Language game to provide more comprehensible input: Guess Who?

https://goo.gl/photos/JPio26rjA9UosKXR7

As I mentioned in my previous post about story listening, I am part of an amazing group on Facebook called “CI Liftoff” where educators around the world are discussing about how to use pure comprehensible input in the language acquisition process.

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How to build up to a story in French?

My online learners are acquiring French at a fast and steady pace and it is amazing to watch them progress naturally. Unlike last school year when I was trying to use TPRS along with my other resources, I have decided to give it a full go following each of the three steps…

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How can a children’s book be for everyone?

I am always on the look for interesting funny stories and at the same time stories which are comprehensible to my learners. A few months ago when I was busy breastfeeding, I was reading the TPRS bible “Fluency through TPR storytelling” by Blaine Ray and Contee Steel and one chapter entitled “Kindergarten Day”

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Storytelling: arranging to go out

I am using stories more and more often in my lessons as I believe my students greatly benefit from listening to them as well as reading them and writing new ones. Apart from inventing my own stories, my favorite source is The Comprehensible Classroom which has a wealth of fantastic resources and story scripts.

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arranging to go out1 comprehensible100 comprehension250 create6 creative13 creativity4 film41 free time7 go out2 hobbies8 key structures8 listening52 output44 project11 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 TPRS71 video350 writing55 youtube67

Spanish story script number 4: Lo siento.

Here is another story script which follows the last story about little Pedro losing his notebook. This story has lots of repetitions to focus on “lo siento” and “no sé qué hacer“. I am telling those stories using wooden ice cream sticks which the students love.

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acquire50 acquisition65 acting1 ci145 comprehend52 comprehension250 comprenhensible1 drama28 engage150 engaging10 fluency107 fluent57 fun413 funny256 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 intonation2 key2 listening52 motivate151 motivated143 motivating1 motivation201 practice33 proficiency12 proficient9 pronunciation11 reading252 repetition42 repetitive22 retell3 retelling4 script201 second language44 skills26 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 vocabulary256 words18

Story script in Spanish

I am huge fan of the Michel Thomas method. The only thing that is bothering me is that it hugely relies on translation. I was trained to use the target language as much as possible in the classroom and my mentor taught me a few tricks to get the students to understand me in the target language like using lots of cognates.

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acquire50 acquisition65 circle3 circling5 classroom9 cognate1 command11 connection105 customized2 Education20 instruction5 items1 key structure10 language45 Martina Bex11 method20 Michel Thomas4 moods16 personalized16 PQA8 proficiency12 proficient9 questions74 read40 reading252 script201 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 translate7 translation4 verbs7

Mary Glasgow magazines

 

Some time ago I wrote a post about the Mary Glasgow website and how I used its free Spanish articles and audio versions. Last week I received several French sample magazines and the “Bonjour”

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acquire50 acquisition65 advanced294 articles2 beginner318 benefits5 Canada24 ci145 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehension250 confidence92 confident8 culture246 Education20 engaging10 flow9 fluent57 France221 francophone81 free voluntary reading32 French41 fuency1 fvr53 high interest7 independent learning5 input47 interest10 interesting23 intermediate707 languagelearning9 languages13 learners6 magazine3 Mary Glasgow6 proficiency12 proficient9 québec19 readers9 reading252 self confidence54 self confident37 target9 target language12 target structure20 texts1 TPRS71 vocabulary256