that no grammar was needed. I

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didn't explain what a direct what

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genitive case was a nominative case were.

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And you know, all the different cases

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that we have in German, I had to explain

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any of that his ear is picking up on the

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endings. And it was so that kind of those

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two things together. And they were

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decades apart from each other, because

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that kid was maybe

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seven or eight years ago.

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And then the other thing happened in

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2002. So you know, it's a long time

Speaker:

apart. But those are two big things that

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say this works, what we're doing actually

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is working. And it's

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just powerful that way.

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I love it. I love it.

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Now we are getting towards the end. So I

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let's see this fight try to find a good

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motivational question that we can get

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other teachers involved here.

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What would you shout out to teachers

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still stuck in the textbook? What do you

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wish you could tell every teacher who's

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scared to ditch the worksheets? What big

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myth or do you wish that you could just

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erase forever something that gets them

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unstuck from wherever they are because

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they're here because they

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have some kind of interest in CI.

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They may not made the jump yet. What's

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something that you can help them feel

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more safe and secure

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about making the leap?

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Yeah, so we've got different

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personalities, right? There's some of us.

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I laugh when in your intro, you talk

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about that Pinterest. Perfect lesson.

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That is not my losses.

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No, it's not my style.

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I dream of being that teacher. I am not

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that teacher. I never will be that

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teacher and I don't need to be that

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teacher. Absolutely. There are some

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people I think they're really gifted at

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that and it's beautiful.

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That's that's great. It's not me.

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So we've got those teachers. So you might

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the people listening, we might have

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somebody out there who's like, I want it

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to look perfect. I want to be perfect

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before. And we won't

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mention any names like Adriana.

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She's amazing. Just.

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That's the person I want to grow up to

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be. Yeah, me too.

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Yeah, I'm already older.

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Older. And then and then there's the

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people who are a little bit more

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adventurous and they're willing to just

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jump in. I would say like just if you're

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more tentative, if you're you're scared,

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you're like, I can't make the perfect

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lesson, but I want to try sort of some of

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this stuff. Just

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bring the questioning in.

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Right. So when you're when you're doing

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the reading from the textbook, whatever

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it is, bring in your circling questions,

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stretch it out beyond, find out what

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those vocabulary look at your look at

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your reading. There's probably a million

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vocabulary words that are going to be out

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of bounds for your students.

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And of course, we want to teach them

Speaker:

every single one of those. But two ones

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that are important. Bring them in your

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conversation like all week, make them a

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part of just things that come up. How can

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you you've got those words in your mind?

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Like, how can I sneak that word in this

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into the conversation? How can I sneak

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this word into a question? How can we

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bring this up? And for or the topic,

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because of course, it's the

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comprehension, it's got to be meaningful.

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So like my my earlier when I talked about

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I have this one article in my mind, where

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it talks about Marie and Pierre Curry as

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an example. It's for verb tense, of

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course, it's got nothing to do with

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radioactivity or amazing discoveries of

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reading. But it's, it's about verb tense.

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But how can I bring that in, you know,

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and it talks about horse and a carrot. He

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was hit by a horse and carriage. That's

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how he died. But you can bring those

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sorts of things into the classroom and

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make them a little bit more relevant, a

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little more real. And then those words

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are just going to get

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in there because it's CI.

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That same, that same grammar unit has

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examples of superheroes, which that's how

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Marie and Pierre Curry come

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in just being super people.

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But superheroes, and that's something

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that students relate to with Marvel

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movies and cosplay and just some of the

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different things that are relevant. Like

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they connect to it. So start with those

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start with those questions.

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Yes, no questions, the either or

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questions. What about you? What about,

Speaker:

you know, a couple of QA ones out the

Speaker:

different students and then connecting

Speaker:

them so that they're asking each other or

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turning to each other, interested in each

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other around the structure that you're

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looking for and the vocabulary looking

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for to get it in there.

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The other one, if you are more

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adventurous and willing just to jump in

Speaker:

is to try write yourself a

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super, super simple story.

Speaker:

And without a ton of detail, you just

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kind of know what your and just try it.

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The first time I did an Ask a Story, the

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Halloween story that I did this, I've

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done it a few times now.

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I've got a few renditions of it.

Speaker:

But it started just a simple story. And I

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thought, you know what, I'm just going to

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do it. It's going to be a mess. But I

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wrote, I think I had maybe five lines on

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the page. And I had a couple of targets

Speaker:

that I kind of wanted.

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I wanted to teach them about Halloween

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candy and traditional candy and the fact

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that they needed to actually knock on the

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door and say, my family laughs at me for

Speaker:

Halloween because I have a few rules.

Speaker:

And they're, I swear they're, they're

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right now upstairs. It has to be in

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costume and they have to say trick or

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treat. Right. And of course you get kids

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and people are getting at me.

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They're going to give me. But even the

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kids who show up without a costume, like,

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and they're one kid

Speaker:

said, he's like, I'm a human.

Speaker:

Well, let's look at this, right? Like,

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are you, you're dressed as an adult now?

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Or he's like, yeah, yeah, I'm an adult.

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Well, you know, clearly he's not. Okay.

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Well, now you got, now you have a

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costume, right? Like we

Speaker:

try and figure it out.

Speaker:

But because I'm dealing with newcomers in

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my classroom, I'm teaching them, it's one

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of my cultural pieces. I have no problem

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with an 18 year old. I have no age limit.

Speaker:

I've given them to adult. I've given

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candy to adults. I have no problem. You

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show up at my door. You knock on the

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door. I open the door. You say trick or

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treat. I give you candy.

Speaker:

If you're in a costume.

Speaker:

I give them candy. Like, let's be honest,

Speaker:

but, but my family is like, you need to

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like, these are the rules. This is the

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engagement. So then that becomes my

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story, part of my story, right? So the

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first time I ever did it, if I get off my

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tangent and got to the point, I told the

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kids, I said, okay, I wanted to, I wanted

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to try the down this thing. So I said,

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bring your chairs up. And I cleared space

Speaker:

at the front of the room.

Speaker:

And they're like, what are we doing? And

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I had them sit in the stadium kind of

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seating. Every time I do this story, it

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works. They bring it, they bring their

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chairs up. It's totally different.

Speaker:

They're away from their desks. They don't

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know what I'm doing. And I start with

Speaker:

like, there is a family. I said, who's in

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the family. And this, they told me there

Speaker:

were five people in the, in the family.

Speaker:

And I'm thinking there's never been five

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people in my family.

Speaker:

And in my mind, I'm thinking, what am I

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going to do with this? There's five

Speaker:

people in the story. All of a sudden, but

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I went with it. Because I still had my

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character, I'd pre taught a little bit of

Speaker:

vocabulary. And I have two boys who won't

Speaker:

stop talking in the room. They're always

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talking. And it's a behavior issue. It's

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not, it's not a

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comprehension. It's actually, oh,

Speaker:

so we made them the twin little brothers

Speaker:

in the story. So what's a twin? Okay,

Speaker:

they know that. Um, but just the message

Speaker:

to the teachers would be to jump in.

Speaker:

You've got your structure, you will pull

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yourself back in line. You know, if you

Speaker:

get too far off your story, and you're

Speaker:

not comfortable, you just will. And it's

Speaker:

going to be easy to do.

Speaker:

And it's going to be awkward because

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you're going to get to a point, you're

Speaker:

going to be like, Oh my, I went on a

Speaker:

tangent too. And now I'm lost my story. I

Speaker:

don't know where I am. And so you're

Speaker:

going to force it back because you're

Speaker:

freaking out in front of the kids. It's

Speaker:

going to be okay. It's fine. They're

Speaker:

going to, they might give you something

Speaker:

that you want to work with. They might

Speaker:

give you something you don't want to work

Speaker:

with. You're just going to tell them no,

Speaker:

and it'll be fine. Or you're going to run

Speaker:

with it. Your story's going to end up in

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a crazy place. It's fine.

Speaker:

Because they're listening to you. You're

Speaker:

doing something weird and different. Kids

Speaker:

love different. They love things that are

Speaker:

weird. They were not in the textbook.

Speaker:

They're like, Miss, can't we go back to

Speaker:

the textbook? I really want to go back to

Speaker:

my desk and just write things. They're

Speaker:

not going to do it. They're going to be

Speaker:

with you. And then at the end, when

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you're thinking, Oh my goodness, this

Speaker:

took so much energy. I know what the CI

Speaker:

program is. Send them back to their desks

Speaker:

and tell them to write it down. Right?

Speaker:

And they're going to, then they're going

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to say, Oh, how do I spell this? How do I

Speaker:

spell that? That's okay. Every word they

Speaker:

ask you, just write it up on the board.

Speaker:

Just try it. So my shout out. If you're

Speaker:

stuck, either stick with what you know

Speaker:

and just start circling and triangulating

Speaker:

a little bit more. And if you are more

Speaker:

adventurous, write yourself a little ask

Speaker:

a story with what you want them to learn.

Speaker:

Make sure it shows up in the story

Speaker:

somehow or somewhere or some way.

Speaker:

Mine is, I like getting traditional in

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that Halloween story. I like getting

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traditional candy. Candy has to be

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wrapped. Right? You know,

Speaker:

modern day, it has to be like.

Speaker:

And you're teaching culture.

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Yeah.

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Yep. So we get traditional, we get

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typical, like typical Halloween costumes

Speaker:

and typical. She's a typical, responsible

Speaker:

daughter and, and anyway, we have

Speaker:

keywords. It doesn't matter. Whatever

Speaker:

your structure is, figure that out. And

Speaker:

then build and have fun with it and let

Speaker:

it be okay. And you know what? If you

Speaker:

spend two blocks on it and it's a total

Speaker:

disaster. First off, I promise you, it's

Speaker:

not a total disaster.

Speaker:

That's probably in your head. You tried

Speaker:

it. And then next time, because we are

Speaker:

who we are, you're going to think about

Speaker:

it. You're going to think, I'm going to

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do it again. But you're going to get a

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few more skills out of it.

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Absolutely. And I'll add to that. My two

Speaker:

things. One of them is not my own idea. I

Speaker:

got it from Susie Gross many, many years

Speaker:

ago, the wisest woman that I know in CI.

Speaker:

And I try to get her to come on with us

Speaker:

this year. I'm too old. Nobody can

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benefit from my knowledge. I'm like, Oh,

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no, you're aren't too old. Number one.

Speaker:

And yes, people can

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benefit from your knowledge.

Speaker:

She said, because I don't understand this

Speaker:

because I was a I just jumped right in

Speaker:

100%. I gave up a textbook completely and

Speaker:

went right in. But I know most people are

Speaker:

not like that. So she said replace one

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activity a week with a CI activity.

Speaker:

Just look in your way. What you're going

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to do that week. Find either modify it to

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make it more CI, or if it's not doable,

Speaker:

you can't modify it, make it CI. Take it

Speaker:

completely out and put in an easy CI

Speaker:

activity that you can put in the place.

Speaker:

Maybe it's just conversations. Maybe

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that's all that it is. Maybe it's a

Speaker:

picture talk. That's all you can do.

Speaker:

That's fine. And then as you master that

Speaker:

activity, it may take you a couple weeks.

Speaker:

It may take you a couple months. Then you

Speaker:

add, you take out another activity and

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you replace it with another CI activity.

Speaker:

So eventually you'll start going, you

Speaker:

know, from 90 10 to 20 80 to 30 70 to 40

Speaker:

60 to 50 50. And then now you're mostly

Speaker:

CI because you're going 60

Speaker:

40. And then you're going 70 30.

Speaker:

And a really good book, and I think he

Speaker:

still makes it if you go to ben

Speaker:

slavik.com is TPRS in a year.

Speaker:

The idea is that you add one other

Speaker:

strategy and over a course of a year

Speaker:

you'll have become a TPRS

Speaker:

teacher. It may not take.

Speaker:

It may take you longer than a year.

Speaker:

That's okay. It doesn't really matter

Speaker:

that it's just a cute title TPRS in a

Speaker:

year. But as you do it, and I'm gonna put

Speaker:

Ben slavik slavik.com in the chat, put it

Speaker:

up there so people can see it.

Speaker:

The point is you're doing it slowly. And

Speaker:

once you master a technique, a strategy,

Speaker:

then you can add something else instead

Speaker:

of trying to add all of it and everything

Speaker:

be new and be overwhelming to you.

Speaker:

My second is kind of a thing and

Speaker:

piggyback off what Vicki's already said

Speaker:

about your story. But let's say you're

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you don't think you're creative enough to

Speaker:

come up with your story. I have my simple

Speaker:

framework and I'll

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type it in here as well.

Speaker:

It's a four point framework character.

Speaker:

If I can type two is problem.

Speaker:

Three is failure.

Speaker:

And four is success. This is how every

Speaker:

story in the world, regardless of

Speaker:

language, regardless of platform, whether

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it's a story, an oral story, a written

Speaker:

story, a commercial, a movie, a TV

Speaker:

program, is a story.

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It doesn't matter. Everything follows

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this this formula. And I was just

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watching some I love 70s disaster movies

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and I was watching them

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and I'm seeing it here.

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The characters in the first 15 to 20

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minutes of the movie, they give you some

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kind of historic problem, the disaster

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that comes in and all the times they try

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to fix the disaster

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and fail miserably at it.

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So there might be multiple step threes in

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there and then you finally find something

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that works and that's when the movie

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ends. So it's the same kind of thing in

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everything that you do. So you can if you

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can't come up with that on your own.

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And that means you only have four

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sentences. There there is a boy. He has a

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problem and say what the problem is. He

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tries to solve this problem but fails and

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then he tries to solve the problem

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succeeds. If that's too much for you.

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What I always call the stories with

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training wheels is a movie talk. Movie

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talk for the win or a comic strip because

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I turn my movie talks

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into a comic strip anyway.

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So you might work from a comic strip.

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Just take away all the text and just work

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from the pictures or you can do what I

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do. Take a movie talk. Take a two to

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three minute video you find on YouTube.

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Take screenshots of the most poignant

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parts. Talk about those. There's your

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story and at the end is a reward. Let him

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watch the video and that way you've done

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it. You don't have to

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come up with anything.

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The story is there for you. All you have

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to do is ask the questions. So that's

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another way that you can start slowly in

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there and get the kids engaged.

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And I just find stories that are going to

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be pertaining interesting to my students.

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I'm not looking. I'm going to teach

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family vocabulary. Let me find a family

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story because no then then the kids know

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that you're teaching them rather than

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just doing the story.

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I can put any vocabulary in a story.

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Whatever I need to teach and because I

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work with high frequency words anything I

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put up on the screen is going to have

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those high frequency is has wants goes

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all that stuff is in

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every story you find.

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But if I need to teach family vocabulary

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that week instead of making there is a

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boy there is a brother.

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And does he have a mom and a dad or just

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a mom or just a dad or two dads and two

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or two moms is one dad a step dad and one

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dad's a real you know I can bring all of

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that in without even trying and using the

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same story and maybe next year this story

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comes up during the food

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chapter and not the family chapter.

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Family chapter. Well I can say there is a

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boy. What's his favorite foods. What is

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he like to eat for breath. You can do

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anything you want with the story that's

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there. So those are the two things I

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would suggest take one

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activity swap it out.

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And if you want to do a story do a movie

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talk or comic strip but if you do a comic

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strip take away all the text.

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It doesn't matter what language the comic

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strip was originally in because you're

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taking away the text anyway and you can

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just tell the story. I like to use for

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movie talks animated shorts. I go on

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YouTube and I search animated shorts.

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They're usually two to four minutes in

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length. They have very

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minimal language in them if at all.

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But they'll have sound effects and

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they'll have music in the background and

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I leave that in there but they don't have

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any dialogue or any language in there so

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it's perfect. You can teach Mandarin with

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it. You can teach Russian with it Spanish

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French English doesn't matter because

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there's no language in there.

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So that's what I like and I look for ones

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that I think my kids are going to be

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interested in. Like right now my kids are

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all about TikTok. So I go and look for

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animated shorts with TikTok in them and

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then the kids have to get

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more engagement that way.

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I laugh a little bit at the oh I have to

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do a food unit. You can get that in

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anyway. I do a story often in early

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October called Ian. It's a movie talk.

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And the first time I ever watched and so

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if you're listening and you're wondering

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what is it? It's search CGI

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animation Ian or Ian IAN CGI.

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The first time I ever watched I thought

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what am I going to do with this or am I

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going to use it because the kid goes

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flying backwards and shatters into a

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million pieces in the fence. What do I do with that? That's kind of traumatic.

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But there's so much you can do with it.

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And then over the years we build the

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story. I dove in pretty quick and hard

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once I actually decided to switch and try

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and just go. I tried to go from like 90

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knot CI to 10 percent CI like from that

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to like almost a total flip

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to like 90 CI and 10 knot.

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It's kind of funny too I laugh because if

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what you're giving the students isn't

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comprehensible, what's the point? But

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with that if I use that back to Ian over

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the years you know you build up the story

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and I have a book form for it.

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Right. I just I took the story that we

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wrote and I cleaned it up and I make sure

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we've got the repetition of the language

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in there. The vocabulary is given

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multiple. They get multiple exposed

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multiple points of

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exposure to the words in there.

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And then when we're all done the movie

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talk part of it and they've done their

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quick right and they've

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learned exclusion exclusion.

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Yes, they students said he's excluded. It

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took me a while before I actually figured

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out I hadn't actually taught them left

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out. He's left out like he's excluded.

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He's being left out.

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They need to include him.

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So there was that. And then in the end I

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give it to them in a book form and

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they're like, oh, here's an actual like

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like because a book is

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always so much more formal.

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You can present the different formats to

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them and all the kids are on the

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playground. So where are the parents?

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Well, the parents aren't there. Why

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aren't the parents there? You know, oh,

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it's independent time

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or there's playtime.

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You know, you can bring in all of that

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vocabulary, whatever you need. But the

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rest of it just comes up.

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Yeah, I always go for the interest

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because I always see like on Facebook

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groups who were saying I need a picture

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talk about family or some other obscure

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thematic topic. And I'm like, go for the

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interest. You can always add the thematic

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stuff in as you go along.

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You don't need to find because it's going

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to be really boring if you find a video

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just on food. You're just going to or on

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family. It's going to

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be very, very boring.

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But if you find another story that's more

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engaging to them and then bring it in and

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bring on the vocabulary you have to

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teach, it's much more engaging that way

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than trying to force

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feed them the vocabulary.

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And then they know that you're trying to

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teach them something where if they go,

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oh, we're just watching a fun video and

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he happens to be talking about it in

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Spanish, you know, we're not really learning anything.

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We're just my kids always say we haven't

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done anything in class today. We didn't

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learn anything. I'm like, really? Really?

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It's because it just doesn't look like

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traditional work, like traditional

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classes where teacher teaches something,

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kids do work, kids turn something in.

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You know, it's not that standard type of

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a thing. Well, we are over time. Is there

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anything that you want to just part

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everybody with today?

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Just try it. Just try it. Yes,

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absolutely. Absolutely. So I want to

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thank you for joining us today and let's

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get ready for our output here today. So

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that is a wrap on today's

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episode of comprehend this.

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Thanks for hanging out with us and

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pretending you're grading while you're

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listening. I see you.

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Huge thanks to our guest, Vicki Schrader

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for keeping it real and reminding us that

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CI doesn't have to be

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perfect. It just has to be human.

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If you got a laugh, a new idea, or just

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felt a little less alone in the chaos, do

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me a favor, subscribe, leave a review and

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share this episode with that one teacher

Speaker:

who still thinks grammar

Speaker:

drills build character.

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You can watch us live on YouTube or catch

Speaker:

the replay anytime on your favorite

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podcast app because we know you're

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multitasking anyway.

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And remember, ditch the drills, trust the

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process, and I'll see you next time on

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comprehend this. Have

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a good one, everybody.

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My button's not working. Hello button.

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Thank you.

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About the Podcast

Comprehend THIS!
Real talk for real language teachers—because comprehension isn't optional.
Welcome to Comprehend THIS!, the podcast for language teachers who are tired of the same old textbook chatter and want the real talk instead.

Every episode is like pulling up a chair in the copy room or leaning on the hallway wall at your favorite conference — except it’s not awkward, the coffee’s better (yours, not mine), and nobody’s grading you.

Host Scott Benedict sits down with 1–2 guests — teachers, trainers, authors, CI rebels — to swap stories about what actually works in a comprehension-based classroom.

We talk the good, the weird, the messy middle — first wins, facepalms, reading that actually sticks, grammar without drills, surviving department side-eyes, grading for real proficiency (without losing your mind), and everything in between.

It’s casual. It’s honest. It’s LIVE — so you get all the “did they just say that?” moments, unfiltered.

Pull up your favorite mug. Laugh, nod along, steal an idea or two for Monday, and remember: you’re not the only one doing it different — and doing it better.

Watch LIVE: Sunday mornings at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern, on YouTube at youtube.com/@immediateimmersion — or listen soon after on your favorite podcast app.

Comprehend THIS! — Real talk for real teachers. Ditch the drills. Trust the process. Stay human.

About your host

Profile picture for Scott Benedict

Scott Benedict

Scott Benedict has been teaching Spanish since 2001—which means he’s survived more textbook adoptions, curriculum rewrites, and “revolutionary” teaching fads than he cares to count. He runs Immediate Immersion and hosts the Comprehend THIS! Podcast, where he tells the truth about teaching with comprehensible input: the good, the bad, and the “did that student just say tengo queso again?”

After two decades in the classroom, Scott knows what actually works (spoiler: not conjugation charts) and isn’t afraid to say it out loud. On the podcast, he dives into CI strategies, teacher survival hacks, and the occasional story that will make you question your career choices—but in a good way.

When he’s not recording or coaching teachers, you’ll find him traveling, taking photos, or wandering yet another zoo because apparently, one giraffe enclosure is never enough.

Comprehend THIS! is equal parts professional growth and comic relief—because let’s be honest, if we don’t laugh about teaching, we’ll cry.