Teaching in Immersion Programs: What do teachers need to know and be able to do ?

1. Teaching in Immersion Programs: What do teachers need to know and be able to do? Myriam Met myriammet@gmail.com

2. Core Strategies • Input • Checks for Comprehension • Output/Interaction • Engagement

3. Comprehensible Input 1. Visual cues • Matching sound with meaning (visuals, modeling) • Body language/gestures • Hands-on experiences • Manipulatives

4. Comprehensible Input • Context • Stories • Advance Organizers • Background knowledge

5. Stories as Input

6. Making Input Comprehensible 3. Language • Caregiver speech • Repetition and predictability • Routines • Chants, songs, and fingerplays • Paraphrase, Definition, Explanation

7. Multiple encounters with new language in meaningful contexts • What does “multiple encounters with new language in meaningful contexts” mean? • Why are multiple encounters important? • What do you do in your classroom to ensure that students have “multiple encounters with new language in meaningful contexts”?

8. Check for Comprehension

9. Limited Response Make my sentence true; do as I say Either/or Fill in the blank Visual and non-verbal feedback Yes/no (true/false; thumbs up/thumbs down; physical response) Act out

10. Output/Interaction • Importance of pair and group work (vs. interaction with the teacher) • 'testing the waters' • Engaging in verbal interaction vs. Non-verbal play or work • Getting more input through interaction

11. In your classroom … • Who gets the most output practice? Who gets the least? • How many oral output opportunities does the average student get in your class?

12. In your classroom … • What strategies do you use to give students oral output opportunities? For grades 2-3: How do you plan differently for student output to lead to longer, sustained oral production?

13. ENGAGEMENT “You can’t drill anything into a sponge. You have to make the sponge soak up the information.”

14. ENGAGEMENT You Do • I do • We do

15. ENGAGEMENT Some strategies: • Student to Student Interactions • Students tell partner before the teacher • White boards, reply cards • Physical actions

16. In every lesson, I … • Am understandable and only speak the target language • Check for comprehension • Provide multiple encounters in meaningful contexts for new language • Ensure student output/interaction

17. In every lesson, I • Think about student engagement (what will THEY be doing?) • Gradually move students to independence • Consider the pacing of the lesson (how long activities last) • Consider sequencing (in what order …) • Assess learning