Episode 100: Answering Your Biggest Back-to-School & CI Questions

100 EPISODES! WILD! YAYAYYY!!!! I decided to answer ALL the burning questions I've received the past week related to all things back to school and Comprehensible Input or Acquisition Driven Instruction! 

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Links mentioned in this episode: 

Norming your class WITH your students - Resource and blog

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Transcript

Hello!

Hey, La Maestra Loca here. If you're a language teacher who's been feeling drained or like you've lost the joy in teaching and you're eager to get it back, maybe you're somebody who's constantly scrolling the internet, Facebook, or Instagram for new ideas to implement. I've got something really special for you. La Familia Loca PLC is a community that I started seven years ago, and it is full of 250 teachers from around the globe who get monthly live webinars with ideas and strategies that can implement immediately, ready to use resources in French, Spanish, and English every single month. There's group coaching and a private Facebook group that feels like family. That's why we renamed it La Familia Loca. If you are ready to feel joyful again in your classroom and ease like you've never felt before because of the support of this community, head on over to my website or follow the link in the show notes and add your name to our waitlist so you can be the first to hear when we open the doors in August. I would absolutely love to support you this year, and our community is ready to welcome you. Welcome back to Teaching La Vida Loca, the podcast you come to for short and sweet and sometimes spicy episodes, full of enthusiasm, magic, and tips and tricks for your classroom. I'm Annabelle, your maestra loca, and I'm here to bring you inspiration, unapologetic authenticity, and ideas to spark more joy in your teaching journey. I'm turning up the excitement and elated to have you right here with me. I'm not just your host; I'm your cheerleader, and I'm thrilled you're tuning in. So, let's do this. Let's tackle teaching La Vida Loca together. 

Episode 100!

Hello, hi. Guess what? This is episode 100 of Teaching Lavida Loca. What? 100? I am. I am so proud. I am so proud of me. I am so proud of you. I am so proud of you for listening because if you weren't listening, I wouldn't be able to do this. And this is my favorite way to share. Like this is so much fun for me, and we've made it together to 100 episodes. Yay for teaching La Vida Loca. Yay for teaching La Vida Loca together. Holy guacamole! I am so excited. Okay, so this episode is really special because I decided to do a Q and A. I am answering your questions. I am answering the questions that I have received in the last week in my inbox for this back-to-school season. I am answering the questions that I have received in the last couple days in the workshops that I've done. I actually just did a workshop last night for Australia teachers in Australia, and I am also answering questions that were submitted on my social media over the last two days, and I'm really excited to do it, and it's going to be great. Are you ready? Are you ready? Here we go. The best part about doing this is you get a window into questions that you don't even know you had. That's my favorite part about Q and A sessions or like small group coaching, we do small group coaching every month in La Familia Loca PLC, and in the seven years that we've been open, it's never been the same because people ask questions, and then that inspires others to ask other questions that they didn't even know they had, and the whole time everybody is giving their responses and their sides or their perspectives and answers to the questions being asked in the chat. So, it's this giant group coaching session, and it's so great. I'm so obsessed. So, are you ready to get answers to questions you didn't even know you had? I know you are. I'm so excited to give you them. It's going to be great. It's going to be great. Buckle in. Here we go. 

Question #1

Okay, the first question was submitted by Grant Boulanger, and he might have been being facetious, but I'm going to answer it here on the podcast because he asked it. So, Grant said, "Annabelle, speedboat or pontoon boat? Grant, obvio, speedboat. Always. Am I driving said speedboat? Absolutely not. Am I riding it and enjoying it? 100,000% That is the answer to the first question. Yay! Hooray! You're welcome.

Question #2

Okay, the next one came from her name is Chloe Ruth. I'm not gonna try and pronounce that because I don't know if it's your entire last name. But Chloe, Chloe asked this question on Instagram, and Chloe said, "Annabelle, what's your favorite way to structure day one of classes? And my answer is interesting because it's also going to be combined with Jess's question that was asked on an email this week. Annabelle, what do you actually do on day one if you're not going over a syllabus? Because I have long said that day one is not a syllabus day for me at all. So, I'll tell you exactly what my day one is going to look like. I'll give you a little window in. A few years ago, I shared a podcast, and I'll link it in the show notes called "The Perfect Day One Activity, and it really gets kids gets kids working together to learn about the teacher without you going through a slideshow with about me slides. Like, nope, not gonna not gonna do it. It involves giving kids clues to learn about you, and then they kind of work together to try and figure out the answers to all the questions with the information that they have. I'm gonna do a version of that combined with a scavenger hunt that I also saw online that I'm really excited to try, and I'm going to be giving more details about that later on my social media. But more importantly, in my workshop that I am hosting this month for free, that I will give you details about at the very end of this podcast. So, get excited for that. But I think that day one is really important to just get to know the people in front of you. So, the reason I love the activities that give them the opportunity to get to know me without me going through a slideshow is it shows me exactly who these little humans are in front of me. It shows me who works well together, how they're trying to form their groups. Who they're trying to work with. Who are who are quieter and more reserved. Who's going to sit back and let everybody else do the work for them? Who my leaders are. Who my leaders who kids like are, and who my leaders that kids find annoying are. I can learn so much in that first day by giving them a 15-minute activity like that, it tells me a lot very quickly about a lot of new kids, right? So, this year I will teach very few kids that I had before. This year I'm going to teach the incoming sixth graders, and I'm going to be teaching the eighth graders. And I didn't teach any seventh graders last year unless they were brand new to my school. So, I, the only kids that I'm teaching that will be old to me or like repeating, is because they had me as seventh graders in a beginner entry novice class, and now they are moving into a class with their peers. So, there'll be eighth graders in an eighth grade Spanish class. So, everybody else is really new to me. So, for me, it's really important to quickly get to know the personalities in my room. And games like that, where they are working together and talking together, and it allows me to rotate and get to know them and not be in the spotlight is really invaluable to me. What language am I doing this in? English. Yup, 100%. 

Question #3

And that goes straight into another question from Kim, which was, how do I establish target language expectations like staying in Spanish 90% or more of the time without making my kids anxious on day one. Oh my gosh! Let me just let me just read that again. Are you ready? Kim said, "How do I establish target language expectations like staying in Spanish 90% of the time or more without making my kids anxious on the first day. Oh my gosh, this is huge. Let me put it to you this way: you need to remember that that expectation is for you, not them, and it's for you, and it's a goal that you would like to hit. But if you're in your first three to five years of teaching with acquisition-driven instruction, that's your big, juicy, hairy goal that you're like, man, that is hard to do. I can do it, and some days I I'm there, and I'm maybe even at 91 or 92 percent, but it is really challenging, and that's okay. That is your goal, not the student's goal. I want to put it to you like this: Imagine you are signing up for your very first like beginner run. Okay, so like it's a couch to 5K. Like you are not a runner, but you are joining a running group, and you're jazzed, and you're excited, and you walk up on day one, and you have your brand new special sneakers for running, and you're excited, but you're nervous, and then your coach steps up, and he gets on this mic, and he's like, "Welcome! I'm so excited to see you all here. Just so we're clear, starting from right now, our expectation is that every single person here runs a seven-minute mile pace for 45 continuous minutes. No walking allowed. Remember that you've got this. Your heart immediately drops to your stomach. You're instantly thinking, "Oh my God, what?" Like thinking, I clearly don't belong here. I can't do seven-minute mile pace for 45 minutes. Are you kidding me? You are panicking before you have even taken the first step in training for this new running program. That's what it would be like for those kids if they walk into their Spanish classroom or their French classroom day one, and they're like, "Okay, here I am. I'm ready. And you're like, "Hola clase, hoy y por el resto lelanio vamos a hablar solamente en español. Okay, like literally, I don't want to hear "ni ni una palabra de inglés. First of all, they're not going to understand you. Second of all, wholly intimidating, terrifying. Like I want to pee myself. That is, that is scary. 90% target language is your professional goal as the teacher. It is not the student's goal. So, expecting them to hold that standard on day one, it's creating an instant affective filter wall for you, and like literally, I just need to breathe for a second. Even thinking about it, your job is just to make it comprehensible. Your job is to make the language that you're speaking juicy and interesting and understandable and joyful, so that even though they're walking or maybe even crawling, they're having fun without even realizing it, and they're building the stamina down the road to hit that 90% with you, because at the beginning of the year, my kids definitely are not hitting anywhere close to 90% target language. But by that end of the year, if you came and visited my sixth-grade class at the end of the year, you'd be like, whoa, these kids, the majority of them, are only speaking in Spanish. But that takes time to cultivate and to build. Right? We have to build a culture and a community where risk taking happens, and it takes time to do that, and we have to start from day one. Again, you're going to be so excited about my workshop. Oh my god! 

Question #4

Okay, the next question. Let me let me see where my next one is. Okay, okay. We're gonna breathe again. What do I do? This is great. What do I do, Amanda? Sorry, Amanda says, "What do I do when my students reply in English during our initial games or in-class discussions? It's just so related to the last one, it's so related to the last one. Okay, what do I do when they respond in English during our initial games, our initial discussions? English is going to happen because they don't have the vocabulary yet, they don't have the input yet, they don't have enough juicy input for enough time to be able to output in Spanish yet. Think about a baby. A baby takes forever. I'm going to give you another analogy because this happened recently to me, and man alive was I a little bit frustrated to say the least. Okay, imagine you go to the mechanic with your car because you hear like a clunk, clunk, clunk, right? So, you don't know what's happening. Story of my life, but you are going to try your best to explain it. You're going to go in and you're going to say it's like it's like a pop, and it's right when I hit around 35 miles an hour. I hear this clunk like this popping metallic sound. Now imagine if the mechanic stops you, cuts you off mid-sentence, and says, "Nope, stop, please. If you can't use the exact SAE certified mechanical terminology, I am I can't listen to you. Excuse your face. Like, first of all, that would just anger me, but it's also embarrassing. Like you feel embarrassed, shut down, completely frustrated. You're literally just trying to communicate a real message using the language that you do have to explain what you're trying to get across. Right? You're just trying to communicate. You're next time your car makes a noise. I guarantee you're not going back to that mechanic, right? Heck, no, absolutely not. In fact, you're just gonna either stay quiet and hope for the best, or you're gonna text and call any friends who have relatives that are mechanics who can help you out, right? Don't do that to kids, and I'm not saying that you were going to Amanda, but we need to remember that when a kid is responding in English to us, they're engaged. Oh my God, they're under. Not only are they engaged, but they're understanding. Oh, they're comprehending us. It is very exciting. If we are. Immediately shutting them down or correcting their language instead of just celebrating and validating the message that was received, the message that was communicated, we are telling them right out the gate that accuracy matters more than connection and communication. And just like that analogy of like me at the mechanic, they're going to decide that it's safer to just stop trying altogether. That is not helping you cultivate a culture of risk taking. It is not helping you build a community where connection thrives. It is not helping you build a community where communication thrives. Right, and this is this I'm telling you, is why at the beginning of the year my focus is on how can I build community, how can I create connections from day one so that I can build up to a place where students are just using the language is just spilling out of their mouth, it's just coming straight out because they know they're going to be celebrated for it, right? That is my goal at the beginning of the year. How can I cultivate a culture of risk taking in a community of learners where they're all excited to learn and grow together? They're just excited to be there. 

Question #5

Okay, the next question is from Susan, and Susan said, "What is the first thing that you teach kids? And this one was easy. I didn't even have to think. I didn't think immediately like, "Oh, I wonder if she wants to know like the first language thing I teach. It could entirely be that Susan wants to know like the first language thing I teach kids, but my brain knew immediately how to answer this question, and the answer is my transition. I teach them my transition because I cannot do anything in my classroom without a strong transition. In fact, last night when I was doing this workshop for teachers in Australia, it was all about brain breaks, and I said that there's no point in teaching any brain break or doing any activity of any kind until you have established a really strong transition and you have practiced it with your students. And transitions look different for different people. Mine is hola. I say hola, and my kids say inca cola. But I I've done hola Coca Cola. I've done hola cara cola. I've done hola clase Monday. I've done. I mean, I don't even know how many. I probably have 20, 25. And there's teachers with more than that than me. But my go-to is Hola, hola in Kakola, and the expectation immediately after is they are on level zero, their bodies are calm, and their eyes are on me. I learned that I needed to start using the bodies are calm thing once I was teaching elementary, but it's also good for sixth grade. So, it's an expectation that I have to keep very high. I can't just let a few side conversations go by, because a few then turns into a few more, and then before you know it, it's many side conversations, and then what's the point? So, the very first thing I teach is literally a strong transition, and I know that everything else can be strong and taught in a great way if I know how to grab their attention and keep their attention. Right? Yay! That's the first thing I teach. I hope that helps. 

Question #6

Okay, the next one is definitely one that I've had more times than I can count, and that is what is my first brain break that I teach. And my first brain break is not my favorite brain break. My first brain break that I teach is always rock paper scissors. Uno dos tres dale. No, I do not have my students do rock paper scissors. In fact, if you are one of the 1000s of teachers who have been in a workshop with me, you will know that this is always the very first thing I teach because there's a million ways to make it novel, and nine times out of 10, my students will already be familiar with rock paper scissors. So, it's just teaching them those four simple words that they're going to say: uno dos tres tale, and you could do un de trois voilà if you're a French teacher, or a doué For Mandarin, and I mean, just keep it really, really simple. Get kids up, moving around the room, playing with different people. You could say play with four different people, play with three different people, and keep track of how many times you win. See how many people you can play with in the next 30 seconds. Play with everybody who is wearing the same color shoes as you. Play with anybody who you know plays on a sports team that is one that you either play or watch, play with somebody that you know is in another class period with you. The possibilities are literally endless for this, and it's a really good easy go to. So, it is absolutely my first brain break that I teach. So great question, yay! 

Question #7

Okay, the last question that I'm going to answer here was another one that was submitted on Instagram because I have the best answer ever for you, and it's a huge gift, and you're going to be really excited. Lazy Bones, and I'm not sure what your real name is, Lazy Bones. But Lazy Bones said, "What does your first week of school look like? Help! And I'm going to tell you, Lazy Bones, that the thing I'm going to give you, the answer I'm going to give you, is more like my first three weeks of school and what they look like. Because I've said it several times in this episode. The only thing I am trying to do in those first few weeks is establish community and connection. Get that established because that is something I have to continually cultivate. If I really want a community where communication thrives and where connection thrives, I need to start from day one. I am doing a free workshop that's called Five Simple Strategies for Building Classroom Community That Lasts. That kind of classroom community where communication and connection thrive, and I'm doing it twice. So, there's two opportunities to attend and learn with me, and that is Thursday, August 20-th at 6p.m. and Sunday, the 23 rd at 2p.m. Those are both Central Standard Time. So, whether you start tomorrow, or you start in two weeks, or you started already three weeks ago, these are five low prep routines and strategies that are going to help you cultivate that deep student connection and cultivate that culture where target language engagement thrives. Right? I want you to have that sort of community that will live in your room all year long in all of your classes, and we have to start cultivating that now at the very beginning of the school year. So, I'll be sharing exactly what I do in my first three weeks of school. I know that I have often talked about norming with my community. I will absolutely link that blog for you in case you are a person who has not seen that from me yet and has not done that with your students. So yes, I absolutely norm my class with my students, but I'm going to be talking about specific routines that save you time and make classroom management feel smooth, positive, and collaborative.

Free Webinar

I'm going to be giving you simple low prep prompts to get students speaking and interacting authentically, even in your novice levels, and I want to give you strategies to go cultivate that kind of classroom environment where students feel safe taking those risks and actually using the language that you're teaching them, making mistakes in the target language because they're confident enough to speak up and actually use the language because they're excited to be there and they're excited to show you what they are acquiring. So, you're going to walk away with actionable steps to actually get kids involved in cultivating that positive classroom environment, cultivating that culture with you-a kind of culture and community where literally everybody feels seen because that's what we really want, right? We really want to create a classroom community where everybody feels welcome and like their voice is valued, and that we are all excited to hear it. And it's not it's not something that happens overnight, but with these simple strategies, you can start to cultivate that environment where kids are excited to be there, and they are excited about what they're acquiring and the language that they can use. I am so freaking excited for you to join me. And Lazy Bones, I know that you're probably like, "Oh my gosh, just give me the answers. But I'm telling you, this workshop is the answer. This is what you are looking for. You don't need to panic and say help. I know that you ended your question with help. 

Come, join us!

Come, come to this workshop. Let me show you how you can start this year feeling so empowered and so grounded because you know there are five simple things you can do to get kids feeling connected and feeling capable in your world language classroom this year. I'm so excited. So, if you are all in, if you are excited, go ahead and check the show notes to register. I'm gonna drop a link there. All you have to do is click to save your seat. Anybody who attends live is also going to get a brand-new resource that nobody has seen before. That I am using with my own kids on the very first day of school, and only live attendees are going to get that resource, and it is going to be. Fire forgetting to know kids and building connection and community right from the very start. If you are ready to build community and connection and make it feel easy without forcing those icebreakers, join me again. Those two workshop spots are going to be Thursday, August 20th at 6p.m. Central, and Sunday, August 23rd at 2p.m. Central. Let's get you ready for the school year ahead. And like I said, if you're already in, these are strategies that you could easily integrate to what you've already been doing, y'all. That's why I called it simple strategies. What's important is that we are starting now to cultivate that community that's going to last and thrive all year long. I am so excited! 

Thank you!

Until next time, I cannot wait to chat with you again here on Teaching La Vida Loca. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to episode 100. I am so excited for you to have a fantastic start to your school year. I'm so excited to get back myself. I go back on Wednesday, and yes, I am absolutely mourning my summer. Let's be real, but I'm also eager. I'm really eager. I'm excited about my new kids. I'm excited to go back to my classroom that I really, really love. I really love my classroom space. I'm really excited to implement some new things that I learned from our summer conference with La Familia Loca PLC. I'm really excited about my bops and flops, about not going back to some of the things I was doing last year, and really enhancing the things that went really, really well, and I'm just-it's going to be great.

 Talk to you soon!

It's going to be a great year for all of us, and that's what I want you to remember: is we're all in it together. We are teaching La Vida Loca together. I'm so glad you're here, and I am so excited to share with you in my free workshop on the 20th and 23rd five simple strategies for building classroom community that lasts, join me. Join me. I will see you there. And until then, take care of yourself. I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.