Fighting the -itis: a look at review games

The time of year from the beginning of April through the last day of school can be major crunch time for Latin teachers, or any foreign language teacher. Final exams must be written and revised, year-end paper work piles up, and phone calls to parents must be made. Many teachers assign final projects, assignments, or tests in those final weeks. Students get tired, irritable (well we all do), and willing to do anything to bump that grade up a few points. Even in my two and a half years teaching, this pattern has been easy to pick up on and easy to become a part of. This year, I wanted to do something different. We spent 3 weeks prior to the last two weeks of school doing Project Based Learning (which I plan to post on after some more experiments) and the last two weeks reviewing. In this post, I plan to lay out some very basic, yet completely customisable review games as well as my rating of each. Some schools have already let out, some (like mine) have one week left, and some have a few weeks left. I hope that, either way, you find some things you can use and I'd love to get some ideas from you as well!

1. Progressus -- This game was introduced to me by my father, Bob Patrick, although I am not certain if it is his originally. The rules are fairly simple. The goal is to get all students into the "safe zone" which you designate in the classroom. Each student gets asked a question. If the student gets it right, they go into the safe zone where they wait. If they get it wrong, the question is asked of the safe zone. Those students not in the safe zone do not get to collaborate and mus answer on their own. Students in the safe zone are allowed time to collaborate (I give 20 seconds). If they get it right, they are safe. If they get it wrong, they go back to their seats and must earn space in the safe zone again. I have found that many students really enjoy this game. They get exposure to many questions in one class period without a lecture or simply filling out a review sheet. They can see what other students know, learn from them, and are often surprised and just want they do know themselves. The game can go on a whole period (and often does), but if you offer an incentive and let kids know the day before, most of the time they will review and come prepared. I don't like this game for every chapter test, but I do enjoy it for a cumulative review. 
2. Speed Dating -- I learned this game from this website. I love many of the games and ideas this website has to offer and I encourage you to give it a look! I am able to adapt most of the activities to a spoken method classroom as well. In this game, you have students fill out a time card. One person for each time slot (I do 1 pm- 8 pm). I often require that they never use the same person more than once except in odd circumstances. The teacher calls out a time and students move to that partner. The teacher asks two questions with time to answer between each one (I give two minutes). I like this activity because it gets the kids moving and talking to people they normally would not. Students bounce ideas off each other, ask each other questions, and work together to get the answer. You can simply do this as a review or collect it for a grade. I have found that most students enjoy this game, but those who prefer a passive role in the classroom will complain about moving or working with people they don't like. This game takes the whole period, but you can review a lot of material in that time. 
3. Mala Malis -- The lovely Rachel Ash made Apples to Apples for Latin and I took the time this year to print out the cards and use it to review vocabulary for my kids. Next year, I plan to let my kids make their own decks as an assignment to review vocabulary from the previous year. The rules are the same for basic Apples to Apples. Each player gets 5-7 red cards (which all have vocabulary on them). One person chooses a green card (with another word on it) and the other players put down cards they think make the best, funniest, most logical, etc connection to the green card. The person who chose the green card, chooses their favourite and a new leader is chosen and a point given. This game give the students an opportunity to make their own connections to vocabulary and imagine new uses for words. It gets them thinking. I like to use this game in stations where students rotate and play many games in one class period. I have yet to find a student who does not enjoy Apples to Apples... in Latin or English.
4. Jeopardy -- This is often the go to for teachers doing review. Most students recognise the game and can easily follow along. You can do a variety of questions and it includes a "betting" aspect which makes the game more interesting. I rarely use this game. Some students want to play the game just as they do on TV and argue with students who don't answer in question format. Some students argue about how many points one can "bet", etc. For me, there are too many places where students can get upset over minor details. Set-up can take a while too: choosing teams or choosing students to go first, etc. I enjoy being able to put questions into categories, but find it difficult to to make them harder and harder each step without overdoing it or underdoing it.
5. Volo/Nolo -- This game came from a website that Rachel Ash led me to. I like that this game comes with cards and instructions already to go. The game was easy to play and the students really enjoyed it. For upper level courses, I changed the "volo/nolo" part to a "spero/dico". This way they had to practice indirect statements. I'd love to see other versions of this game that practice sentence construction in a controlled way!
6. Simple Silly Sentences -- This game is also from this same website. While students also enjoyed this game, many found the directions a bit hard to follow. That being said, it was easy to explain and once they understood it, they really enjoyed it. This game is really easy to modify for upper levels, and since it includes animals, the kids really enjoyed making the sentences and getting the points.
7. Vocabulary Boggle -- This is a game that I got from Patrick Yaggy. Very similar to the idea of Boggle, this game review vocabulary and, like Mala Malis, gets kids thinking about ways vocabulary words are used and how vocabulary words go together. Students are put into groups and the teacher chooses the vocabulary list. Students are given a set time (I give 5 minutes) to place words into categories (i.g. Dinner cena, vinum, cibum, mensa, triclinium). After this, students compare lists in the group and for each unique word and category, students get points. I find that it challenges students to start thinking about how words play off each other. They want to beat their group mates, so they get creative with their categories. 

This is not, by any means, a complete list. These games are the ones that I used this year and have used most often. I fully recommend that you check out the links listed. They are very cool websites with lots of ideas! I find that these seven games are very easy to play with all levels and every level can get some sort of review out of it.

So, I'd like to ask you for some feedback here (shameless begging really). Did you have a different experience with these games? Are there games not listed here that should be? I am always looking for new ideas and I'd love to feature some of your suggestions too!

Beating the End-of-Year Doldrums with Video

We all feel it.  It's the end of the school year.  The high school I work for is testing for the next week, and then it's finals, and then it's, well, over.  The teachers and students are really just counting down the days and ticking off the minutes until that final bell rings and we can all do a little resting.

As much as I love teaching, I pour so much energy into my profession and work so many hours in a week that once summer comes, I am very, very ready for it.  Not that I'll stop working in the summer, but I'll at least get to tone it down.  And stop the 5:30 AM wake-up call.

So at a time of year when all of us, student and teacher alike, are having to force a facade of energy and eagerness, I like to introduce a video project.

Video has come a long way in the nine years I've been teaching.  VHS was the main modus operandi for my students when I started, and editing video was a complicated process involving multiple VCRs and wires, and which degraded the quality of the picture with every copy.  I usually had to help my students edit the video because it was something I had done often in college (I had two VCRs simply for that purpose) and not something they had felt the need to do before.  When I started doing video projects in my classes, it was neat, and rare, and really hard to accomplish.  Now making a video is as easy as turning on a cellphone and many computers come with video editing software already packaged in them.

The video project has enlivened my students.  Comparing last week, with its half-dead eyes (to be fair, we had a performance final to prepare for and take, so it was not an exciting week anyway) and barely-concealed sighs, to this week, with laughter and natural activity abundant, is like comparing Saltines to chocolate truffles.  And they're doing basically the same thing (composing in Latin).  The difference is the method of assessment.

Students have choice in this project.  I am not yet ready to relinquish control and leave the project destination open-ended with only a couple of requirements (though Nicholas Provenzano makes a great argument for doing so here), but I really value the chance to see my students shape their own expression for a story we've discussed in class.  I hand out a rubric, discuss it with them, and then let them go--usually with exciting results.  I check in with my students constantly, roaming around the room, answering questions, and offering direction if they are having a hard time figuring out their focus.

That said, the basic concept of the project is simple: write a script (in Latin) for a video about either a myth or historical story we discussed this year in class.  I have videos ranging from simple to complex.  I have videos that evince a strong love for cinematography and acting.  I have videos that have surprised me--students who have spent the year coasting suddenly have come to life for this project.

Students get to create something in this project.  The end goal is not some essay students didn't care about written on a piece of paper.  The goal is a video, a product, that has the potential to become something students are proud of and want to show off.  I hope some day to collect videos into a library of simple Latin stories--but for now, I have at least one video I can offer as an example:

This has been a great way to review Latin (we'll do a more formal review next week) and at the same time just have fun with Latin.

What are some ways you've used video in your classes?  I think I want to include more next year and always appreciate inspiration.

SCOLT and JCL -- Compelling and Comprehensible Input

I need to ask everyone's forgiveness as I have not posted in a while. Between getting ready for SCOLT, state convention, National Latin Exam, finals, and a wedding, I have been a bit overwhelmed... But now I am back and am overflowing with ideas!

I had originally planned on doing separate posts for my SCOLT presentation and the workshops I did for this year's Georgia Junior Classical League state convention, but, after the fact, it seems that it might be better to do them together. I will give a brief description of what I presented on and then I will close with my thoughts and links to my presentations or materials.

* Cultus Civilis et Lingua Latina Dicendo (Culture and the Latin Language by Speaking) -- One of the great difficulties I think we FL teachers face is that we are often presented with textbooks and materials that are disjointed. We are given one set of vocabulary, a grammar topic, and a culture essay that, often, have very little to do with one another or are not easily done together. Furthermore, we are often given a culture essay in English which many teachers feel complicates the issue. We already do so much work, why should we/would we complicate it further by not using what we are given and creating brand new culture materials in the target language? The purpose of my presentation (the first I've ever done in front of colleagues!) was to show that using Krashen's Compelling Input and Comprehensible Input theories, Where Are Your Keys, and other techniques makes teaching culture easy in the target language and it can be used to reinforce other ideas. If we do our best to give students comprehensible ideas and in context material, compelling ideas that they are interested in, and we do it in a way that reaches all the students, we can succeed without significantly adding to the amount of work we have.

* GJCL State Convention -- Keith Toda, a colleague of mine and a guest blogger, and I put on a series of workshops teaching students and teachers Where Are Your Keys techniques. Keith used traditional WAYK objects to teach techniques and I used animals to demonstrate applying these techniques to different scenarios. We had many repeating students and teachers who attended all four workshops and each time we also had new students. We got lots of positive feedback from both those in attendance and their teachers.

I am more and more convinced that comprehensible and compelling input are required for student success in foreign language (and well, really anything). If they don't understand and they don't want to understand, then we will get nowhere. Does this require more work? Sometimes, yes, but not always. When you put vocabulary, grammar, and culture together you hit three things at once, which minimises your work eventually. The more you do it, the easier and faster it will be. Over the next few weeks I will be posting on ways that I am using Compelling and Comprehensible Input in my classroom. Below are links to my presentation materials, where available, and links to Krashen as well as my other WAYK posts.

Links
WAYK posts : 1, 2, 3
My SCOLT presentation (and other teacher materials)
Stephen Krashen's work
Rachel Ash's post on WAYK

Building Culture with Legos

This is now also hosted on my new site, as a Throwback Thursday post!

I love Legos.  As I type that, I realize that I start my posts with those words a lot: "I love".  I think, though, that it's my passion for all the things I do in class that lets me know I'm in the right place.  I always have something to get excited about.  Today, it's Legos.

Legos are amazing.  You can use them to make almost anything.  I remember the first time I got a Lego piece that had a hinge.  It opened my building world in a new way--Legos with moving parts meant building airplanes with functioning cargo bays, rockets with a door for the astronauts, a drawbridge, and, with a bit of thrust on my side, a sort of catapult that worked.  I remember these different projects because through Legos, you get to imagine, plan, and construct a concept.  It becomes personal.

I can't bring my students to Rome.  It'd be neat, but it's also prohibitively expensive, so only a few would be able to go, even if I were in a position to design and carry out a student trip.  I also can't bring Rome to my students.  Not only is this also prohibitively expensive, I am pretty sure there are laws and regulations regarding moving large marble (okay, marble-faced) ruins between nations.

I can, however, have my students build Rome.  I would not even be the first person to do this.  Over the years it has become tradition to ask students to build a model of some part of Rome: the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the temples and aqueducts and streets (it's especially fun to build Roman streets using food!).  Building was a major part of Roman life and experience; Rome was always under construction in some form of another, much like cities today.  Romans were known for and proud of their engineers and architects.

Recently, though, thanks to a student's idea, I asked students to bring in Legos.  Any they would like to donate.  We didn't get a huge collection going (though now I know I want a huge collection, so it will happen in time), but we got enough to designate some Legos to each of five groups of students.  We had hit a section of the book that discussed Roman military camps, and students were not really diving into that particular cultural topic.  We needed a way to connect to the camps emotionally, or at least personally.

Legos make connections.  Almost all children play with Legos, which means there is automatically a positive emotional response to the nostalgic toys.

In the five groups mentioned above, I asked students to do their best to rebuild the Roman military camps they saw drawn in their textbooks.  They had a pile, or bag, or box, of Legos and their ability to convert concepts symbolically.  Each group worked together diligently, instructing, sometimes arguing with, each other to create the best representation of a Roman military camp that they could build with a limited supply of Legos.

It was fun, and each group came out of the activity with the ability to describe the camp layout to me.

They included details such as tables in the mess hall.

Next year, I want to do something similar, but take it much deeper.

When we learn about the layout of a Roman city, why not build a Roman city?  It can be done cross-class, with groups in each class responsible for different parts of the city.  I can create a map layout on a cheap, dollar-store shower curtain, and they can piece their city together on the map.  We can follow up with "tours" of the city (maybe I'll bring some of my son's minifigs--the Lego people--to help focus the discussion), telling stories that take place around the city, and generally using the huge Lego model for a while in order to really help students get familiar with the baths, amphitheaters, etc., in a meaningful way.

If I require students to communicate in Latin while they build, imagine the deeper, more creative thought they have to reach in order to get the job done.  Yet they will be using Legos, which will make it a much more appetizing type of activity.  Building with a familiar and generally well-loved toy will soften the effort it will take to think and speak in Latin.

I think the next step would be to move outside the range of Legos and have students achieve simple feats of engineering that reflect Roman achievements, such as aqueducts, catapults, and the arch, with basic supplies such as bendy straws, rubber bands, and popsicle sticks.  If they have to solve problems (here are these items, now make this) in Latin, it forces students to use Latin in a very meaningful way.

Bringing culture to life using Legos will help my students transition from building-block language to truly mastering it as a communicative force.

Creating Language-Seekers: My Recent Journey Through Where Are Your Keys

Not so long ago, Miriam and I were given the chance to attend a workshop over Where Are Your Keys and, even more exciting, the chance to pick the brain of WAYK creator, Evan Gardner.  Miriam has already posted her thoughts and experiences concerning both the workshop and using the method in her own classroom.

I have held out posting over Where Are Your Keys, partially because Miriam has already posted about it and partially because I had not had the chance to really apply what I've learned.  I would have only been able to reflect Miriam's experience and Evan's advice, and had nothing of my own to add.

However, I got the chance to start a class fresh only a few weeks ago.

In addition to teaching Latin I and II, I get to teach a rotational 7th grade class that changes out every nine weeks.  It's bittersweet--I am always sorry to lose my current class, but always excited to start anew and usually take the chance to experiment on the new class.  Since I was dying to see WAYK in action, I took the opportunity that this newest class change offered me.

I have been honored by Aaron Myers, author of "The Everyday Language Learner," with a guest post on his blog.  It begins my WAYK journey and gives an overview of the method.  I recommend reading it first, then returning here to see how I take a method based in small group instruction and apply it to my 25-30 student classes.

Because that was my only hesitation, once I had the chance to experience WAYK at Evan's hands.  The method is intended to create layers of students and teachers, at varying levels of linguistic skill, and really is not meant for classroom use.

Luckily, I've had Miriam's example to help me, as well as her encouragement.  As I've gotten more experience teaching, it can be surprisingly frightening to try a new method, and I'd be a liar if I didn't admit that the first day with my new 7th grade class I stalled as long as I could (introducing myself, my family, my teaching, Rome, Latin, mythology, and anything else I could grasp at) before finally diving into the language.  The thing about that fear, though, is that it only leads to one thing: stultification.  Teaching is not just about imparting information and skills to students; it's about self-growth, personal discovery, and modeling learning for your students.  I refuse to languish in the safety of my known methods--so I continue to learn, experiment, and take chances.  Even when I surprise myself with previously unknown weakness.

This method does require preparation.  At least at first, at least if you don't already know American Sign Language (as I don't), at least if you want to set yourself up for success.  Once you get moving, though, there is also a level of freedom that I haven't known before with any other system of language learning.

First Steps
To prepare for my first few days of Where Are Your Keys instruction, I found an iconic image of a family (the Simpsons in this case) and of a cat, dog, and mouse (Tom, Jerry, and Spike--and the kids knew them!).  I also learned the signs for "What is (that)?", "mother", "father", "son", "daughter", "baby", "cat", "dog", and "mouse".  Miriam had told me that her students ran through eight words in one day, so I wanted to make sure I had enough to teach.

After stalling, on the first day I began by teaching students "slower" and "full".  It was important to me that my students have the chance to tell me if things are moving too quickly for them and they can't learn any more.  I then taught them "copycat" and "three times", all of which are WAYK techniques that help to organize the learning process.

Finally, we got to the words.  I showed the picture of the family and had them "copycat" me by repeating everything I said, both questions and answers.  They also repeated all of the hand signs I used when I spoke.  We did each family member three times and then began to cycle through a set of questions and answers--here I fell more into my TPRS training than Where Are Your Keys, but I still modeled answering each question in complete sentences.

The question and answer pattern is as follows:
What is this? (Quid est?)
This is a mother. (Mater est)
Is this a mother? (Estne mater?)
Yes, this is a mother.  (Ita vero, mater est.)
Is this a baby? (Estne infans?)
No, this is not a baby. (Minime.  Non est infans.)
Is this a mother? (Estne mater?)
Yes, this is a mother.  (Ita vero, mater est.)
What is this? (Quid est?)
This is a mother. (Mater est)

The point of course is repetition.  Using full sentences and speaking with the movements help students produce the language more quickly than any other method I've used.

After students had a comfort level with each of the family members, I ended "copycat" and started questioning them so they could answer me themselves.  Since we had practiced answering in complete sentences, they naturally fell into that pattern, and even though I was asking them questions over different pictures and requiring different answers, we had spoken every possible answer at one time or another, so there was little stress over answering my questions, even though I wanted complete sentences.  Any pauses resulted in moving the hand first--then lips would follow.

My 7th grade students get "full" (get to the point they don't feel like they can take in any more information) after about 4-5 new items.  Also, when you're just starting the method, students can get full pretty quickly because they are learning more than just the new words--they are learning a new system of thought and new expectations.

We actually spent the second day just reinforcing the family words.  Then we moved into "dog", "cat", and "mouse".  At this point, the basic format of class was fine, but a little tedious.  My students needed a change of format.

Where Do I Go From Here?
This is where Miriam has already been paving a road for me to follow.  She decided to create small groups, and, inspired by the fact WAYK also seeks to create students who can teach, chose student leaders to help their groups acquire new vocabulary.

I asked students to let me know if any of them would like to lead a group themselves, and had five volunteers--exactly the number I wanted--come to me after class to give me their names.  The next day I brought in a print-out of the family and animal images we'd been using in class and handed a copy to each group leader.  I also reserved a copy of two new images--images of the actions "punch" and "eat".  The class received instructions along these lines:

In a couple of minutes, I'm going to ask you guys to get into groups.  Each group has a leader, and the leader is going to take you through the exercises we've been doing in class.  When you guys really have this down, your leader is going to come to me and learn new words.  Then your leader is going to return to you and teach you those words the same way we've been learning words in class.  As long as you guys show me you can do well in your groups, I'm going to let you choose your own, because I want you to choose people you can learn with.

Then I directed each group leader to a section of the room and told students they could group up.  If you have taught 7th grade, you will know how magical it seemed: all 25 students were quietly sitting in small groups, speaking only Latin, responding to their leaders.  And enjoying themselves.  I would see a sign from the leader, and corresponding signs from the rest of the group.  And smiles.  When energy began to wane, I moved everyone out of their groups and we went back to whole-class format as a means of making sure everyone learned the words and signs correctly and as a simple way to bring closure to the activity.

This made me wonder, where else could I take this?

Moving the Classroom Outside
I'll admit, after spending a winter cloistered up in my classrooms and wilting, I really didn't need much of an excuse to take my students outside.  But I was also inspired by the freedom I saw when I moved learning into independent groups.  Plus, because of the need for Where Are Your Keys to employ "obvious" objects for discussion (the idea is expressed more thoroughly in my blog post on ELL), I can't imagine anything that could provide me with more obvious objects than the outdoors, with plants, cars, roads, sun, and sky, to start.

Of course, like other activities, this required preparation.  When I fully decided I wanted to take students outside, I had to figure out how many signs I wanted to learn and how best to impart them.  To stall while I figured this out, I did a lesson over emotions (which resulted in some fun ASL--my favorites are "sad" and "scared", but my students prefer "angry").  To keep the concept "obvious" I chose to use the same character in each emotional state so students would be able to distinguish between the emotions instead of focusing on the characters.

By the day of, I had practiced four outdoor signs for our class, found pictures for those words, and of course had them ready to present in Latin as well.  We went outside, we were all excited to be out-of-doors, and we proceeded to work on the words "sky", "school", "street", and "grass".  It was really fun for them--us--to get to really experience the things we were talking about.  From there I gave out the pictures to group leaders (my students have formed pretty regular groups by now) and let them practice the words in small gatherings around the school lawn.  Once they felt they knew the words well, I went to each group and let them "prove" what they know--the leader ran them through question and answers over the new information.  I then handed them a Latin-English dictionary and let them travel around the area and choose words they wanted to know.  Each group had to turn in a list of ten words.  They really enjoyed it, from the freedom to walk around to the freedom to choose Latin they are interested in.

What I've Seen
Since I've started using WAYK in the last few weeks with my 7th grade, I've seen my students greet myself and each other in the halls in Latin.  I've heard small discussion in Latin and students mixing and matching the words we've been using to make their own sentences.  This is all, well, normal in a communicative approach.  However, it's accelerated.  I've only taught these kids for three weeks and they already feel secure enough in Latin to speak to each other in the language even when I don't require it.  One of the girls who was the first to give me the "full" sign is also one who volunteers to lead as well as one who speaks to me in full Latin sentences in the hall.  She is a joy in my class, and much of that is due to an approach that helps her internalize the language and output it as well.

Yes, of course there are those students who are reluctant to sign.  And there are those students who try to get by with just signing and not speaking Latin along with the motions.  There are always students who are very aware of their images and don't want to look silly, or students who really just wish I would hand them a list to memorize and leave them alone.  Those students are few, and I talk to each one-on-one, let them know I require them to try, but don't ask them to be perfect.  Generally they come around, and I don't let them slip by because that kind of reluctance can infect the entire class.

Mostly, I've seen joy.  We laugh together and try together.  I make mistakes sometimes, just like my students, and so it makes it easier for them to join in with me as we celebrate our mistakes while we learn together.  They know I am learning ASL as we go (what a great side-effect!) and that this is a completely new method for me.  I haven't had this much fun teaching in a while, and that's saying something, because I often have fun in my classes.  But the freedom and shared experience I've been able to create with Where Are Your Keys is something different, and worth continued exploration.

Okay, So Now What?
I have a couple of ideas to explore the freedom given to me by a method that teaches students to teach, teaches them to seek language for themselves.

First I want to use the lists of Latin words that students made outside last week.  This will be a great chance to review what we've learned (we're currently on spring break) and for them to explore words that they have chosen and mean something to them.

In their groups, students will choose two words from their lists (more, perhaps, if this seems to be moving too fast or too easily) that they would like to teach to the rest of the class.  I will take them to the computer lab, where they will find out the ASL signs for their words, and then they will work in their groups to learn the words well.  Of course, I will be travelling around between the groups to help them and advise them.  Then student groups will take turns teaching the signs to the rest of the class in a whole-class setting before breaking into new groups that include at least one student from each group to teach the words to each other.  If I'm lucky, I'll learn new words too in this setting.  Lastly, I want another foray into the outdoors for us to enjoy our new vocabulary.

Another thought I've had over the last few weeks is to give students simple Latin books, and after building their vocabulary for the books myself first, let the groups look at the books, choose vocabulary to teach the class to make the books clear, and interpret them visually in some way to help them tell the stories to the rest of the class.  This concept is less formed.  But it's a seed of an idea, and something I would not consider doing before I had used WAYK.

And that's what is exciting to me.  There is so much freedom.  I am not the only person in the room that can offer knowledge.  That changes everything and lets me structure the student-centered classroom I have always wanted to create.

SCOLT2012: The Art of Asking a Story Demystified

Friday I gave a presentation at the Southern Conference of Language Teachers titled "Fabulas Mirabiles Rogare: The Art of Asking a Story Demystified".  I promised attendees that I would do a write-up of my presentation's topic.

My Introduction to TPRS

Before I first started teaching, but after I knew for certain that I would be a teacher, specifically a Latin teacher, I attended a class over language pedagogy.

I already knew that I didn't plan to teach Latin the way I was taught.  Charts and graphs are great for learners like me--I also can learn math from a textbook and love logic and grammar and rules.  I was, however, under no illusion that other students liked learning and applying rules like I do.  So I was looking at modern languages for inspiration, something that could help me take my own Latin knowledge (which was decidedly based in charts and puzzle-like analysis) to a place that included speaking, listening, and producing Latin.

Enter Jason Fritz and TPRS.  One day, in my pedagogy class, Jason was invited to take over the class and teach our entire 3 hour session to let us experience "Teaching Proficiency with Reading and Storytelling" (TPRS).  My previous language experience had included three semesters of college Spanish, but I couldn't even really respond intelligently to "Como estas?" (I still got A's--because of grammar!).  After Jason's lesson that night, I went home and spoke to my husband--who can understand some limited Spanish--for around 20 minutes purely in Spanish, repeating a story that we told together in the class.  I was sold, hooked, convinced, whatever word you'd like to apply there, I was it.  And I started working on ways to bring the method into Latin and into my future classroom.

I won't go step-by-step through my whole journey in the method.  There are still too few Latin teachers using communicative approaches, and at the time (nine years ago--a surprisingly long time in terms of Latin pedagogy) there were not many people around to help me figure things out.

Asking a Story--What and Why?

The aspect of TPRS that was most difficult for me to master--or to even wrap my head around--was the concept of "Asking a Story". How can I give students control over what we talk about and still make sure we cover the curriculum?  How can I, who had never been taught and only barely encouraged to speak in Latin, tell stories to my students that have not been planned out ahead of time?  And why should I try, when my pre-written stories seemed to make my students happy?

There are several really great reasons to ask stories instead of telling them.  The number one argument I'd make for asking stories is that they become compelling input--practice in the language that is so interesting that students, even reluctant students, forget that they're learning.  I had a lot of students laughing and enjoying my stories when I wrote them myself.  When I finally took the plunge and began to ask stories, the interest level and student involvement amplified hugely.  Students told each other about the stories they helped tell in my class and different classes began to compare stories and compete to tell the most creative and interesting stories.  And this is why the practice is compelling.  It's their story.  It gives them ownership.  Students choose characters, describe characters, choose actions, and ultimately create a story--in the target language--that is their own.

It's also personal.  The story is not only composed of information that the students provide, but often they put themselves into the story as well.  And, well, it's human to want to talk about yourself.  Even as adults, we generally like to talk about ourselves--how our day went, what happened at work, what we're interested in, what's our favorite food, author, vacation spot.  Students are generally in a very self-absorbed time of life: the time when they are trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do.  So it makes sense that a personalized approach would be much more compelling and absorbing for them.

Circling

One of the most important aspects of TPRS and asking stories is to master the skill of "Circling"--the TPRS term for asking different questions repeatedly over one part of a sentence to cause meaningful repetition.

For example, if the image below were my focus for the class:

I do draw most of my own images I use in class; that said, don't be afraid to use images you find on
the internet; having a visual can really help learners focus their attention while you question them.

Then I might start the class by circling the images before we do anything else.  For example:

(While pointing to the image of the frog) Est rana.  Estne rana?  Ita vero, est rana.  Estne rana an elephantus? Ita vero, non est elephantus.  Est rana!  Estne elephans?  Minime, non est elephans, est rana!  Estne rana?  Ita vero, est rana!  Quid est?  Est rana!  Estne rana magna an parva?  (assume they choose parva) Parva?  Ita vero, rana est parva.  Estne rana parva?  Ita vero, rana est parva!  Estne rana magna an parva?  Ita vero.  Rana non est magna, rana est parva!  Estne rana magna?  Minime!  Rana non est magna, rana est parva!  Estne rana parva?  Ita vero, rana est parva!  Qualis est rana?  Ita vero, rana est parva!

The point of asking all of these questions is the great amount of repetition and reinforcement they provide.  After a conversation (during which, generally, my students are under very little pressure--they just have to answer "yes" or "no" or either/or questions most of the time) students have heard the focus word or grammar structure many, many times (23 times in the example above), have spoken it themselves a few times, and have had all of this happen with context and meaning.  They will, forever, know that "rana" means "frog" (as will all of my session attendees).

The basic approach to circling is to follow this pattern for all information you would like repeated:

• Make a statement
• Ask a question with the answer "yes"
• Ask an either/or question
• Ask a question with the answer "no"
• Ask a question with the answer "yes"
• Ask an open question (who, which, why, where, etc.)

Circling is, in my opinion, the first and most important art of TPRS.  Once you can circle without thinking about it, you have the ability to make anything comprehensible to your students, because you can, by changing the pattern of your questions and choosing probing questions when needed, keep them on their toes and force them to pay attention.  By repeating the concept in a way that sometimes, to you, will feel, well, repetitive, you offer students a safe entry into the concepts you need them to learn.

Scripted Stories

For a beginner, who is unsure about his or her ability in the language (like I was in Latin) or just not sure about asking stories in general, the best starting point is probably to script your stories.

When I started using TPRS in my class, my stories were extremely scripted.  I wrote the story, line by line, with circling questions included.  My students didn't mind that I would hold a piece of paper in front of me and read off it while we engaged in a story together.  I gave them just enough control that they got to name the characters and no more.  The rest of the story was mine.  It was still fun, and still much more engaging than reading out of a textbook (my stories tend to include death and destruction--I'm a Latin teacher), so they were willing to allow me mistakes while I worked on my language skills and on using a technique I had experienced once in the Spanish language.

That said, now that I have much more experience, I can offer suggestions to help you script a story that still leaves itself open to being "asked":

Give students choices by asking "either ___ or ___".  When you give students choices over any part of the story, they begin to own it, and limiting the choices lets you make sure that they fall within your curriculum and the needs of your story.  For example, if I need to make sure we practice Latin words for size (parva is "small" and magna is "large"), I can choose an object in the story and ask students "Is the frog large or small?"  I have then made sure we will be practicing at least one of those words, and more likely, both of those words in the story I've written.

Ask for details, not main story features.  Often, details add spice to the story, but they don't change the overall plot.  One of the easiest things to let go of in terms of control is location.  Where are these events taking place?  Only rarely does that part really matter, so let the students figure that part out.  I've had many, many stories occur in Antartica.  Other details, such as descriptions of characters, character names, adverbs, modes of transportation, etc., are easy to allow students to choose while still maintaining control over the story.

Ask questions that feature the grammar focus.  If your questioning is over the grammar focus, then students will really pay attention to that grammar, in context, without any explicit instruction to do so.  And, if you can get comfortable doing this, if you ask questions that allow students to substitute one correct grammatical word for the other, students get a chance to practice using that new grammar feature.  For example, if I want to feature the accusative case (the direct object in Latin has a special form), I can ask a question like, "Who punched Justin Bieber?  Oh, that's right, Billy punched Justin Bieber.  Whom else did Billy punch?"  which lets students create their own line of assaults on Billy's behalf that will lead to many, many accusatives.  They might not use the accusative right when they suggest the word, but when I repeat it in context, I will use the correct form, and they'll get used to it.

Unscripted Stories

The step from scripted to unscripted stories can feel really huge.  It feels like you're giving up all control, and I'll admit that I can be a bit of a control freak, especially in a classroom, because it's mine, my class, my lesson, my precious.

But all the control is not lost--it's just refocused and much more subtle.  Students feel like they're directing the story--it's theirs--but really, once you get good at asking stories, you are the director.  They do get to make many decisions, but think of it as more of an ad-lib exercise: you give them a setting and a challenge, and they work within those confines to make the story amazing.

Some steps to help you ask stories in your own classroom:

Keep vocabulary and grammar focuses visible.  This is something I brought into my classes mostly because I myself am a visual learner and if I can't see something, I can't remember it as easily.  I like to draw, so I draw most of my own visuals (it feels more personal both to myself and to my students), but if you don't, or you're afraid your stick figures end up looking more like trees or ocean views, you can find representative art on the internet pretty easily.  Even just a list of words and meanings can help--the goal here is that you have something to use as a quick reference when you are trying to remember what you should be incorporating into the story next.  Students often automatically use the list as well, and, since they are quick to pick up on the game, incorporate the words and phrases you need them to use themselves.

Stay in the moment.  There are two points here.  One is that you need to stay consistent--if you have already established as a class that the frog is small, you can't let another student change the frog and make it big.  If you allow students to change the story once things have been established, it becomes very confusing for your students.  Don't forget, they are all doing this in a language that they don't yet know, and changing the story around just means that they have heard two different and conflicting sentences--and that they don't know which one to agree with.  The second point is that staying in the moment allows some amazing storytelling to happen in your class.  If your class has a concept going and they're excited about it, try to keep that concept going as long as you can.  I once had a class that really loved to feature one student in particular in its stories.  This student appeared in almost every story, and eventually the class strung all the stories together into one semester-long epic story.  We then illustrated it as a class, and I made a copy of our novella for every student.  This sort of thing really sticks with students--only a couple of months ago, one of my students from that class (five years ago) told me that he had found it again.  He kept it for the same reason I've kept it--the story itself is fun, but the memory of making the story is even better.

Ask leading questions.  This is much like asking either/or questions to control the story.  If you aren't sure you like the way the story is going, or you need to make sure you include a certain word and the students just aren't gravitating toward it, this is a good way to get things rolling in the right direction.  For example, if we've been talking about a frog for a long time in a story, but I really need to use the word ox as well, I could do something like, "Yes, the frog is in the kitchen.  Is the ox also in the kitchen?"  Usually, students will say yes.  If not, then simply follow with, "Oh, he's not in the kitchen.  Where is the ox?"  Then the ox is part of the story, and students will work to connect him to the previous portion of the story that centered on the frog.

Wait for "cute" answers.  This is advice I got from Ben Slavic's book TPRS in a Year.  It's great advice.  No matter how hilarious you think you are, your students can make better stories than you can.  They are creative and there are usually around 30 of them in my classroom, so that's definitely a greater resource than just one person's ideas.  And, of course, then they have created the story, and it gives them ownership over it.  The kids who get to contribute ideas get to feel clever and special, and I try to make sure everyone gets to contribute ideas once in a while, though I can't claim perfection in that area.

The three basic storylines.  There are three storylines that I have used to help me visualize where to go with my stories when I get stuck.

1. The Wild Goose Chase: The storyline suggested by Blaine Ray at his workshops, this storyline simply moves the story between locations.  There is a problem (someone wants something, someone needs something, something happens), and the solution is somewhere else.  So the story moves there, but it turns out the solution isn't there either!  So the story moves to a third place, and, euge!, the solution is there.  Or isn't, when I'm feeling mean.
2. The Love Triangle: It's not just good for soap operas.  This was the first type of story I ever wrote for TPRS because it's just fun to use love to create miserable characters.  It can be useful as a motivator to have characters take different actions.
3. Whodunit: Set this up with a murder, robbery, death, or something exciting, then let students decide what the back story is.

That's great, but how do I actually do this?

In my session, I had attendees circulate between sentences I had posted on the wall and practice both circling information on them and using the sentences as jumping off points to ask stories in small groups.

Since I can't do that here, I have the following suggestions:

1. Look at a story or a sentence that you will need to use in your class.  Practice asking questions about the sentence using the circling pattern above.  Practice using different parts of the sentence: the subject, the verb, the direct object, a prepositional phrase.
2. Meet with other teachers in your area who are interested in TPRS or asking stories.  It doesn't matter if you teach the same languages--practice on each other!  Find a starting point and practice teaching each other using this method.  You could gain an additional language while you're at it!
3. Write out a story that could be used to introduce new vocabulary or grammar.  Choose areas that could use details and insert questions so you know to ask them when you get to that point of the story.  Choose a couple of either/or options to offer students as well.
4. Just be honest with your students--if they know what you're doing and why, they are usually really willing to be guinea pigs, and supportive of your mistakes as well as your successes.  They will also give great feedback that you can use to help you improve.

Advice From Teachers

I asked my friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ what advice they would offer other teachers who are beginning to use TPRS.  Several answered, and I thought I'd post their suggestions here:

"When beginning to ask stories, always give a choice.  Does John sing or chant?  When the students realize that it is a 'game' to respond to the questions, then you can just ask the question, What does John do?  And they will 'get' it.  But remember that you always have 'control' of the story." Jody Klopp

"It is okay for the stories to be completely and utterly absurd, or even to make very little sense as a cohesive whole.  In fact, the absurdity is part of the fun." Irena Greenman

"I think the set-up is what makes the difference between success and failure.  Making sure they know that just because you don't accept an answer, doesn't mean you don't like them.  Conversely, you need to be super conscious not to play favorites and choose certain students' answer too often.  Also, don't go more than 4 responses without choosing one.  Otherwise it becomes all about the details, and the kids make it into a competition.  For beginners, I would severely limit the 'blanks' in the story, so it's more like a mad-lib.  Then gradually, as everyone becomes more comfortable with the process, open it up a bit more.  At root, it really depends on the personality of the class, how much freedom and power they can handle.  You have to know your students.  I would also say to a beginner that they should not feel they have to ask a story until they have spent a LOT of time doing PQA and circling.  Some teachers don't start asking a story until November." John Piazza

Final thoughts

This is by no means an all-inclusive guide to using TPRS or even asking stories in your classroom.  But I hope that it's given a more friendly perspective to those of you who are very interested, but afraid to take the first step.  Trying is enough.  Asking a few questions in a class period is enough.  TPRS is not exclusive--you are allowed to only use it for a part of your class period.  Using the method at all will have rewards that you will be able to see within a very short period of time, and that you will continue to see over many years.  It's worth the fear you might feel when you start speaking, or the discomfort when you stumble over a word you weren't prepared for.  It's worth admitting to your students that you don't know every word in the Latin dictionary.  When I posted my session topic online, Alyssa, an ex-student whom I taught for three years (five years ago), responded, "I loved TPRS!  As a student it was one of my favorite and most helpful teaching techniques!" 

It's worth it.

Diigo - A new way of sharing links

Today I spent my morning and early afternoon at a learning day for one of the schools I teach for. We got to choose workshops to go to and, to be honest, I was in no mood to look deeper than the workshop title and, being in such a mood, I resolved to take notes and look up information later. As I play with these new techniques and ideas, I intend to share them with you all. Today's is a site called Diigo.

When I first sat down to play with Diigo, it reminded me of Rachel's post on Pinterest. Diigo is a site that allows users to "pin" things to a list. The main difference, however, is that Diigo allows users to bookmark websites while Pinterest focuses on visuals and pictures.

I love sharing links. If I find something useful, I want others to see it and respond to me with their thoughts. It helps me process things and see what others think of the things I come across. My only problem is that I'll save a link somewhere: in an email, in a folder, in a list of bookmarks, in a word document... only to then forget where I saved it when I need it.  Sure, I can save it my browser's bookmarks, but then I can't access it from a library, or other school computer, or even my phone (which I use a lot for work).

Diigo has provided an easy way for me to save links, share them, mark them up with my notes, and save them to a place that is universally accessible, even from my phone. Diigo is a quick and easy way to access information that you've marked without having to search through an infinite amount of space and is easily customisable.

The Diigolet menu

The Diigolet -- I love this! It attaches to your bookmark section on your web browser. When you find a page you like, you click on the icon and the Diigo menu pops up. You can do almost anything from that menu. From the Diigolet menu, you can  use the highlighter to highlight a word or passage, bookmark it in your Diigo file, add a sticky note to the page, share the link on Facebook, Twitter, email, or to get an annotated link.

If you choose to add it to your library, it will show up on your library page and you can then file it away in a neat little list. Your lists can be public or private, allowing you to share certain things with students, friends, and colleagues, but not everything. Similarly, any highlighted portions show up publicly, if in a shared list, but sticky notes are your own private notations. I suspect that it is possible to share them publicly if you upgrade, but don't quote me on that :).

How a bookmarked page with highlights and sticky notes appears on the Diigo homepage

Diigo site -- The site is extremely user friendly. There are tutorial videos and you can follow Diigo on Twitter (@Diigo) to receive live updates and help. From your library page, you can see a neatly organised list of your bookmarked sites as well as any highlights or notations you've made. You can see your lists and whether they are private or public. You can also, if you choose to, tag your sites to make them easily searchable. You can edit links, delete them, add sticky notes to them from the library page, and organise them.

The Diigo community -- This is a feature I am just beginning to play with. Diigo provides a way to follow other users, join and create groups, and look at popular links from other Diigo users. It is a great way to connect with other Diigo users and, quite possibly, stumble upon links that you didn't know existed.

Ultimately, I see great potential for this site. At the moment, I am organising links into general categories, but as I add more, I will probably make more specific lists. You can share lists using a permalink, email, or a social media website. I love that Diigo is so easily integrated into the other websites that I use. Instead of having to open six different things to save something, I can do it all on Diigo. I can see assigning students a project where they create a list of links based on a topic for other students to look at, read, and evaluate. I can also see this as a great tool for the student who wants a little more: a quick way to provide updated links without having to update your website all the time.

As I play a little more and see what the community features have to offer I will update everyone on Diigo and how I am using it. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback and any ideas you see for Diigo that I haven't yet :)

Miriam