Over the past week, or two, I’ve been making a true effort to use more CI storytelling in my German classes. The transition also found it’s way into an English class where we acted out my retelling of “Sir Launcelot du Lake” rather than reading it silently or out loud as a class. The students loved it and retained the important elements of the story.
My German 1 students, were excited to use what they have learned over the year to explain characters in a class created story. Most importantly, I think, I have finally won back my German 2 students who I have struggled with all year. They are a combination of students who want to learn the language, trained to fill in worksheets by numerous other classes and those who are there because the State of Michigan graduation requirements say that they must have two consecutive years of a language in order to graduate.
On my way home to the new dog and kids, I lamented over how to tell a story about Fussball using the vocabulary I wanted them to know. At about fifteen minutes in I remembered Tina Hargaden and Ben Slavic’s Invisibles. So the new plan – brainstorm thing you need to play soccer, create a one-word image, and use German! So freeing.
I want to switch my classes to a CI conversational focus. I am excited for summer break to process the lessons learned this year into a better structure for next year’s language and English classes. Thank you Mitten CI!
Deunglisch 