My first few words

On Monday, I continued circling with cards with my 1st years.  I reviewed the names and introduced a student who played something.  Because most of the sports are cognates, this was pretty easy.  I could circle what the student played and throw in an or question pretty easily.  For example, Joe plays baseball.  Does Joe play baseball or tennis?  Then I asked Joe if he plays tennis and circled that for a while.  Eventually, I asked where Joe plays baseball and either picked an answer that was a proper noun or provided my own.  My kids are still learning the game, so I usually had to tell them that Joe plays baseball at WalMart.  While I circled, I made sure to insist that students give me the "I don't understand" gesture and the "slow down" gesture if they needed it.  I inserted words that I knew they didn't know and then praised whoever stopped me or "yelled" at them if they didn't stop me.  I did NOT do a good enough job of this last year and I really hope I can keep it up.

Once that has been beaten to death, I introduce another student (hopefully a girl) who plays a different sport.  We go through the same process of establishing what she plays, what she doesn't play, and where she plays it.  Now I add someone for her to play with (should be a celebrity).  We go back to Joe and pick someone for him to play with too. 

Doing this for two students took me about the full 45 minutes...I was bored to tears, but the kids were understanding and weren't bored.  This is something that is very hard for me to remember until I watch Linda Li teach students three words in 20 minutes.  That is certainly not boring, so I must be bored because I already know French.  My students are (mostly) not bored because they are still trying to keep up with me.