Classroom MGMT
✔   Rules (DEA & CWB)
✔   Routines (Routines & Student Jobs)
✔   Brain Breaks

Comprehensibility
✔   Inclusion (Safety Nets, Gestures & Question Posters)
__ Shelter Vocab

A problem with most textbooks is that they contain more vocabulary than students are able to acquire. Many of these words are of such low frequency and utility that they hardly ever come up in daily interaction, or they’re just not necessary to know. A problem with most language teachers is that they expect students to memorize lists of these words. The solution is to use fewer words so students acquire them. In order to do that within the constraints of school, we can optimize the vocabulary we use with our students.

The CI community has embraced the concept of “sheltering vocabulary,” which means limiting language used in class to what students know, and building that vocabulary slowly over time. This is also known as “staying in bounds.” Sheltering vocabulary leads to greater fluency of the language. An example of this is the published novellas limited to few unique words (20 to 300) in the target language. These novellas contain a core set of vocabulary that’s repeated in novel contexts throughout the book, and it’s no surprise that this vocabulary is comprised mostly of the most frequent and useful words to know. What are some of those words?

Super 7
Thank Terry Waltz for organizing a set of 7 verbs used to express the most global concepts:

Location
Existence
Identity
Possession
Preference
Motion
Volition

The Latin esse covers Location, Existence, and Identity, so its basic set of Super verbs is what I call the Quaint Quīntum (esse, habēre, placēre, īre, velle), but why stop there? Miriam Patrick added three more concepts:

Discourse
Obligation
Opinion

There are lists out there with more verbs, but to me that dances too closely on the line of sheltering vocabulary, and ends up just being a prioritization of useful verbs from the 52 Most Important Verbs list. 20+ verbs are too many to be using on a daily basis when acquisition is the goal. My suggestion is to use far fewer, and look to the Most Important Verbs list when building vocabulary or creating an embedded reading of a selected text. **Updated 1.31.18** I’ve just decided to drop Obligation, and replace it with Knowledge (i.e. scīre/nescīre), while also expanding to the more common Sweet 16, allowing for Power (i.e. posse), and expanding the concepts of Motion (i.e. venīre & discēdere) and Possession (i.e. ferre, pōnere, and dare). These verbs have been very high frequency with stories, so might as well reflect what we use.

Quaint Quīntum, Awesome Octō, and Sweet Sēdecim
– Super SIMPLE with 3rd Person only
– With All Persons (+ plural)
– Super posters with All Persons (+ plural + past tense)

TPR
CI rock stars, like Chris Stolz, have embraced the idea of jumping right into stories from day 1 (and if you do, consider the No Travel story script), although a more traditional practice is to use Total Physical Response (TPR) for the first 10 hours of CI instruction. Whether or not you start with a story hook, it’s a good idea to keep TPR handy because it’s particularly effective to shelter vocabulary. I recommend returning to TPR from time to time even after those initial 10 hours. So, if you have a good imagination, or experience with TPR, just post a word wall and create funny sequences.

Big TPR Wall

If you’re less comfortable with ex tempore TPR, or looking for some visual stimulation for class, I’ve created this PowerPoint presentation:

TPR

Download the presentation, play it (F5), and start clicking around. You’ll find links to details that make TPR compelling, as well as compliments that get you thinking outside of the standard “stand up from the chair, etc.” My suggestion is to use this to get you into the habit of creating novel TPR commands (and statements) just from the Word Wall itself. It would be easy to treat this as a curriculum resource and just work the whole way through it start to finish. DON’T DO THAT. The advantage of posting the TPR Wall is that it will come back later in the year as a nifty resource to eat up class minutes, as well as get students moving.

Word Wall
In addition to the TPR Wall, build a list of new words as you go. Nest the lists under corresponding question posters (e.g. nouns under “Who/What?” adjectives under “What kind?” numbers under “How many/When?” motion verbs under “Where/To where/From where/How?” other verbs under “To whom/With whom/Why?”). Get creative on how to keep each class section’s words separate from the other class sections, and consider doing a Wall Talk from time to time.