The beauty of focusing on comprehensible input is that the point of the activity is not to finish the activity. (I know, hard for us teachers to wrap our heads around that at first). The point is to give our students tons of Spanish input. I love this because it takes the stress out of teaching. There is no pressure to “finish” before the bell. I found out about a “Card Talk” activity at the CI Midwest conference from the amazing Justin Solcum Bailey. It is so low prep and gives you tons to talk about with your students. I’d like to share my 5 quick tricks for success while using the CI based Card Talk activity. Curious? Read on!
Trick #1 Ask them an interesting question… about them!
Junior high and highschool students L.O.V.E talking about themselves and their interests. If you use this power wisely, you will create a classroom environment that has your students totally engaged. Ask them a personal question (see below). Then, have them write their answers on index cards and pass them in to you. OR have them fill it out in Google. Here are some sample questions I ask my students:
-What is your secret talent?
-Where is the coolest/strangest place you’ve ever visited?
-What sports do you play/ activities do you participate in?
-What is something unique about you?
Trick #2 Play a guessing game
Now that you have this wonderful information about your students, play a guessing game. “Who’s secret talent is in martial arts?” If the words aren’t cognates, write them on the board in Spanish and English.
Trick #3 Data
Before your next class, tally how many students do a particular activity. Have the class guess how many students “play football.” And make it a contest to see who can guess the most correctly. OR describe how many students do a particular activity and have your students make a bar graph. Use their bar graph in the future as part of an assessment.
Trick #4 Include your answers
Students love finding out about their teacher! Be vulnerable and share your secret talents with them! I love doing a simple “true/false” activity about myself and the students love guessing. For example: True or false? Profe knows how to waterski. Then I show them a picture. (True! It is one of my favorite activities)
Trick #5 Extension activity- Running dictations
Once you have your class preferences, write up 5 sentences that describe the students before your next class. Post them in the hallway and play “running dictations.”
I hope you love these tricks for infusing your Spanish class with CI based activities. I’m sure your students will love these as much as mine do! Try any of them out? Connect with me on Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to hear about it!
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