Comprehensible-Based Teaching From Elementary to High School: Three Teachers and Three Perspectives

Have you ever wondered how comprehensible input-based teaching varies across different educational levels? How does it look in an elementary school compared to middle and high school? Episode 105 has the answers!

Tonya Kindberg, Kathy Perry, Graciela Enceñat, and I explore how comprehensible input-based teaching looks at different educational levels, the similarities, and also the differences. 

Implementing CI

To begin our episode, I asked each of these teachers how they got started with CI. Kathy Perry has been teaching middle school Spanish for 33 years and was introduced to comprehensible input methods by Dr. Karen Lichtman. However, she has only been using CI for the past five years. Hear more of her story on why here. 

Graciela, who teaches high school, learned about TPRS at a conference with Blaine Rae and later incorporated CI into her teaching. Tonya is about to start her 27th year in education. During COVID, she was given the opportunity to work as an elementary school teacher teaching Spanish at a new magnet school, and she loves it! Tonya uses podcasts, resources, and presentations to gain CI knowledge and has seen growth in her students’ language learning over time.

Challenges

Next, I asked each of my guests what challenges they have faced implementing CI in their classrooms. Kathy explained that the biggest challenge she faces is convincing her middle schoolers to dive into novels without immediate language learning goals. Listen to episode 105 to hear how she handles this challenge.

Kathy also shared what works well for her middle schoolers. She shared, “Because at their age they like to talk about themselves, I use Calendar Talk and student interviews to engage my middle schoolers, varying the activities to avoid losing their attention”. Students love the classroom jobs as well.

Kathy and I agree that middle schoolers want to learn through fun, movement, and real-life stories. One other strategy that Kathy mentioned is using the app Classroom Screens, which allows teachers to create a customizable dashboard with widgets, including a timer and agenda. I’ve used it in the past and will use it again after we discussed all the benefits of it. 

Incorporating Comprehensible Input in Upper Levels

Graciela then shared her challenges with her high schoolers. Her biggest challenge is that she struggles to engage students in AP courses due to their reliance on memorization. She also feels that she has to retrain them from memorization and address a lack of understanding of the importance of language.

Comprehensible Input in Elementary

Tonya loves her students’ eagerness to learn and the fun activities they enjoy, such as the star student interview and playing lotto. The star student interviews help build these young learners’ confidence and competence in Spanish. Check out Star Student Interviews here. For elementary students, Tonya suggests using stories, music, and response cards to engage students in Spanish class. It’s also important to have a daily routine for student interviews.

When You See It Working

I then asked the teachers to tell us about the time when they realized that CI was working for their students’ learning. Kathy shared with us that she knew it was working when she had parents tell her that their children were using Spanish to speak with distant relatives and randomly saying Spanish words for common household items. 

If you’re worried about your heritage or native speakers, don’t. These strategies work for them as well because the activities you use in class will have everyone learning something. Tonya said that her moments are seeing the growth over time with her students. 

Just like Kathy, she hears from the parents of her elementary students that their children come home and share the songs, stories, and Spanish words with their families. Storytelling is so important in language learning because it has the ability to help students retain information and communicate effectively in the future no matter the age.

Graciela also shared a story of receiving parent feedback to know that CI was being successful. Listen here or above to hear all of their experiences. For me, I love that stories are so impactful with my students. When you hear that it’s not only about the language that’s really compelling, but it’s also about what they learn through these stories, that also tells you it’s working. 

Growing With Proficiency Academy

Since Tonya, Kathy, and Graciela mentioned the GWP Academy in our discussion, I ended episode 105 by asking them to share an activity or something they’ve learned from being a member in the Academy. If you’d like to find out more about the membership or to sign up, click here. 

Graciela really enjoys using Calendar Talk and learned about it in the Academy. She says that it anchors her class, and it’s predictable. It can be as long or as short as you want. It’s such a flexible activity, and it has language, culture, activities, connection, and community all in one.

Tonya has found that using storytelling and games that she has learned about in the Academy has greatly improved students’ understanding and engagement with the material.

Kathy said that she uses all of the materials that the Academy has for its members to use. But what has been a game changer for her, is that she has really worked at scaffolding and learned a lot through the Academy on how to implement it. Modeling and scaffolding are so important for comprehensible input. To listen to our whole conversation and hear advice for new teachers such as starting small and building from success, listen above or here. Read more about the Growing With Proficiency Academy here.