Using the target language in the Foreign Language class

In this climate of dwindling resources for education, I am privileged to work in a district that still supports Foreign Language in Elementary school, where I believe the path toward proficiency starts. Not only are five to nine year olds a lot more receptive to language, but they also are excited about learning it, and most of them listen without questioning the fact that I am speaking to them in a language they don’t speak - yet.

A couple of years ago, I had a local Chapel Hill reporter come to watch me teach a first grade Spanish class for an article on our district’s FLES program. Before he left he remarked how well my students followed the class and responded, in spite of how fast I was speaking in Spanish. Even though  I don’t speak as fast as I would if I was speaking to a native speaker when I am teaching, I try to maintain a natural speech cadence, which will make learners more comfortable later on in varied situations.

Achieving understanding and eliciting language results from a set of tricks; a language teacher is not only a teacher: she is a mime, a puppeteer, a storyteller, an entertainer, a singer, an artist and a clown. In the 19 years I have been teaching Spanish, I have learned to work with these key components that help to maintain an immersion setting in the classroom:

Establish classroom procedures from the beginning: only Spanish will be used, unless they ask permission to speak in English. Do it yourself! I always ask permission to speak English (¿Puedo hablar en inglés?) if I need to. Teach them key phrases so that they will have the tools to manage in the target language: What is __ in English?, What is __ in Spanish?, Can I __?, etc.

Demonstrate! Show them what you are asking them to do. I do use English the first days to let students figure out what behaviors they need to use to understand (look, listen, use the clues, figure it out). I start by giving instructions very fast without demonstrating, and then I repeat the same instructions at a slower pace and showing them what I want them to do. Then we have a discussion on which of the clues I used helped them figure it out. After that, I give a different set of instructions while students have their eyes closed and then repeat it with their eyes open, to emphasize the importance of looking to find the clues. I tell students that we will only be speaking in Spanish, but that if it is something important that they can’t say in Spanish, they can ask for permission to speak in English (which sometimes it is denied). I also demonstrate how they can understand the message without understanding every word they hear.

Check for understanding, if there are a majority of students who do not understand, look for the one that does, and ask her to explain in to the class in English. As a last resource, if nobody understands, don’t forget to ask for permission to speak in English.

Most students will be comfortable, but there will always be some for whom this immersion setting can be daunting. I speak to them separately, and if they need it, I assign them a buddy to help out.

Use plenty of props and images or flash cards. In the age of the Internet you can find almost anything you need! There is also an abundance of videos that fit any curriculum. Even when the videos have more language than what you are teaching, I have my students shout out the words they recognize.

Take it slowly, step by step. It is a lot faster to say in English, “Match the picture with the sentence that goes best with it”, or “Cut the members of the family on the paper and put them in the rooms of the house that I say”,  but it can also be done in the target language. It will take longer to finish the activity, but that should be your secondary goal anyway.

“What is this? It is a pair of scissors. Let’s do it with our hands. Scissor, scissors, scissors. Mmm.. What are scissors for? Yes to cut! Cut, cut, cut. I am going to cut your hair. Nooooo. I’m kidding. And what is this? Yes, it is a paper! Paper, scissors, paper, scissors. And here is the family. Who is this? Is it the brother or the sister? Let’s cut out the brother first. No, the baby. Or the father? OK, the baby. Now where shall I put it? In the bedroom or in the bathroom? Now we need glue, where is the glue…..”

Once you have set up the scene, students can continue by themselves. It is important, though, to stay inside what I call “students comfort zone”. Using too much language can make you lose your students’ attention.

Use storytelling and TPR (total physical response). For example, we were learning about seasons and weather. With the aid of pictures, I tell them a story of how children play in each season, while we act it out.

“In spring it rains a lot. Children play in puddles. Open your umbrellas! Let’s splash in the puddles! There are a lot of flowers. Look! Flowers are growing. Let’s do it with our hands. Smell the flowers. Mmm they smell good. There are a lot of bugs. I don’t like bugs! Look, there is a mosquito in here. Bzzzzz, smac! I killed it!”

Use “self talk”: say what you are doing while you do it. For example: “I am going to take our friend Lila. She is looking at you. Now I am going to give it to Jack, etc.”

Use puppets. Young kids (and not so young) love listening to stories. I tell a series of “stories” that take place with 2-4 characters and that convey the meaning of the language chunks I am focusing on. For example, at the beginning of the year in first grade I bring a house I made out of a cardboard box with three animal  puppets inside. After talking about the house, we knock on the door to see who will come out and then I ask each one its name, putting name tags on them and me. Then the puppets ask students their name.

“What is this? It is a house! What color is the house? Yes, it is white. And it has a door, a green door. Let’s make a door with our hands. It is a door. It also has windows. How many windows does it have? Let’s count them! Let’s make a window with our hands. Es una ventana. Let’s whisper it: Es una ventana. Shall I knock on the door? Knock, knock. Mmm, there is no answer. I wonder if they are sleeping. Let’s sleep. Good night! I’ll knock again. Knock, knock. Mmm, there is no answer. I wonder if they are eating. Let’s eat. Eat, eat, eat, eat. Mmm, yummy, I like pizza. Do you like pizza? I’ll knock again. Knock, knock. Mmm, there is no answer. I wonder if they are in the bathroom.  I’ll knock again. Well, hello! What is your name? Hi, Lila, my name is Sra. Bernad.”

To elicit the highest amount of language from my students I use the following strategies:

Gestures: I have made up a gesture for each essential verb (and other words) that I teach, and I use them as I speak, specially with my first graders. Students associate the gesture with the word and can be prompted when they are not sure of which one to use.

Chants and songs: I use them to teach the targeted chunks of language. For example, I teach them to ask “¿Dónde está? (Where is it?)” by putting my hand over my eyes, looking around and chanting “¿Dónde, dónde, dónde está?”. It tends to stick with students better and a lot of them will be able to produce the language.

Walk and talk: once students have received enough input for the targeted language chunk, we walk around the classroom having conversations with each other. Demonstrate first with puppets and then with two students. I usually give them a few minutes and have a timer to let them know that time is up. After sitting down, we listen to some of the conversations they had.

Mix it up: research has shown that students learn language best when mixing topics. To do this, I use different strategies, like playing games, (Connect 4, Hit it, Truth or dare), image boards and a mystery box.

Native speakers: I let them be the first ones to follow my directions or answer my questions.

And lastly, use humor! It will take your students a long way on their path to fluency.