Episode 16

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Published on:

4th Jan 2026

Episode 16: “CI and the Quiet Kid: Are They Even Getting It?”

Silence in the CI classroom doesn’t mean disengagement, apathy, or failure—it often means processing, and today we’re unpacking what that really looks like.

Before you panic, take the CI Proficiency Quiz and see where you land at https://imim.us/ciquiz.

In this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we talk about quiet students, trusting input over output, subtle comprehension checks, and why participation doesn’t have to be loud to be real—with plenty of teacher honesty and sarcasm included.

Need practical support? The CI Survival Kit has your back with ready-to-use resources at https://imim.us/kit.

#comprehensibleinput, #languageteaching, #worldlanguageteachers, #CIclassroom, #quietstudents, #teacherpodcast, #languageacquisition, #proficiencybased, #teacherlife, #CIteaching

Hosts:

  1. Scott Benedict - https://www.instagram.com/immediateimmersion
  2. Stephanie Carbonneau

Resources & Links:

  1. Assessment Academy: https://imim.us/academy
  2. CI Survival Kit: https://imim.us/kit

Join the Conversation:

Got thoughts or your own story? Share it in the comments or tag us @ImmediateImmersion!

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📧 Scott@immediateimmersion.com

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Transcript
Speaker:

Hello and welcome to

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Comprehend this this morning.

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I hope everybody has had a great holiday

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season and a good start to the new year.

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Today we've got some things we're going

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to talk about the CI and the quiet kid.

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Are they even getting it?

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I know you know that kid the one who

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never speaks, never

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volunteers, never reacts.

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And every day you're like, are they

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learning or are they astral projecting?

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Today we're talking about that quiet kids

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and CI class, the

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processors, the observers,

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the students who give us absolutely

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nothing until suddenly

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they give us everything.

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I'm joined by Stephanie Carboneau and

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we're unpacking why silence

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doesn't mean disengagement.

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How to stop panicking when there's zero

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output and what real participation looks

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like beyond talking

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just to prove you're alive.

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If you've ever stared at a silent student

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and thought, please blink if you

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understand this episode is for you.

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And I just want to say that unfortunately

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Jackie couldn't join us this morning.

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She got a last minute illness.

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So we wish her all the best and hopefully

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we'll see her back soon.

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And we'll be right back

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after these short videos.

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Pop quiz. Are your assessments align with

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what you're actually teaching?

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No? Cool. Let's fix that.

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The Assessment Academy is 10 pre-recorded

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lessons that help you ditch the scantrons

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and actually assess what matters.

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Like proficiency, performance, and

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whether your students are

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still breathing by Friday.

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Watch on your time as many times as you

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want for a whole year.

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And no, there's not a single lesson about

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bubble sheets or

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grading 72 essays at 11 p.m.

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You're welcome.

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Head over to mm.us slash academy and

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start assessing like

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you actually mean it.

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Welcome to comprehend this real talk for

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real language teachers.

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No drills, no dry theory, just honest

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stories, practical ideas, and a reminder

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you're not alone in the CI trenches.

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Let's dive in.

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Hello and welcome back everybody.

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We're joined with Stephanie this morning.

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Good morning, Stephanie.

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How are you doing today?

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Good.

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Been a great vacation.

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Awesome.

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Awesome. I know I've

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been having two weeks.

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I'm regretting going back.

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I got to go back on Tuesday.

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At least I get one more day.

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Tuesday?

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Because they let us have a travel day.

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We do that with Easter break too.

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They get us one extra day so that we can

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they have that travel day.

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I'm not complaining at all.

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Not complaining.

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So Stephanie, it's your

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first time with us this time.

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So why don't you go ahead and let us know

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a little bit about yourself.

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I'm a middle school teacher in southern

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Maine, just an hour north of Boston.

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I've been teaching for 28 years and I've

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only taught middle school.

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Mostly deskless classroom.

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Really embracing the ADI strategies.

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I got my master's in teaching languages

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which really pushed me to look at

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teaching languages differently.

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And I sought that master's because what I

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learned or how I learned

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just wasn't working anymore.

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Or I couldn't see working.

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Awesome.

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Awesome.

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Awesome.

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And when did you start

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with CI ADI instruction?

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How long are you doing that?

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A year out of undergrad, I knew I had no

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idea how to teach languages.

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So I looked for a

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program or a master's program.

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I was teaching in

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Massachusetts at the time.

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And you had to get your master's within

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five years of teaching.

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And I only found two

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programs at that time.

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And I just jumped in and took a couple

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courses with them and then

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went right into the program.

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Now the program is completely online.

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But at that time I had to spend my

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summers in Mississippi

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where it's really hot.

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Yeah.

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Compared to here in New England.

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Big difference.

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And still at that time

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it was there in theory.

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But people or teachers were still

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teaching the way they had been taught.

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And I searched and searched and searched

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and just started following different

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people and combining the

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ideas that I've learned with them.

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I went to I think it was IFLT.

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Just prior to COVID and really got a lot

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of good information and training there.

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And then COVID hit.

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And I've just kept pushing through and

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it's just how I do things now.

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Awesome.

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Awesome.

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I'm a little bit similar

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in it but different path.

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I didn't go for the Masters.

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California didn't require that.

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So when I started

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teaching I started teaching late.

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I started teaching when I was 30.

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So that's when I went to my first year of

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teaching was when I was 30.

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Right after 9 11 is

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when I started teaching.

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And that first semester like you said I

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taught the way that I

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was taught languages.

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Not realizing that I was a special breed

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of person who could learn that way

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because I took French German

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and Spanish in high school.

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I stopped French because I

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got in trouble in college.

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They told me if I didn't take my general

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ed requirements they were going to kick

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me out because you know language classes

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were so hard to come by.

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They come by every once every five years

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in the upper levels.

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No they're not they don't come out.

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They're not taught every semester.

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So I was grabbing those up when I could.

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And so taking French German and Spanish

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all three at college was taking up most

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of my general ed time in there.

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And I dropped one.

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So I took my last French class was intro

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to French lit way back when in 1990.

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I mean 1990.

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Yeah 1992 around there.

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So it's been a long time.

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So that first semester

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that's what I did and I sucked.

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It was horrible.

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I was bored.

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I was bored and if I was

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bored then the kids were bored.

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And so I saw something during winter

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break that year that first year.

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So at the end of 2001 I started looking

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for something else and I found the only

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thing that was available

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back then was Blaine Ray's TPRS.

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That's what I found.

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And I gobbled everything up.

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I had no training.

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I gobbled everything

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up over winter break.

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And when second

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semester started I ran with it.

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I did it horribly.

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But as Blaine Ray says doing TPRS

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horribly is usually better.

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You get better results than doing

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traditional really well.

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So my kids were actually speaking.

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And in fact I had the problem where I

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couldn't get my kids to shut up during

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this during a speaking quiz.

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They were trying to get that

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A. I taught mostly Asian kids.

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It was an Asian school mostly

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predominantly Asian.

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And so they were talking for like seven,

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eight, nine minutes trying

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to get that A plus grade.

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And I'm like I already gave you that A

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cross grade about 30 seconds in.

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You know you don't need it anymore.

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And I never thought about it.

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It didn't dawn on me just to set a dang

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timer to cut them off.

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Because it took me forever.

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But that big change from not having

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anybody talk to having that happen was

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that TPRS at the time.

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And I've been doing CI ever since.

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So similar pathway where we found out

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what we didn't know

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how to teach languages.

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And we need to find something else.

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You found it in a master's program.

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I found it doing online research.

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And actually I regret I didn't realize

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when I was the way that California

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credentialing does it.

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You go and get your bachelor's first.

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And then you go to teaching school.

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And then you're only about three classes

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away from getting a

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master's in education afterwards.

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I didn't know that didn't realize that

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and didn't realize

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the value of a master's.

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My sister teaches in Michigan.

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And Michigan is the same rule as

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Massachusetts where you had to have your

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master's within five years.

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But she had to start from scratch because

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in Michigan you get your teaching

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credential along with your bachelor's.

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So she started from

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scratch to start brand new.

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So different ways different approaches.

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But I never ended up getting my master's

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because my school districts never.

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It was like a thousand

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dollars a year additional salary.

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And it really wasn't worth the cost.

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The thirty thousand dollar out cost to

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get an extra thousand dollars that would

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take me thirty years to

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get my money back from.

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So I never really

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pursued that that avenue.

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But there are some great programs now.

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I mean I did mine through Southern Miss

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and it's all online now.

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But there's Idioma Education Consulting

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and they have an online master's program

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and it's actually very reasonable.

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I think it's like less than fifteen

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thousand dollars to do it.

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And their courses I'm doing some of their

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courses now because I've hit that level

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of pay where I can only go horizontally.

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I've hit the ceiling. So I'm trying to

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get thirty more credits so

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that I can move that way.

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But I think a lot of us came out of

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school and teaching programs not with a

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focus on how to teach languages.

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That's for sure.

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I didn't have one course in my undergrad

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program about teaching languages.

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It was about teaching

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but not teaching languages.

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Yeah. Mine was similar.

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The core classes they had the methods

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class. They had the

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English methods class.

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The math methods class.

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But for everybody who wasn't one of the

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four cores or PE they lumped us all

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together into one method class.

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So I was in there with art and business

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and you know keyboarding

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and all those other classes.

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And it didn't help any of us because we

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all were very specialized.

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You know what works in a business class

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is not going to work in an art class is

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not going to work in a language class.

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But they didn't have the differentiation.

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And so I got a lot of good ideas for

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overall teaching but not good ideas that

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actually applied to what I

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was doing in the classroom.

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So yeah.

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And of course we took psychology courses

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you know about about learners but there

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was no second language acquisition course

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which once you take a course like that

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it's it's mind blowing like what have we

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been doing all these years because it's

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totally not what we should be doing.

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So you know we get that

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second hand in California.

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We have a you have to get a second

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language learner addition to your permit.

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Everybody every teacher has

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to get that in California.

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And I didn't even study for

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it because it's all crashing.

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So it's three tests

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and it's all crashing.

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So I already knew

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everything about crashing.

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You know I knew all about second language

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acquisition and his theories and his

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hypotheses and all that stuff.

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So I didn't have to study for it where a

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lot of other teachers did.

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And so that's the only way that people

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are getting that second language

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acquisition theory in is through that.

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You know the English is a second language

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addition that we all have

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to have on our credentials.

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So it is different.

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It's interesting how we all get there.

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But I'm glad that we do get to that ADI

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CI instruction because I think the kids

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really benefit from that much more so

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than traditional drill and kill type.

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So let's go ahead and

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get into the topic today.

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And that is that CI and that quiet kid.

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You know you're wondering if they get it.

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I always tell my kids we start the

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semester with new kids.

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So I've got new kids coming on Tuesday.

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And so I'll give them the speech like I

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give my kids every time

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I start a new semester.

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I never know if you understand because

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this is what you look like

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when you don't understand.

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And this is what you look

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like when you do understand.

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And it's so true.

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They don't give you any indication.

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You wondering what's going

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on behind those eyeballs.

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Is it clicking in there.

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And it's a big deal.

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We need to find a way in there.

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Are they processing or

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are they being apathetic.

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So what do you what's your views on that.

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Well it took me a long time

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to not take it personally.

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Teaching is who I am.

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I put a lot into it.

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And so you know taking it personally when

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there's no reaction was a big hurdle.

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So once I've gotten past that it's taken

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a lot to really hone in on that silent

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kid because the loud kids kind of drown

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out that silent kid and

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that silent kid can be missed.

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And that's what they want.

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They want to be to be missed.

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So I've really worked on

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doing the whole teach to the eyes.

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Right.

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I mean they tell you

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to teach to the eyes.

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And if you are interacting with a student

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look them in the eye.

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And it's very clear if if they're

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avoiding your eyes they

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don't know what's going on.

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If they're looking at you and giving

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slight nods then you know something's

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happening in that in there.

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They're just quiet about

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how they're going to do it.

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And I just started doing different things

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within the class that gave them a voice

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not necessarily a voice physically but a

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way to show me that they were in fact

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with me understanding

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processing learning the language.

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And so yeah I don't know if you want me

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to talk about some of those

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things that I've been doing.

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Yeah we will.

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We'll get to that.

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Let's just get started here.

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I will say that I'm like you.

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I don't take it personally but I was

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worried originally at those silent kids

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that I didn't I needed to find a way

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whether they understood or not so that I

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know if I'm doing my job right because

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that feedback to me is letting me know if

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they're understanding I'm doing my job.

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If they're not understanding then I'm not

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and I need to do something else because

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doing the same thing over and over again

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isn't going to change

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you know that thing.

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And then I was told this story from a

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friend and it put a lot into perspective

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for me so that I didn't

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worry about it as much.

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But the story goes and I can't remember

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which country it is I'm going to mess up

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the country but I'm going to just use

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Finland as my example because I knew it

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was one of those upper

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Scandinavian countries.

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This family moved there from the United

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States they were American.

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Nobody spoke the native language there

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but they were moving there for a job and

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they had two kids a couple of years apart

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but they were young kids they were like

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you know under the five mark.

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And they went to Finland and the parents

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learned the language and then they

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decided they were going to raise their

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kids bilingually and so one of the

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parents was only going to speak to them

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and finish and the other one was only

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going to speak to them in English.

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And that's how they were going to to

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maneuver that bilingual thing which a lot

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of families struggle with how to get that

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bilingual that whatever that word is to

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teach their kids to stay bilingual.

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Well the boy followed along perfectly

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spoke with mom or whichever one which one

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adult with in English and one adult in

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Finnish and kept them

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both going no problems.

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But the girl could understand English but

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refused to speak English.

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She would only answer back and finish and

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so this went on for many years and when

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the kids were likes you know in the late

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elementary early middle school years they

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were going back to United

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States for a family reunion.

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And the parents said oh the boy has no

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problem he's not going to have any issues

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you know he speaks English not a problem

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but the girl we've never heard her speak

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English and how she can speak with

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grandma because none of

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the family speaks Finnish.

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And she'll understand but how is she

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going to be able to communicate and they

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were just like really worried about it.

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So that's like our silent kids.

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She's they're not speaking they're only

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using the common language of the

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classroom not the second language.

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So they went back to the United States

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they did their family reunion and the

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girl was speaking with grandma in fluent

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English with no accent.

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And the parents had never heard her speak

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English before so they were really

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astonished and Bill Van Patten said this

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is what was going on in that is and it's

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the same thing that goes on in our

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classrooms as well is the girl did not

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have a need to use

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the English in Finland.

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There is no absolute need she didn't have

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to like figure out how to say something

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in English to be able to go to the

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bathroom or find where the bathroom is

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she did she had no need for that.

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And when she had the need to use English

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the English came out and it's the same

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thing in our classrooms

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where they know we speak English.

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So they'll resort to English because it's

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easier and there's no actual need to

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speak the second language in the

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classroom for them there's no I mean if

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they don't know how to say can I go to

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the bathroom in French or in German or in

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Mandarin they know they can say in

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English and go to the

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bathroom type of situation.

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And we find that happens I hear so many

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stories from teachers who take kids on

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foreign exchange programs like in the

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summer time and they're like they're so

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worried about kid a or kid b because

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they've never heard him speak the

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language they're like how are they gonna

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be able to function cuz yeah we're good

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in Madrid or we're good in Paris because

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a lot of people speak English there but

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when we go to the countryside.

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And we go to some of those smaller towns

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where English might not be as prevalent

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how are they gonna communicate and then

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they get surprised that the kid can

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actually use their French their Mandarin

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their German or whatever language it is

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because now they know they have no other

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choice and so I found that very very

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interesting and a little bit more

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forgiving for myself during that time.

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And so looking for ways like you said for

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ways for them to demonstrate

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comprehension because and without using

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necessarily verbal production because

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there are three things that usually for

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me at least in my brain you tell me if

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it's different in yours.

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That why they're not using the language

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number one for me the first and biggest

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one is confidence they have the

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vocabulary they have the structure they

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have the language in their head but they

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don't have the confidence they're afraid

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to make mistakes and so they don't they

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don't use it that's the

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number one one for me.

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The second one is they just don't have

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the vocabulary to be able to say what

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they want to say or at least they think

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they don't cuz I always tell my kids you

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know whether I taught middle school or

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high school you do not have the

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vocabulary to speak at the same level you

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speak in English so if you have an eighth

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grade brain you can't speak French or

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German or Mandarin or Spanish as an

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eighth grader you have to speak it as a

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kindergartner and that's hard for them to

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make that that change there.

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And then the third and it's the rarest of

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them is the apathetic kid the kid who

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just isn't paying attention isn't trying

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and doesn't want to that's the smallest

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percentage like less than two or 3% in my

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experience but that's also a possibility

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in my job is to find out which of those

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three things is the reason and then each

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one of those has a

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different solution to the problem.

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Yeah, but sometimes also

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that's it's the kids personality.

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I have one of the best pieces of advice I

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was given by a mentor teacher is when

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you're having a problem with a student.

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Go see that student in

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somebody else's class.

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That way you can see how they're being

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handled whether it's you what all those

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kinds of things are and I have a couple

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students that I connect with their other

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teachers and they're the exact same way

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in their math class in

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their English class in art.

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They just aren't a student that.

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Is vocal, you know very vocal and

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learning that about a student also is

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very helpful because then you know again,

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it's not me, you know, they don't hate

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me. They're not being apathetic. This is

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just their personality and coming up with

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stuff for people in that situation who

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are quiet naturally

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to show what they know.

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Is hard for somebody like me who is

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extremely vocal and talk out loud about

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everything so those are hurdles and to

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think about once I realized, oh, it's

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their personality as well.

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You know, I find something that works for

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that child by speaking

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with that child individually.

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For example, like we have a signal in my

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class when when students aren't

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understanding they, you know, do this

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like timeout signal and they're supposed

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to start doing that symbol when they see

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somebody else doing that symbol so that

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there are a lot of people doing that

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symbol and I'm I'm aware.

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Well, you know that quiet kid or that

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self-conscious kid does not want to start

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that or want to be seen doing that. So

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talking with them and coming up with

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something totally different like,

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alright, if you if you're not

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understanding and you don't want to do

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this, I need you to like.

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I'm stretching right now because you

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know, I'm tired or or whatever something

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a normal movement that kids do, but

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knowing the quiet child's doing it.

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They don't understand and they need help

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with with something like that.

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I also will. I have one child who I have

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her write down. She has all her

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questions. She has a little piece of

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paper that hands me either when they're

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working on individual stuff or on the way

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out that she wants clarification on, but

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she just couldn't bring herself to.

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To ask that or you know to speak up.

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And so that's, you know, another way, you

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know, to get them to have that visible

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eye knowing whether that they don't

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understand because a lot of those kids

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that are silent like that won't even make the eye contact with you.

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So can't rely on that. And again, it's

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just making that connection with the kid

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in a different way and then letting them

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be, I guess, because that's their

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personality and finding a way when it's

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not a whole class thing to connect with

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that child to make sure they've understood.

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Absolutely, absolutely. You know, you

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brought up a couple of things that I want

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to talk about. I, you know, you talked

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about that the personality and because

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it's been so far removed from my first

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four years of teaching where I taught at

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that 80% Asian school, I had completely

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forgot about the personality thing

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because most of the kids at that school

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that I taught at were

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fresh off the plane Chinese.

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So they came from mainland China. China

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does what a lot of European college

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countries do where they pigeonhole kids

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based on their elementary school years in

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the track that they go into. And so these

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kids were not in the college track in

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China and the parents wanted them to be in the college track.

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So the intent was send them to the United

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States, get them into college in the

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United States and then bring them home

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when they were finished. So I had a lot

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of those kids like that. And so they came

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from communist China. So a lot of kids,

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they're not the kind to raise their hand.

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They're very quiet because giving their

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opinion was not permitted in China. They

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were not allowed to give their actual

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permission. They could only answer

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factual questions. Well, I'm not asking factual questions.

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It's not in a language class. That's not

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what we're talking about. It's not, you

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know, is this true or false? You know,

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that type of thing is, you know,

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Shakespeare, an American writer or a

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British writer, you know, an English

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writer. You know, we're not asking those

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types of questions. So a lot of the

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questions were opinion and they were not

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forthright in that. So yes, I had

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completely forgot about that. That's shy.

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And I don't know why I also forgot

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because that's me. I'm into that.

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I'm introvert naturally. I use all my

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extravertness at school and I completely

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crash after school because

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it's not my normal personality.

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I love what you say about using the

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natural gesture for kids who are shy

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about expressing. They don't know for me

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because I was not a I'm always running

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around teaching. I'm not always seeing

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that corner of the class

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or that corner of the class.

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The timeout signal never worked for me

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because it was a silent signal. And so if

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my back had to be turned to that section

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of the classroom for two or three

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minutes, that was two or three minutes

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where those kids were not understanding.

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And it was a problematic thing for me.

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And it was, you know, they're getting

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further lost. So I have them stomp.

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So they stomp with their feet because no

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matter where I am in the classroom

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teaching or pointing or pausing or

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wherever I am, I can hear that. And I

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like you when one person stomps,

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everybody stomps so that, you

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know, no one feels isolated.

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But there's still those shy kids who

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don't want to be that first one. So I

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love that natural

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gestures that you're doing.

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One of the things I have done and I

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learned this, I want to say.

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I don't know. I don't know how I learned

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this from. I want to say it's Carol Gob.

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I want to say it's Carol

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Gob. But maybe it wasn't.

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Maybe it wasn't. Is to make a triangle of

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colors. So we take construction paper or

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cardstock and they make a little

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pyramilla like a they take a strip and

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they fold it in three ways

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and they make a triangle.

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One side of the triangle is red. One is

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yellow. One is green. And they keep it on

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their desk and they let me know by the

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color of their desk. So it's another

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silent way. And other kids may not

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necessarily notice when a kid changes his

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triangle to a yellower.

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I'm starting to get confused or a red is

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stop. I am now totally confused. But it's

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another silent way of doing that to help

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them let you know that they don't

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understand without that verbalization

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because they just might not be.

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They might be understanding everything.

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And we've talked about those other

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things. The personality, the confidence,

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the lack of vocabulary and apathy. But

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they just might not have had enough

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language to be able to

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produce and vocalize yet.

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The average kid learns to start speaking

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their words. What about 18 months to two

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years around there. But some kids are

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earlier bloomers and some

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kids are later bloomers.

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Kids who are autistic usually start

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talking about three or four. It's a lot

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later than that. And that doesn't mean

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that they aren't understanding or they

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don't have the intelligence level. It's

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just that they are not

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ready to produce those words.

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Which we also have to take into account.

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That's one of the big failures I find

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with traditional teaching is they expect

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them to start speaking day one.

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We just learn hello and goodbye and my

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name is. Now turn to your partner on day

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one and ask those questions. And you're

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putting that input in there. You're

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forcing them to do that input right away

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when they're not ready at

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all for that type of thing.

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And whatever they're doing is just rope

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parroting anyway. And it's not really any

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language acquisition. And what we learn

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when we study second language

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acquisition. That's not the way. Because

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we don't have our kids do that when we

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learn teaching their native language.

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We never have them. You're 18 months.

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Turn to your playpen partner and start

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conversing with each other. It's a whole

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different thing. And once we understand

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that second language acquisition theory.

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We change our practices to be more

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conducive to how the brain operates.

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You know I try to use a lot of total

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participation techniques. So that even

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the silent person can express. For

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example I started this during COVID

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because I could not pay attention to all

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the kids on the screen.

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And what I was teaching. So I you know

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the year that we were hybrid I sent them

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home with these packets. And they had all

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these cards. And so when I was asking a

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question. They would hold up the card.

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Based on their answer. So things like

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it's true for me. It's not true for me.

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True false. I agree. I don't agree. And

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when we came back to the classroom. I

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kept it. And I made. First I gave each

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kid an envelope with their own cards. But

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you know that this is

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middle school. So nobody.

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Nobody had whatever card they needed. So

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then I had school volunteers make the

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cards and laminate them for me. And I

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have a class set. And we pass them out

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when we need them. And everybody can hold

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up a card. And you don't have to hold it

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up real high over your head. You can hold

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it like in front of your chest. You know

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it doesn't have to let people see it. So

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I use a lot of total participation

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techniques like that.

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For kids to be able to express

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themselves. Show me they understand. And

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I also have those hanging around my room.

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So that they see them can use them. Or we

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move. You know. If it's true for you.

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Then you go over under this sign. If it's

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not true for you. You go over here. If

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it's sometimes true for you. You stand in

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the middle. And they don't have to say

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anything. But they're

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showing me they understand.

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By their movement. You know and showing

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me that visible. That you know they can

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express. What they

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understand without actually.

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You know producing language.

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I love that. Absolutely. And there is

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something similar that I do. But it's I

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don't do it. I never thought to do it

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with the regular class period. And I

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don't know who I learned this from. So I

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apologize. Who I learned this from.

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But during when we read novels I have.

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Interjection cards. That they can put

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like yes or. What a shame or. Brilliant

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or whatever. So I pass these out to kids

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and their job is to find a place. Where

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their card will

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logically fit in the story.

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And so then they do that. And I have you

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know a class set like you said and every

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kid is a different one. On the back of

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the card is the translation so they know

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what it is. They don't have to worry

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about that aspect of it.

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But then they have to interject it and

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put the card up and then shout it out at

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the same time. So they have to say the

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thing and helps them learn those

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interjection type of rejoinder type.

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Vocabulary that makes things sound more

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natural and more native like to actually

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put these kind of things in there. It

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really works well in like class like

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German has a lot of.

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Expressions that don't have translations

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to them in English. They're kind of

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feelings that that go with it there. We

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call them particles in German. They

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don't. They're not a. They have like

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hundreds of words of translation because

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they're used in so

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many different contexts.

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But you got to use them. You can't it

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can't explain them. And so this these

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kinds of things help that get that thing.

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And I know other languages have those

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kinds of things as well.

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And it really does help them. But I never

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thought about doing that in the classroom

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on a regular basis that they can find

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ways to interject those in. That's an

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awesome awesome idea and pairing off that

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idea. One of the things that I do and I

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do this with two types

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of kids in particular.

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The ones that I suspect are being

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apathetic versus otherwise why they're

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being silent and my kids who have trouble

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paying attention and that may be ADHD

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kids or it may be just kids who are on

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that border and they're not really ADHD

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but they're just having trouble staying

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focused is I will look for three to five

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words that I know I'm

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going to use that day in class.

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And I assign that word to them and I give

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them a sticky note. I used to use I have

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them. I don't give them out anymore. The

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little clickers like the little counter

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clickers. But the kids would always just

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click them to get to certain numbers and

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they would not be really.

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So they're like I want to get to nine

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hundred ninety nine. So they'd be

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clicking click click click click click

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trying to get to nine nine nine all the

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way across. So I stopped using the

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clickers. I still have them but I stopped

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using that. But I give them a sticky note

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and tell them to mark a hashtag.

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Hashmark for every time they hear me use

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that word. And I if I'm in doing past

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tense versus present tense I'll have one

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kid listen for the past tense form of the

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verb and one kid listen for

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the present tense of the verb.

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And I do this for twofold. Number one if

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they have to listen for one word then

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they're listening for all the words

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because they have they can't just listen

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for the one word they have to listen to

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everything. And it also helps me. I don't

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it's it doesn't have to be 100 percent

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accurate. You know they're not going to

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be 100 percent accurate with it. But at

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least it gives me an idea at the end of

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my teaching day at the end of the class

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how well I hit that particular word.

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And sometimes I'll see a great way to

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have that silent kid. You know if they've

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understood what's happening. You know if

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you ask this ask the silent student to

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tally how many times somebody expresses

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an opinion or somebody disagrees and you

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know that's a way for

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them to show they understand.

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I've always given it to to the ADHD kid

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to do something like that. But now I'm

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thinking this would be a great task as

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well for the silent student to see if

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they are comprehending what we are doing

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or learning or

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acquiring in class that day.

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And another idea that I have that I got

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and I got this from Carmen Andrews who

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teaches in Vegas. I talked with her for

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many years. Amazing teacher. And I don't

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know if she originated it or she got it

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from somewhere else but I'll say that's

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who I got it from is the

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pencil game that I like to do.

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And I like this game because it's it's

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hard and it's not hard for the the

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immediate reason like it's not asking

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hard questions but it's it's it's

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tricking the brain. You have to work

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backwards from way the

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brain normally thinks to do it.

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So after anything it could be you know

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conversation that you had with some kids

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about a topic. It could be after a story.

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It could be after a reading. It could be

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after a novel chapter. It doesn't matter

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whatever you did in class because it's

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very versatile and it

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requires no prep whatsoever.

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You ask you have kids go in pairs and

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there is an object. I was taught with a

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pencil but it can be any object between

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them. It doesn't matter. It's got to be

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one between each pair and you ask true

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and false questions.

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And this is how I can kind of assess if

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that silent kid was understanding or not

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based on I can look at that kid and watch

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them play the game. Now how why it's

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tricky is because just a true and false

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they've got a 50 50 chance.

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But what makes it tricky is the kids want

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to grab the object when it's true.

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But no we ask you only grab the object

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when it's false so they have to go

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against the intuitive is because you want

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to grab it when it's true but we want to

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grab it when it's false

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so not when it's true.

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So and the scoring goes like this kid if

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you have it when it's true if you have

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the object in your hand when it's true

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minus one point if you have the object in

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your hand when it's false plus one point

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if you don't have the object in your hand

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you didn't gain or lose points at all.

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And it's really funny because I love this

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game for a couple of reasons one I can

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see the silent kid and how they're

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comprehending by watching it so each

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round that I asked these questions I can

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look at a different silent kid and see

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how they're comprehending if they're

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comprehending right to the kids who

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usually are the underdogs the slower

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processors end up winning this game.

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Because they are out there to grab the

Speaker:

object so quickly where the top kid

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always wants to grab the object so

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quickly and they end up losing points

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that way because they grab it when it's

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true and so it makes those underdog kids

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a little bit feel empowered that way.

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I like that twist so I like that twist

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I've had to like count down so that the

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kids not grabbing it before anybody else

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I've had to you know count down backwards

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you know so that the processors have time

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to think and answer yeah but I've never

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thought about doing it the

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other way that's interesting.

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That's interesting and so it was it was

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it's a really fun game it's quick no prep

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and it's a formative you know informal

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formative assessment that you can see

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right away that I really like doing and

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it's quickly and I when I used to have

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desks I used to call

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this the most deadly game.

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Because they would put the pencil between

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the two desks and the problem was it

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really was the deadly game so you have to

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give them really big warnings because

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they go for grab the pencil there'd be

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that gap between two desks and when they

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lean over the fingers would get pinched

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so I used to tell them to push your desk

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together so they touch and then put the

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pencil there because it really was it

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turned out to be like the deadly the

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deadly game for that game.

Speaker:

And so I was like I'm going to do that now I don't have desk so I don't have to

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worry about that we just my kids like to

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send the floor and do it and play and one

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kids I have a no button someone a kid

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gave me this no button and so they like

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to that's what one pair of kids always

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goes and grabs that no button that's

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their object so they go no that's when

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they they've grabbed it whoever pressed

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the button they like to have fun with

Speaker:

that game because they like hearing that

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word no because it says no like seven

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different ways depending on

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when you press the button.

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They have fun that with that one I need a

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yes button to go along with it.

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Whenever the kids asked me though for

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something like, can we have a movie day

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today I press the button. No.

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That's great. That's great. It worked

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really well with middle school kids.

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So we've kind of been talking about this,

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but low pressure comprehension checks is

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there any other techniques that you use

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to check if they're understanding that

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are those low pressure for those kids who

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who are nervous or you know like their

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personality or they

Speaker:

just don't feel confident.

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You know, when things were free during

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COVID or post COVID you know a lot of

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programs where I used plickers a lot I'm

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not sure if you were

Speaker:

familiar with plickers.

Speaker:

I've heard of them.

Speaker:

Each kid has a each kid has a card and no

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kids card looks the same and you can't

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tell how people are answering it's how

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they hold the card, whether they're

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choosing like the answer a is correct or

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answer B is correct, you just you can't tell and you can't look at it.

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You can't tell and you can't look at

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anybody else's card and cheat.

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But now it's not free and you can only

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ask three questions. And it's just more

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work so kind of, you know, given on that,

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you know, but you've got you've got your

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exit tickets your journal entries.

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Your journals, you know, you don't have

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to grade every kid's you

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just don't tell them that.

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But you look at the kids that you need to

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look at and for me, it's those quiet kids

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I grabbed first and, you know, are did

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they understand the question and answer

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the question correctly or did they do

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their exit tickets to the understand

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their exit ticket correctly and I've

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given up doing passwords as well.

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At the door instead. Now I'm asking

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questions and usually the questions I you

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know, I have it printed out and there's

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like a yes no or there's some choices.

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And as the kids come in, I'm asking the

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question and I can tell for those silent

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kids, do they understand what what that

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question is or how to answer it and it's

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always based on, you know, whatever we're

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talking about at that time, whatever.

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The topic it is, you know, maybe it's,

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you know, what they like to do.

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And it also helps me figure out what, you

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know, what I learned from the kids, you

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know, what what is their aspects of their

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personality I get to that couple of

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second of interaction with them and to

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piggyback off of that I've given students

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a packet with every kid's name in boxes.

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And during the class, they write down in

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English anything they've learned about

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those students. And again, I don't need

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to look at everybody's I just pull the

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packets of the kid who's silent and check

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to see, did they understand what happened

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today, you know, in

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the discussion or the,

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you know, the special student the star

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student did they understand what that

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student answered or how they answered and

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they just answer in English right they

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write down Oh, I learned that Joe loves

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baseball he doesn't like to play it but

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he likes to watch it.

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And I know that they were, you know, fun,

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following along understanding, and I

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asked all of students to try to come up

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with something for every student by the

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end of the the wrong quarters, and then I

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collect them and again I use that mostly

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for the silent students or the kids

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who are not being dissipate or you think

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they're being apathetic but they're not

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as them a way to demonstrate that they

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understand what's going on and they are

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acquiring but they're just

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not being vocal about it.

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Absolutely.

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And what I used to do, it started in

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COVID like you. I use Flipgrid.

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Unlike you, where you could see the kids,

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our kids were not required to have their

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cameras on. So a lot of kids didn't so I

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had no, I was talking to black boxes I

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was that's all I was

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doing I had no indications.

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I don't, I don't think they had all those

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emojis that they now have where they can

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do thumbs up and thumbs down. I don't

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think they had it because zoom was so new

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back then you know I don't think they had

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all those different things where I could

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say give me a thumbs up

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or give me a thumbs down.

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So I used Flipgrid as my exit ticket.

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And unfortunately Flipgrid is no longer

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available it's the Microsoft killed it.

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Padlets come a long way

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and I do Padlet a lot.

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And I use another system that I use for

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everything called formative.com.

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I use it for go formative right yeah it

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used to be go formative they changed it

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just a formative, and I use it for

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everything, my journals my everything

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that we do in the classroom, everything

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except for quick rights it's the only

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thing that doesn't go in there, their

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warm ups go in there their

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exit tickets go in there,

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they can do video responses or just audio

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responses, they can do text responses it

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could be drag and drop it could be

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matching all different

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kinds of things are in there.

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So I use that for everything.

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And I do that because I can attach a

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standard and then I can look at a student

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and see which standards they're getting

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and which ones are not, which my

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gradebook doesn't really do very well, so

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I can do it that way so I switched over

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to that using the video.

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But what I liked about this two foot

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things it helped me learn their names and

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horrible with names on anybody even my

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friends, they know that I can't remember

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their own names I'm staring them in the

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face and I can't remember their own names

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it's something I don't know my brain does

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not work with names and

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they know when I pause or like.

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Patricia, they'll say the name because

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they know that's what I'm looking for and

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I can't, it just doesn't come out.

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So help me learn the kids names because

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normally tell the kids if I learn your

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name before December it's because you

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were in trouble a lot,

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because I really wouldn't and it.

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And if they change their hair, because I

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don't know what it is I attach names to

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hairstyles. So if you change your hair

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got a major haircut.

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And I'm lost I have no idea who you are

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anymore and it was really difficult when

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I touch the Asian kids because most the

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Asian girls for just long black hair and

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they didn't do anything different with it

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they didn't braid it or put it in

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pigtails or ponytails or anything else it

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was just long straight black hair and so

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it was really difficult for me to be able

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to remember the Asian name the names of

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my Asian kids not because they were Asian

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that wasn't the problem it was just

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because I use hairstyle and their

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hairstyle didn't very very much.

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So Flipgrid helped me with that but also

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it helped me with my silent kids and all

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my kids because I would ask them to tell

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me three things they

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learned that day in class.

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So that really told me whether or not

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they understood or if it was a

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conversation day and we had a question

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like how many sloths would fit in your

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bedroom and they'd have to answer that

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question we already answered it in class.

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I asked every kid that question we talked

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about it we laughed you know one kid says

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only one I'm like you have a really small

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bedroom goes no it's a really fat sloth

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so you know it was just kind of funny how

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they would all interpret it and then you

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have the math kids who are you know doing

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all the square meters and trying to

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figure out exactly how many sloths would

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fit in there to get an exact it's a

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really funny question but then the kids

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would answer that afterwards in the

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target language and I love it too because

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normally I would only

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do a speaking assessment.

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You know two speaking assessments a

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grading period so I really only really

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was listening to them and really focusing

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to give them some kind of assessment

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twice well now I was doing this two or

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three times a week having them answer

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question the target language so I was

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getting so many more samples that I was

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getting a much better evaluation of their

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ability to speak and I used to have them

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do video because I wanted to make sure they weren't really

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because they always go why can't I just

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do audio you're just listening I go I

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need to see that you're not reading off

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of a piece of paper and I can tell when

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you're looking they go well I using a

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teleprompter I'm like I can still tell

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because you don't know how to use a

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teleprompter your eyes are going from

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side to side to side to side to side to

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side to side and I know right away that

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you're reading off something when you do

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that you know teleprompter is a skill

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it's not just reading off the screen it's

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you know you've got it's a skill that you

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use to do that because news is a skill and you're not reading off the screen.

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I'm going to do that because newscasters

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do it you don't see their eyes go from

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side to side to side to side to side. So

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it was a really great way for me to get a

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better feeling for kids and how well they

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spoke because even walking around the

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room when they're speaking it's really

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hard to focus in on one kid and get

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enough of a sample to where you feel like

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you've got a feeling for that kid and

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what their ability is

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in the output there.

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That was another way

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that I used to do it,

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and I still do it now,

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except I just do it with formative.com.

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Padlet's another great way to do that

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with giving those videos in there.

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The one feature that I miss,

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and Padlet might have this with Flipgrid,

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was being able to respond

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to other people's videos.

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They do have that now, yeah, they do.

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Okay, that's awesome.

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That's one thing I like about Flipgrid.

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I used to say, you

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gotta record your video,

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and I need you to respond

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to three other kids' videos.

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So I made them listen

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to at least three other,

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and they had to respond and say something

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about that kid's video.

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So that was another way

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to be able to do that.

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Another tool I use a lot is Pear Deck.

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Oh yes, mm-hmm.

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You can throw any slideshow into it.

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And what I like about it

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is kids can be answering,

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and you can see how they're answering,

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but nobody else can see

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how they're answering.

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So I'm looking, and again,

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I'm scanning for those kids

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that are silent, and did they

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categorize things correctly,

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or did they match things correctly,

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or did they type a response?

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And that's always helpful to do,

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but being on technology

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all the time is something

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I try to avoid, actually.

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It's probably a once

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or twice a week activity

Speaker:

when we're doing something like that,

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but Go Formative, when I

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was using it when it was free,

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had the same type of thing I could see

Speaker:

or respond to kids

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while they were working,

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and check in on those silent kids.

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You know the kids that

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are gonna do amazing.

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And yes, you want to acknowledge them,

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but you only have so much time.

Speaker:

So with tools like that,

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you're able to sneak in

Speaker:

and see those silent kids,

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or nudge the kids who are apathetic

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and don't want to participate,

Speaker:

and you're giving

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them a way to participate

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that's invisible to

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everybody else, or visible to you.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And Formative, they

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do have a free version,

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which uses some, they

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restrict how many, the questions,

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and there's different questions.

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I know multiple choice is

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free, and free response is free.

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There's a couple of, there's,

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you can get at least the

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basics out of it for free.

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I pay, it's $15 a month,

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and it's well worth it for me.

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Like you said, I can see

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live as they answer, I can see.

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And what I also like

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about it, you said, you know,

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you can communicate with them,

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but they can also ask

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questions without being embarrassed.

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Because a lot of kids

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don't want to ask the questions

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out loud because it

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makes, they feel like they feel

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like they are being dumb, that they look

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dumb to their peers.

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So they can silently ask you a question

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right then and there,

Speaker:

and you can silently

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answer back the question,

Speaker:

or if it's something more detailed,

Speaker:

you can walk over to them

Speaker:

and then have a little chat with them.

Speaker:

But I love that because for two reasons.

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One, helps that silent kid communicate.

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And two, I always hated this, a kid is,

Speaker:

whatever kid comes up

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to the front of the room

Speaker:

with the test in hand, and

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they ask a question out loud,

Speaker:

and invariably they give away

Speaker:

the answer in their question.

Speaker:

And the whole class just heard it.

Speaker:

And you're like, damn, that

Speaker:

was the most important question

Speaker:

on the test.

Speaker:

And I really wanted to see

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how you guys answered that

Speaker:

and you just gave it away.

Speaker:

This way you don't get

Speaker:

that, they don't have to do it.

Speaker:

And I also love the fact that I can go,

Speaker:

everybody who answered A

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on question number six,

Speaker:

you got it wrong, but

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I can type one response

Speaker:

and everybody who put that same response,

Speaker:

I can say, this is why A was wrong,

Speaker:

and this is why C is correct.

Speaker:

I can do it one time for that error.

Speaker:

I can do it again for the

Speaker:

kids who got the B answer.

Speaker:

Instead of having to

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type feedback for every kid,

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I can just select all the

Speaker:

kids who got A, chose A,

Speaker:

and put that in there.

Speaker:

Or I can pin certain

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comments, like if I want this to be--

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this was mostly written

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in the target language.

Speaker:

I don't have to write

Speaker:

that every single time.

Speaker:

I can pin it and just

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click it over again.

Speaker:

So I love that aspect of it.

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It makes it so, so easy in doing that.

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And I know I should be

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doing less electronics,

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but I am a tech person anyway.

Speaker:

And I am on the complete other side.

Speaker:

I have gone, except for

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QuickWrite's paperless

Speaker:

in my classroom.

Speaker:

I don't go to the copy

Speaker:

machine all the time.

Speaker:

I go to the copy

Speaker:

machine like twice a semester

Speaker:

when I make 1,000 copies

Speaker:

of my QuickWrite paper.

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I make a whole lot of them,

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so I have to keep going back

Speaker:

and doing it every week.

Speaker:

I do everything

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digitally, because like you said,

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kids lose the papers.

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I want a record and a tracker.

Speaker:

And I can track it a lot

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more easily when it's digital.

Speaker:

And I can go back and

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evidence of a parent questions

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or an administrator

Speaker:

questions or a kid questions

Speaker:

why they got this grade.

Speaker:

I can go back, because

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I can have kids record

Speaker:

an oral response to something.

Speaker:

And I can say, this is why I gave this--

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I have the evidence where

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if I'm just listening to it

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or they wrote it on a piece of paper,

Speaker:

and that paper is now gone,

Speaker:

I can't justify or explain

Speaker:

to a kid what they did

Speaker:

right, what they did wrong,

Speaker:

those types of things.

Speaker:

So I am to a fault. I

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use electronics more than I

Speaker:

probably should in my classroom.

Speaker:

And Go Formative has that

Speaker:

video feature in it, too,

Speaker:

like a puzzle where

Speaker:

you can tell them a story

Speaker:

or give them a lesson and

Speaker:

then be stopping and asking

Speaker:

those questions to see

Speaker:

if they do understand.

Speaker:

And I know that those silent kids

Speaker:

appreciate a silent way

Speaker:

of being able to express whether they're

Speaker:

understanding or not.

Speaker:

And on non-tech days, you've got things

Speaker:

like the whiteboard, mini whiteboards,

Speaker:

having them do drawing activities.

Speaker:

It's just-- or annotating something.

Speaker:

They circle.

Speaker:

You have them circle or put

Speaker:

a star next to all the things

Speaker:

that they understand and

Speaker:

an X next to the things

Speaker:

they don't understand.

Speaker:

So then you can go back and help clarify

Speaker:

those things for them.

Speaker:

But when you have big classes, it

Speaker:

can be hard because they do hide.

Speaker:

So--

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

And we're just about to finish up.

Speaker:

So do you have any final things you'd

Speaker:

like to say about

Speaker:

assessing that quiet kid

Speaker:

or knowing that if that quiet

Speaker:

kid-- which of the quiet kid

Speaker:

is he?

Speaker:

Is he the apathetic kid?

Speaker:

Is he the lack of confidence kid?

Speaker:

Is it the personality kid?

Speaker:

Or is it the kid who

Speaker:

truly is not understanding,

Speaker:

doesn't have the

Speaker:

vocabulary to understand?

Speaker:

Any final words that you have?

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For me, I guess I would just--

Speaker:

don't take it personally.

Speaker:

And that's really hard.

Speaker:

And really figuring out which type of

Speaker:

silent kid they are.

Speaker:

Are they the apathetic?

Speaker:

Are they naturally silent?

Speaker:

Or are they silent because they are

Speaker:

struggling to understand?

Speaker:

And once you figure out that kid,

Speaker:

just paying attention

Speaker:

a little differently

Speaker:

to who they are as a silent

Speaker:

learner or a silent processor

Speaker:

and using various techniques

Speaker:

to make sure they do understand.

Speaker:

And the other way is

Speaker:

the connections you make.

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Yeah.

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Absolutely.

Speaker:

And even if you have to

Speaker:

ask that student to say, hey,

Speaker:

I need you to come in during recess.

Speaker:

Or I need you to come in--

Speaker:

I just want to ask you a

Speaker:

couple of things to verify.

Speaker:

And a lot of them

Speaker:

will appreciate that too,

Speaker:

rather than being the

Speaker:

one singled out in class.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

And the whole thing is redefining

Speaker:

what participation

Speaker:

looks like, what engagement

Speaker:

looks like in your classroom.

Speaker:

It doesn't have to always be

Speaker:

output to be able to do that.

Speaker:

We've talked about so many different ways

Speaker:

that we can check in to

Speaker:

see if they're actually

Speaker:

engaged with the language and

Speaker:

understanding the language.

Speaker:

We don't have to do it a traditional way,

Speaker:

where they have to respond all the time.

Speaker:

There's lots of different ways.

Speaker:

And I put over here on my little notes

Speaker:

as we're doing it that I love that.

Speaker:

Agree, don't agree, yes,

Speaker:

no, those true false cards

Speaker:

that you have.

Speaker:

I think that's great.

Speaker:

Guess what I'm going to be

Speaker:

doing tomorrow before school

Speaker:

is going to make some of

Speaker:

those so I can go to school,

Speaker:

print them out, and laminate them.

Speaker:

I have my own

Speaker:

laminator just for that reason.

Speaker:

I can laminate it and

Speaker:

have them all ready--

Speaker:

I do too.

Speaker:

For the kids.

Speaker:

I always thought

Speaker:

laminators were so expensive.

Speaker:

When you go to learning as expensive,

Speaker:

those little stores,

Speaker:

they charge you $1 for every

Speaker:

few inches of laminating sheet

Speaker:

that you use.

Speaker:

And school said, don't

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have us laminate too much.

Speaker:

It's too expensive.

Speaker:

And I'm like, oh my gosh,

Speaker:

I get 200 sheets for $20.

Speaker:

And it cost me, what,

Speaker:

$35 for the laminator?

Speaker:

I'm good.

Speaker:

Because those 200 sheets

Speaker:

last me at least a school year,

Speaker:

if not two.

Speaker:

For $50, I am well invested.

Speaker:

And I do find sometimes

Speaker:

those silent kids, they do.

Speaker:

They appreciate having

Speaker:

something like that to show

Speaker:

rather than to speak out.

Speaker:

But a lot of my speaking things now,

Speaker:

everybody is speaking at one time.

Speaker:

They're working in twos or threes.

Speaker:

Everybody is speaking.

Speaker:

So they're not as hesitant, I guess.

Speaker:

Because everybody's speaking.

Speaker:

And again, you don't have to

Speaker:

stand next to every student.

Speaker:

And you become really good

Speaker:

at your back to the student

Speaker:

who you're assessing.

Speaker:

So they don't think

Speaker:

you're assessing them.

Speaker:

And listening to them and

Speaker:

making it really low stakes

Speaker:

and low pressure because

Speaker:

they're not saying something

Speaker:

in front of the entire class.

Speaker:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker:

And one thing, we

Speaker:

never talked about building

Speaker:

the confidence for the kids.

Speaker:

But one thing that I

Speaker:

learned from Susie Gross,

Speaker:

and she is a gem, and she

Speaker:

won't come out of retirement

Speaker:

to even come on here and

Speaker:

talk with us on a weekly,

Speaker:

one of our weekly ones,

Speaker:

I've begged her because she's,

Speaker:

she goes, "I don't have

Speaker:

anything more to offer.

Speaker:

"I've been out of it for so long."

Speaker:

I'm like, "Oh my gosh, you

Speaker:

are a wealth of knowledge."

Speaker:

So, but she's always

Speaker:

did whatever a kid spoke.

Speaker:

No matter how bad it was,

Speaker:

you celebrate with a

Speaker:

little mini party with them.

Speaker:

You are like, "Yes,

Speaker:

you're making them feel so good

Speaker:

"for whatever, it was garbage

Speaker:

that came out of their mouth,

Speaker:

"but it doesn't matter."

Speaker:

They put themselves out

Speaker:

there and to celebrate that

Speaker:

and make a big deal about that.

Speaker:

Like I give participation points,

Speaker:

so I would shower and I

Speaker:

use class dojo for that.

Speaker:

I used to use paper,

Speaker:

but now I go electronic,

Speaker:

I use class dojo for that.

Speaker:

And that works even in high school.

Speaker:

They can hear the points going on

Speaker:

because it makes a

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loud ding on the computer.

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So they can hear it and I

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can bring my phone around

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and add the points on my phone

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and it will ding on the computer.

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And so they'll see it right away.

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And then it feels, I'll

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go, "Oh, that was great.

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"Jackpot, I'll give like 10 points."

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And it'll go, "Bing, bing,

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bing, bing, bing, bing, bing."

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And then they feel so good

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about that no matter what.

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And I give the same

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amount of points regardless

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if they gave me a paragraph

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or if they gave me one word.

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I'm just celebrating that

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they use the target language

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and it helps build that

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competence level up right away.

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So they feel good about what they said.

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They have no idea that it was,

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you don't correct kids anyway orally

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because that puts them in a bad spot.

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But you celebrate what they

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did and make it a big deal.

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And then other kids go,

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"Well, hell, I want those 10 points too."

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So then they put themselves

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out there a little bit more.

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So I love that about

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that song, Susie Gross.

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A strategy I learned from Joshua Cabral,

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he does it for keeping

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kids in the target language,

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but I have moved away from it as that

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and more for

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participation is the mystery student.

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You have a card that says,

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you put their name behind it

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and then the cards over it.

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And on one side of the card,

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it'll say mystery student, the other

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side, it says class.

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And anytime you're

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noticing the mystery student

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doing something like

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participating or engaging,

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you put a mark on their

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side when it's the class

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and they don't

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realize who it is until the,

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you can choose to show

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them at the end or not.

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And if the mystery

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student gets so many marks

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or gets more marks than the class,

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like there's a reward for that student,

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or you can say if the class gets 10

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and the mystery student gets 10,

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then the whole class gets five points

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or I'm not very good

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with the point system.

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I can't keep up with the point system,

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but I use that to

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encourage students to participate

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and engage because they don't know

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who the mystery

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student is versus the class.

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And you know, I love

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that variation of it.

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I did something else with that

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because I did it more on behavior

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as trying to curb behavior.

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So what I would do is I'd

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pick one boy and one girl

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that I'd be watching

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their behavior for that day.

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And if that kid did not misbehave,

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then they got candy at

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the end of the class.

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But the whole point

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was the kids didn't know

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who that kid was, so they

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all were trying to behave.

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Exactly.

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And so it worked, but I

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love that mystery student.

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I just put that down in my notes too,

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that I'm gonna try that one too as well.

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I like that, because I do do the points.

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I do class versus me points.

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So if the class does not

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do what it's supposed to do,

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and I do it for two different things.

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One is they can add these points

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like skeeball tickets

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from Chuck E. Cheese,

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where they can keep adding the points up

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towards different class rewards,

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like class candy or a class party or

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something like that.

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But also up to 15, because I

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have hour and a half classes.

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If I only had,

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because we're on the block,

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we do four classes a day

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for an hour and a half.

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So if it was a shorter class,

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I would do it for less time,

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but I do it for 15 minutes.

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So each point that

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they earn on their side

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is worth one minute of

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free time at the end of class.

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So if I have an hour and a half,

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if I can at least get an

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hour and 15 minutes of work

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out of them, then it's worth it for me

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to give them 15 minutes.

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And they rarely get 15 minutes.

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It's usually around seven

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to 10 is what they can get,

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but what they don't know,

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it's truly controllable by me,

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because I'm the one who

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gives them the positive points.

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So if I know I need more time that day

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and I don't have 15 minutes to give them,

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I'm more stingy with the points up there.

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So I completely control it.

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And if they earn 20 points,

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they don't get 20 minutes.

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They only get 15 max.

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And some days I'm bad, like,

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"Oh, I forgot to give

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you your minutes today."

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I'll go, "I'll add

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those minutes to tomorrow."

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I forgot it was my fault.

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But that gets them to do that as well.

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So I am good at keeping

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track of those points.

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And I do the

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individual points on class dojo.

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So that's how I do.

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I used to give out paper

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and they were responsible

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for keeping track of that paper.

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And I only collected them at

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the end of the grading period.

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But since COVID, I had

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to find a different way.

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So I use class dojo, which is electronic.

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I don't have to make those

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papers anymore and cut them out.

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That was a big old pain in my butt,

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cutting all those papers out.

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So it worked really,

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really well to do it that way.

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And that was another way

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for me to check for engagement

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along the way as well.

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And now with class dojo,

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I can give different

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points for different things.

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So then I can go back

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and look at that kid

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and see where were they getting points.

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Was it asking a question?

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Was it answering a question?

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Was it speaking out loud in class?

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Was it winning a game?

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I can give all the

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different kinds of points

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and different values for different things

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and keep track of it.

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And the kids can keep track of it

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because they can go on class dojo

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and look and see what their points are.

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So I like that.

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And class dojo has

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some other features too.

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Like it does grouping really well

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and it will randomly

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pick kids really well.

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The only thing I don't

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like about its random picker

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is it'll repeat kids.

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And I wish it would go

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through all the kids once

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before it starts repeating the kids.

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So I've got to keep track of that.

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So when I get down to the

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last five or six, I'm like,

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okay, I'm just

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randomly calling them from,

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I know which one's already called

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and I'll just do it that way.

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But that's my only problem.

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But I like when it comes up with groups,

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I can click it in one button

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and it gives me two

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groups or three groups

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or four groups of kids.

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And it makes it really easy to do that.

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And you can do it with

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different ways, grade wise

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or participation point wise.

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You can do it all

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different kinds of ways.

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So I really liked that about it.

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And it's 100% free.

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So that's another one to use.

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So with that, we are coming to an end.

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So I say thank you so much

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for joining us, Stephanie.

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It was great to have you.

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And I hope you'll join us

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again sometime in the future.

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It was such a good time with you.

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And you have one word or two

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words you'd like to say goodbye

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before we finish up.

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I just wish everybody a wonderful 2026

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and don't take it personal.

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Yeah, don't take it personal.

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That's the theme today.

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Great, we'll talk to you soon.

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Bye-bye everybody.

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Thank you. Let's go out

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with our outro today.

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And if I can find it, I

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can't find my buttons.

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So before you head back to grading emails

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or pretending your coffee is still warm,

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thank you for spending

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part of your day with us.

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Huge thanks to our

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guest, Stephanie Carbono

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for reminding us that

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quiet doesn't mean checked out

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and that trust in the

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process really does matter.

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I wish everybody a happy new year

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and a great start to the new 2026.

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And if today's episode

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helped you rethink participation,

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pressure, or that one

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student who never says a word

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but somehow gets

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everything, then mission accomplished.

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Make sure you subscribe, leave a review

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and share this episode

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with a teacher friend

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who's currently side-eyeing a silent kid.

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You can watch us live on YouTube

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or catch the replay on

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your favorite podcast app.

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Ditch the drills, trust the process,

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and I'll see you next

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time on Comprehend This.

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Goodbye everybody.

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(upbeat music)

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About the Podcast

Comprehend THIS!
Real talk for real language teachers—because comprehension isn't optional.
Welcome to Comprehend THIS!, the podcast for language teachers who are tired of the same old textbook chatter and want the real talk instead.

Every episode is like pulling up a chair in the copy room or leaning on the hallway wall at your favorite conference — except it’s not awkward, the coffee’s better (yours, not mine), and nobody’s grading you.

Host Scott Benedict sits down with 1–2 guests — teachers, trainers, authors, CI rebels — to swap stories about what actually works in a comprehension-based classroom.

We talk the good, the weird, the messy middle — first wins, facepalms, reading that actually sticks, grammar without drills, surviving department side-eyes, grading for real proficiency (without losing your mind), and everything in between.

It’s casual. It’s honest. It’s LIVE — so you get all the “did they just say that?” moments, unfiltered.

Pull up your favorite mug. Laugh, nod along, steal an idea or two for Monday, and remember: you’re not the only one doing it different — and doing it better.

Watch LIVE: Sunday mornings at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern, on YouTube at youtube.com/@immediateimmersion — or listen soon after on your favorite podcast app.

Comprehend THIS! — Real talk for real teachers. Ditch the drills. Trust the process. Stay human.

About your host

Profile picture for Scott Benedict

Scott Benedict

Scott Benedict has been teaching Spanish since 2001—which means he’s survived more textbook adoptions, curriculum rewrites, and “revolutionary” teaching fads than he cares to count. He runs Immediate Immersion and hosts the Comprehend THIS! Podcast, where he tells the truth about teaching with comprehensible input: the good, the bad, and the “did that student just say tengo queso again?”

After two decades in the classroom, Scott knows what actually works (spoiler: not conjugation charts) and isn’t afraid to say it out loud. On the podcast, he dives into CI strategies, teacher survival hacks, and the occasional story that will make you question your career choices—but in a good way.

When he’s not recording or coaching teachers, you’ll find him traveling, taking photos, or wandering yet another zoo because apparently, one giraffe enclosure is never enough.

Comprehend THIS! is equal parts professional growth and comic relief—because let’s be honest, if we don’t laugh about teaching, we’ll cry.