Yesterday at his session at iFLT,  Jason shared a number of ways to use a shower curtain and turn it into a medium for visualizing language.   He then solicited ideas from folks in the workshop.   I loved hearing everyone’s ideas.   I started making a list of what I could do next year since it has been a few years since I worked with the shower curtain activities.  Then my brain started to rebel.  I started to feel confused, even a little guilty about that list.  At first I couldn’t figure out why.  What was I doing wrong?  Why did this feel so weird?   I looked at the list again and what finally struck me was this…

This shower curtain idea has been around for a long time.  Teac hers use it for a number of activities.  Take one plain shower curtain.  Draw or tape images on the curtain.  Hang it in a place that, or lay it on the floor so that everyone in the class can see it.   Do something fun with it. 

It’s very clever.  It is the low-tech equivalent of the big screen.  It can become a giant map, an enormous game board, a backdrop for a “scene”, or even a giant screen for projected images.  

Administrators love it.  Methods professors love it.   It looks really cool to colleagues when they walk by or to students when they walk in.   Those of us who are creative and/or artistic not only love the hours and effort put into creating a collection of lovely shower curtains, we love the product.   It makes the teacher feel very very good.

But what really matters is…..what does it do for the students?   If we don’t think about that…. then the shower curtain, lovely idea and teacher-friendly as it is….is a complete WASTE of time.   Ours and theirs.  NO MATTER HOW COOL IT IS…it will STILL be a waste of time.

Ouch.  Harsh I know.   But it’s easy, so easy, to lose sight of the goal….so I think that it is important to think about.    It’s so easy because I have a teacher brain.    But I am not teaching MY brain.   I’m teaching to the brains of my students.

So…I have to constantly ask myself:   What is the goal of this activity?  For my  STUDENTS?  (and their brains of course!)

I want my students to interact with me in the target language in a way that will allow them to acquire as much language as possible. 

Students must be doing ALL THREE of these things during an activity in order for me to reach my goal.

Interact

In the target language

Acquire language

Period. 

As I listen to the ideas and suggestions about shower curtains offered by all of these passionate and experienced teachers, it is so easy for me to forget about my goal.  The teacher in me gets a “pedagogical high” from thinking about all of the other exciting possibilities and I forget the goal!

My teacher brain is just a’rockin’!!   It’s a game? Ooooooo!!  Kids love competition! (  teacher-brain starts tracking all of the articles/presentations about involving boys in competition in the classroom…..).   It’s visual? Oooooo!!  It’s right-brained!  It’s multi-modal!!  (teacher-brain scans all previously-stored info on teaching/learning styles and brain research……).    And it a micro-millisecond I am off on my own teacher-track…having totally forgotten about my REAL goal:  to provide activities so that my students will INTERACT with me  in the TARGET LANGUAGE so that they will ACQUIRE LANGUAGE.   

So what do I REALLY have to have in an activity in order for that to happen?

A)      Repeated, Interesting, ComprehendED, Heart-connected language and…..

      A situation where we interact using it.

                                               -or-

1. A situation where we interact…
2. Using Repeated, Interesting, ComprehendED, Heart-connected language.

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay     So, what all of these teachers didn’t tell me is what I really need to know.    HOW do they interact with their students in the target language so that the language is useable enough, compelling enough, personal enough, repeated enough, understandable enough for my students to acquire language as a result of that interaction? 

THAT is what I need to know.

Don’t get me wrong…the activities are PHENOMENAL!!!!  But as you read them, remember that it is HOW these teachers interact with student during the activities that facilitates the language acquisition….not the activities themselves.

It is why watching other  teachers is so powerful.   It isn’t the shower curtain that is enthralling.  It’s Jason.    It is why mastering skills is so important.  It is why going back to basics, taking the chance to be coached, and learning to teach in the moment are so vital.  It is the relationships developed during the activity that matter.  The activity is not the vehicle that carries our students to proficiency.    Compelling and Comprehended language is the vehicle.    Games and projects, songs and stories, conversations and TPR are the roads we can explore with that vehicle.

As teachers, we sometimes think that the trip gets a little boring….so we are constantly looking for new roads to take.    What we need….is to upgrade the vehicle our students are riding in.   Would you rather ride to proficiency in a broken-down jalopy or in a well-tuned “luxury” vehicle?

CI-based instruction is even better than a luxury vehicle.  It won’t break down.   It isn’t uncomfortable.  It’s energy efficient.   It feels good to be in AND it does the job…very very well.  

What are your best CI teaching skills?   Do the activities that you use make the most of them?  Do the activities that you invest your time and energy in utilize those skills?  How can you adapt an activity so that your skills create a luxury vehicle that carry your students closer to proficiency?

These are the things that I invite you to think about as you peruse these suggestions.   If you don’t know…ask the person who has successfully used the activity to offer suggestions, not only about the steps involved in the activity, but about the TEACHING SKILLS utilized during the activity so that ALL ROADS LEAD TO PROFICIENCY. 

I do love ideas.  But I have to make sure to start paying more attention to the skills required by the teacher and the actions required by the students once these ideas become classroom activities.    Can be tough when being a teacher gets in the way of well....being a teacher!!

with love,

Laurie