World Language Classroom

·S1 E232

CI Activities in Practice in the Classroom, Part 2

January 19
31 mins

Episode Description

#232

Last week in episode 231 I began a two-part series on using a simple story to show what CI looks like in real classroom practice. In this episode, I continue by building on the same story and walking through how CI activities help students stay engaged, deepen comprehension, and interact with the text in meaningful ways. These 2 episodes are focused on seeing familiar CI practices. 

Topics in this Episode:

  • CI Activity Episodes
  • Episode 231: CI Activities in Practice in the Classroom., Part 1
  • CI Toolbox
  • Interaction and Discussion Activities
    • Picture Talk: Picture Talk uses images to drive meaning-based discussion. The teacher asks simple questions so students describe what they see using familiar language.
    • PQA: PQA connects story language to students’ own lives through highly scaffolded, repetitive questions, helping them acquire language through personal relevance
    • Special Person Interviews: Students are interviewed using familiar structures, often taking on a role. The class listens and helps co-construct meaning.
    • Card Talk: Students draw something meaningful to them, and the class discusses it using shared, high-frequency language.
    • Weekend Chat: Weekend Chats build community and routine by talking about what students do on certain days, using simple present-tense language.
    • Calendar Talk: Calendar Talk uses the daily date and routine events to recycle language in a predictable format.
  • Reading and Writing Activities
    • One Word at a Time: Students slowly build or reconstruct a sentence word by word, focusing on meaning and structure.
    • Embedded Reading: Embedded readings move from very simple to more detailed versions of the same text, increasing comprehension and confidence.
    • Volleyball Reading: Students take turns reading and clarifying meaning, often in pairs, with a strong focus on comprehension.
    • Draw the Sentence: Students draw what a sentence says, then match it back to the text, reinforcing comprehension.
    • Running Dictation: Students move, read, and reconstruct text collaboratively,
    • Dictation with a Twist: Students hear a sentence and rewrite it with a small, controlled change, encouraging creative output within a safe structure.

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