Episode 37

full
Published on:

9th Aug 2026

Episode 37: "Day One and They Have No Idea What's Coming"

First day of a comprehensible input class, and in this episode of Comprehend THIS! we break down what day one actually looks like when your students have never done CI before.

You'll get the real first-day routines, what to do with students who showed up expecting a grammar class, and which first-week moves are still earning in April.

Launching a CI year from scratch means a room full of new kids who don't trust you, don't know your signals, and were promised a verb chart they are not getting. Pamela Parks is on with me for this one. She translated professionally before she ever taught, which means she spent years watching what happens when a message doesn't land and money is on the line. We get into the first day of school for comprehensible input teachers without the workshop gloss: what students see the second they walk in, what to say to the kid who's openly skeptical, and how to survive the awkward week before CI in a beginner classroom starts to feel like anything other than a bad idea. Also covered: the day-one move that pays off all year, and the one that just eats a period.

Not sure where your CI practice actually stands right now? Take the CI Proficiency Quiz and find out: https://imim.us/ciquiz

And if you're staring down August with nothing planned, the CI Survival Kit gives you ready-to-teach lessons so you're not building everything from zero at 9pm: https://imim.us/kit

Going into the school year cold? The Back-to-School Bootcamp is built for this exact stretch: https://imim.us/bootcamp

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Hosts:

Scott Benedict - https://www.instagram.com/immediateimmersion

Pamela Parks - https://imim.us/pamela

Sean Lawler - https://www.youtube.com/@TheCIRenaissance

Resources & Links:

CI Survival Kit: https://imim.us/kit

Back-to-School Bootcamp - https://imim.us/bootcamp

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🌐 https://immediateimmersion.com

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Transcript
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Hello everybody and

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welcome to episode number 37.

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Can't believe it. This is my last Sunday

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before I go back. Well actually went back

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on Friday, but it's my last Sunday of my

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summer, kind of like, because I got to

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think about going

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back to work on a Monday.

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I didn't have to go back last Monday. So

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all the stress is there

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of the new school year.

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So this is a perfect topic today. So

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somewhere on a syllabus right now there

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is a bullet point about late work. Nobody

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is going to read it. Not

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one single kid. Not ever.

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You're going to read it out loud on day

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one anyway in your teacher voice. While

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32 people, in my case

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36, think about lunch.

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I'm Scott and this week on Comprehend

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This we're talking about that first day

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of a CI year. The day you have the least

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credibility you will ever have in front

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of the biggest audience you'll ever have.

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Great combo. Love that for us.

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Pamela Parks is here before she taught

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she translated professionally, which is a

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job where being incomprehensible has

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consequences and somebody

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gets an invoice about it.

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She has spent years staring at the gap

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between what you said and what you

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actually landed. That gap friends is day

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one. And we've got guest host Sean Lawler

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coming in from Chicago. 23 years

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teaching, almost 20 of them in Spanish

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ESL and Spanish heritage.

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Sean is also the only one on this call

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with a credential. Nobody puts on a

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resume. He tried CI sailed clean over his

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students heads and let it go. One

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workshop deep full send immediate crater.

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He laughs about it now,

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which is the correct response.

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Then he did the insane thing. He kept

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going. IFLT in San Diego, Ben Slavik's

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war rooms in three different cities, a

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year or two of getting his hands dirty in

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that PLC until it finally clicked. He's

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run TCI Chicago Land Group for over a

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decade and now co-hosts the CI

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Renaissance with Greg Schwab.

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The man knows exactly what a first day

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feels like when it doesn't land and he's

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willing to say so on a microphone. We're

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getting into what that real first day

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looks like, what to do with the kid who

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has already filed you under waste of

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time, and how you deliver input to a room

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that hasn't decided you're worth

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listening to yet. Nobody's first week is

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smooth. Ours were a mess. Let's talk

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about it. We'll be right

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back after this short message.

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Is it already August? Again? And you're

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supposed to have a fresh, engaging, life

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changing plan for the first week? Cute.

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Here's the deal. Back to school bootcamp

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is your secret weapon. Ten short,

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pre-recorded lessons you can watch in

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pajamas while hiding from your admin or

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during that mysterious

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planning period we keep hearing about.

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You walk away with strategies, plans, and

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actual confidence, not just a Pinterest

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board full of guilt. Access it all for a

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full year. Go to mm.us slash bootcamp and

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get yourself together

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before the kids show up.

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Welcome to Comprehend This, real talk for

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real language teachers. No drills, no dry

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theory, just honest stories, practical

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ideas, and a reminder you're not alone in

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the CI trenches. Let's dive in.

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Hello everybody and

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welcome to Comprehend This.

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Kat Pamela's back with us as always and

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we've got Sean with us today. Anything

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else you want to add Sean?

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Sean, we're so happy. We're so happy

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you're joining us, Sean.

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Absolutely.

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Oh no, this is great. Like I said to you

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before a few minutes ago, what you

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provide as a service to people is just

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wonderful. It's hard to find. It's hard

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to find good resources out there and

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being able to just talk about this stuff

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kind of like on the fly,

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extemporaneously, right? Conversation

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styles, probably the best

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way to tune in and learn.

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You know, and you know, you mentioned

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Scott, like we were talking about the

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first day of the school year flapping has

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flopped for us before and like, oh my

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God, I like my first five, 10 years of

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teaching was a big flop.

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It wasn't just one day.

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Absolutely. I've tried so many different

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things. Some have worked, some have not

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worked and I'm about to start my first

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day of kids on Wednesday. So we'll see.

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Well, actually, we have something called

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wild days where the wild cats at my

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school. So it's

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welcome our wild cats back.

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So for the first two days, we can't do

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any instruction. It's all these other

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activities that we do bonding activities.

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So technically, my first language day

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with kids will be on Friday.

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So interesting. So we're going to try

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something like that too, just with the

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freshmen. And I'm a little worried about

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me. Normally, I that first day, now that

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I've been doing this 100 years, that

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first day I hit the ground running and

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I'm trying to imagine like, what am I

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going to do if I only have freshmen?

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And how am I going to like, keep the

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momentum going when the next day I have

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everybody and I'm trying to visualize

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that? Yeah. So Sean and Scott, you're

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both starting new

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schools this year. Yeah.

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And you know, okay, so you've got this

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wow day. Sean, do you know how, does your

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school have something

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regimented for the first day?

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No, I'm pretty sure it's just like a

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normal first day. There was, there's a

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freshman orientation happening Wednesday

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and then everybody has

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like a normal day on Thursday.

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But this like wow day that you mentioned,

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you know, makes me think about how, how

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important it is to, you know, just

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connect with students,

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especially the underclassmen.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. The beginning of the school year.

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I've definitely had, I've worked in

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schools. I've worked in a lot of

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different schools around Chicago.

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But like, I've worked in schools where it

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was like two weeks. I remember at one

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school, the students didn't have their

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schedules yet for two weeks at the

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beginning of the school year.

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So we were trying to figure out that

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wasn't more intentional. That was more

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not so intentional, but we were trying to

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figure out like all kinds of like crazy

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camp like activities to

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do with them to connect.

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Two weeks. That's so hard to

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get momentum going. Oh my God.

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And I was stressful because we just got

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our schedules on Friday. I mean, not our

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schedule. We knew what we were teaching,

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but we didn't get our

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class lists until Friday.

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I'm so used to having them at least a

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week in advance. So I spent all weekend

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here yesterday emailing parents and kids

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because I always start off the year

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emailing them and welcoming them to class

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and telling them the weird stuff that I

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do and stuff like that.

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Wow. Good for you. But I have mixed

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feelings about these. I don't know how

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these wow days are going

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to go. So I can't comment.

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But I've been in schools where we weren't

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supposed to teach the first few days are

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supposed to do these icebreaker type

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activities and stuff like

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that. And then schools that don't.

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And I'm not an icebreaker kid. I'm an

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introvert. I think they make the hair on

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the back of my neck raise to do these

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kinds of things. I don't know what we're

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supposed to do because we haven't had our

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wow day meeting until tomorrow to find

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out what we're going to

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be doing for that time.

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So I don't know what it's going to be

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like. But what I like and what this

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prevents me from doing, I have my own

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ways of building those relationships with

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kids and I start on day one.

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But if I start day one in English, it

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sets a precedent that is

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the language of instruction.

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And that's my problem right there.

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In the past, when I've been able to start

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the class that I want to start and I'm

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speaking only in Spanish on that day.

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I'm sure you bring your favorite mug. I'm

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like, OK, this is what I'm it's a boring

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old canister, but I put a sticker on it.

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I totally feel you, though, because,

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yeah, you know, you start and I agree you

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want to start the

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first minute the first day.

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And yeah, I totally agree. And we I mean,

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we're we as language teachers, but

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especially as teachers, we're like we're

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constantly connecting the kids.

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That's what we do. Just that's what we're

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always doing. So I don't think we need to

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do anything extra rather than what we

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know works to connect with

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kids in the target language.

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Because I'm sorry.

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Even in level one on day

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one, I speak zero English.

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All my the things to make it

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comprehensible, I put as like a text, I

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have a like a vocabulary

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list I add as we go along.

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But I don't say it. I only type it. So

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they read it. So I don't break that

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illusion right off the bat.

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And I'm building relationships right from

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the start. But now that if I start in

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English, that's going to like set this

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precedent that we're going to be using

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English all the time in class.

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And I don't I don't want that. I always

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have the most success I have is when I

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speak more language in class, the more

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language I speak in class, the more

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success I get with kids afterwards.

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And so that's my big my big issue with

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that. I get the idea because spirit is

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really a big thing at

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this school. And so I get it.

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But at the same time, I have mixed

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feelings. I don't know how it's going to

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turn out. I'll let you know, because

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maybe just do what the

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school asked you to do.

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Just your first year there.

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But we have to the whole

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the whole school does it.

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You can't you can't choose. Yeah. No, we

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can't choose the whole school does it. So

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for the first two days, that's what we

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do. There's no the kids don't bring

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backpacks or anything

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to school those days.

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They're just that. And then Friday, which

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is mostly the first day of instruction.

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And we're on odd even. So my odds are

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already going to be out of sync because

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we have a shortened schedule that day for

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we have a welcome back rally.

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And I'm like, really? So then on Monday,

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when I come back and I have my evens,

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they're going to get more instruction

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than my odds got on

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Friday for the same lesson.

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So yeah, yeah, I hate it when. Yeah. But

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you know, like if you do, I guess just

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figure out what they want

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you to do and try to do it.

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Yeah.

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I'm sorry. I don't know if there's a

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delay between us, my bad.

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But if you do things like card talk at

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the beginning of the school year, you

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know, you don't have to worry about Ben

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Slavik's card talk. You know, I don't you

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don't really have to worry about the

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timing and coordination between class

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periods as much, you know.

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No, I do do that. But where I start to

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fall behind is the number

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of kids that I get covered.

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So if I've got 36 kids, it usually takes

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me about six weeks to get through every

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kid. And if I have short classes on

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certain kids and one class becomes way

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out of sync because I'll be maybe having

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to go seven weeks with them.

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It's not just one day off. It takes, you

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know, because you always you're always

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off anyway, because some kid is really

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interesting and you go

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deep, deeper with one kid.

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But I like to get you X amount of kids so

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I can kind of get it

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done in that six week time.

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And when I when you take away from during

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classes all the time, then that's where

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the problem comes from because then one

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class is still doing that card talk while

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another class is

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moving on to something else.

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And I don't like to be that far out of

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sync one day is okay, but a week's worth.

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You like to cover every

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single student with the card talk.

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That's how I build relationships.

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Yeah, right. I mean, I hear that. I often

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I often just do half the class.

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You know, I do a little bit and then I

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take a I do other stuff and then I come

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back and do the rest.

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Yeah, yeah, because because then to bring

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some freshness to it the next time you

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come to it again later on.

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Yeah, like I get so many students that

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don't really didn't really put in much of

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an effort in their drawings.

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You know, so I'm like, you know what?

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Like, okay, fine, whatever.

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I just use that drawing as a jumping off

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point. I don't expect them

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to have beautiful drawings.

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I mean, in fact, make fun of my go. Oh,

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obviously you are a Van Gogh in your art

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class, you know, because they drew a

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football that looks more like a moon.

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So but I we I use it to bond with them to

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start off because all that stuff that's

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usually in the first two, if not three

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chapters, I can teach in card talk.

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Yeah, I spiral it. So like the first few

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kids get off really easy because I'm

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asking them, how are you today?

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You know, how old are you? When's your

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birthday? Those basic questions. And then

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I and I look at their activity and we

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start spiraling from there.

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But it's really basics. And then maybe in

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week two now I'm going to

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ask you, oh, you play football.

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What days are practice? Are they Monday,

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Tuesday? You know what? So I

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get the days the week in there.

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Do you do it in the morning or do you

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have practice in the

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afternoon for us in California?

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Football practice is in the A.M. before

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school because in the afternoon it's one

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hundred and four and they will drop dead.

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So we have to have it in the morning. So

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they're out there doing football before

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we start school in the morning.

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So I can ask those questions that can

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keep going spiraling

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out a little bit more.

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I can get the dates in

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there with the birthday.

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You don't feel like you need to take a

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break, like Pamela said, and like come

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back to it later and

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maybe do something else.

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I mean, we do card talk in other ways

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later in the year, but I

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don't because it's new every day.

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I try to make it funny and jokes with it

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and we do. And every Friday I summarize

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the information in a reading.

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So that we learn from that week. So they

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get the reading days on Fridays. I have

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other activities in there.

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Just my main activity is that card talk.

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But it's so different because in the

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beginning it's so easy because it's just

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yes or no simple questions.

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And then every week I'm spiraling and

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making it bigger and bigger and we're

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getting into more more

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depth already in there.

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But I just find by putting the language

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in context right away,

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I get better results.

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Now, I mean, I still do songs. I do my

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songs. I do TPR. I do my the card talk.

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That's my main activity. And then we do

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readings on Fridays.

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And I also do write and discuss once a

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week about stuff that we've already

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talked about to get them just in the

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habit of copying because they're not

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actually writing yet.

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They're not just on level one. So they're

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just copying from what I have on the

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board. But it's enough

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variety that I think it works.

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And we just got forgive me if I

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mispronounce. Vanch ended.

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Hello. Highlighted. We're on episode 37.

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Yes, we are. Thank

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you for sharing with us.

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But yeah, yeah, day one. Right. Here we

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are coming up to the first day and we've

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all looked sounds like it sounds like

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Pamela Scott and I all do car talk.

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Pamela, is that right? Yeah, you know,

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car talk. Yeah. Yes. The first day, too.

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I do. I do everything. No matter how

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silly I do it because I don't know what's

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going to get you know, you know, yes.

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I don't know what's going to resonate

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with which students or

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anything. Yeah. Yeah.

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So you mentioned like doing TPR and

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stuff. And I think after you do this for

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a while, there's some things you can just

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kind of do on the fly because you know

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there's visual support or there's TPR

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that you can associate

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with the words are you doing.

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So I was just before jumping on here and

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recording with you guys, I was reviewing

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a video I have on YouTube of me teaching

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day one first like the first period of

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the day, the first minute I've

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seen these kids back in 2019.

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I have a video up on YouTube with that

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and I was just thinking about how like

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you just kind of learn what cognates you

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can use. What commands can you use, you

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know, and a lot of our students have a

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little bit of exposure to Spanish just by

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living in this country, you know.

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So yeah, you can work with the numbers a

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little bit and colors and stuff and all

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those cognates and just kind of play with

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it. You know, like you have if you're

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working in like a neighborhood high

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school in Chicago like I'm used to doing

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it, you know, you have kids walking in

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late or you have a little bit of like

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nonsense or tomfoolery going around in

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the beginning classroom.

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You know, that's just an opportunity I

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see, especially on that first day to just

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like show them that I'm listening to them

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and I see them and we're going to talk

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about what's happening.

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You know, I'm not just going to let it

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slide or like we're going to talk about

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and we can talk about it coming late to

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class, for example, you know, we can talk

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about that in Spanish because of the

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cognates and just visual support.

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And they handed me in the video, they

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were handing me a green slip of paper,

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which is supposed to be their tardy slip.

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So I can say, you know, give me, they

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don't know the verb give, but like those

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are like those words

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that I think you can clean.

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Yeah, then I use the...

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And it's so easy to pantomime out. Yeah.

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And I'm going to break some rules because

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you know how they always say don't

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shelter grammar, shelter vocabulary. I

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have never been a

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shelter vocabulary kind of guy.

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So, whatever word comes up and I need, I

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use. And the difference is I make it

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comprehensible because I have a running

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list of vocabulary that I put a project

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on my screen that has the Spanish and

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then the English right next to it.

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So, and I keep it running all year long.

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And so if I know I used a stop, which is

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located or feeling four pages ago, I

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don't scroll back up. I just retype it up

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there. So it's there.

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And I find by not sticking to the

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targeted vocabulary so much and being

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able to go out that my kids, I don't

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know, they advance a little bit faster

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than they would otherwise if I stuck to

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the same vocabulary.

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Now I tell them off the bat, this is not

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a vocab list. It is not something you

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have to memorize. Do not... I make this

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list available to them, especially if

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they're absent, but it is not a list. I

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am not testing off this list. You don't

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have to worry about any

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of that kind of thing.

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It's just to make the lesson

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comprehensible because I'd rather do that

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than to then stop and say, "Oh, está

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means is located or is feeling." Where I

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can just type that up there and then they

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have a visual anchor that they can go by.

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So I don't work with having to stick with

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cognates or stick with vocabulary that

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they know. For me, in my experience, and

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I know it works differently for others, I

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find if I stick with this core

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vocabulary, it's harder to branch out and

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then my kids are like

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frozen in this little bubble.

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In fact, when I can just use the words

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that come up naturally because parents

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don't work with, "Oh, I haven't used this

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word enough. I've got to repeat that

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particular word." They have untargeted

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and I forgot who first was it.

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I think it is Krashen who processed the

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untargeted and I'm in that middle ground.

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I believe untargeted works best, but I

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also know we have limited time where

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untargeted works best if you have

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unlimited time like a baby growing up.

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But I just find I get more success with a

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moderation amount of

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untargeted vocabulary.

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Yeah, and you want to be working at I

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plus one, that zone of proximal

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development. So you've got the easy stuff

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that the students is comprehensible and

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everything. Go ahead and throw in a

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couple of the higher order words, the 50

Speaker:

cent words, so that the students will be

Speaker:

more invested in the story because it

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should be relevant to them, right?

Speaker:

That's something they're interested in.

Speaker:

Otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up

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and you can support the new words as you

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teach it. I was just working on one of my

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Japanese lessons and it's like, "Oh, I

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need to explain this."

Speaker:

But in order to explain, it's kind of

Speaker:

Captain Underpants. Before I can tell you

Speaker:

that story, I have to tell you this story

Speaker:

so that I could kind of hopscotch up to

Speaker:

the new vocabulary word that they would

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need to understand this

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festival that I'm trying to describe.

Speaker:

And plus in level one, everything is out

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of bounds. They don't know anything. So I

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just don't prescribe.

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You teach Japanese, Pamela?

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I teach French and Spanish and Japanese

Speaker:

and I have like 35 to 39 students in each

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of my classes because they wanted to cram

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in an English

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language arts class with me.

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So I'm going to be insane this year. I've

Speaker:

spent the whole summer just trying to get

Speaker:

up to speed with ELA 9. So

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yeah, it's going to be crazy.

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All the techniques I use in one class

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help me in another class.

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So it's not a huge jump.

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Good teaching has nothing to do with the

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discipline you're teaching.

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Yeah.

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So how often do you guys talk about

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non-targeted versus targeted here on this

Speaker:

podcast? I think that's a big topic.

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Yeah, it is. It is.

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It's a big thing that keeps teachers from

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being able to find success in this craft.

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Yeah, it is a craft.

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You got to target stuff and you're

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limiting yourself and it just makes

Speaker:

everything less interesting for students.

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That's it right there.

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That's how I see it. And you definitely,

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you've got to be careful. I mean, Scott,

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you say you find yourself in the middle

Speaker:

ground and yeah, it crashed and

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definitely is the one I think. Right?

Speaker:

That was talking about writing about

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non-targeted instruction and

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you do find a common ground.

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And I guess like if you want to cut your

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teeth and get your feet wet in this

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practice of CI practice, maybe like

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targeting with movie talks might be like

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a really nice way to start.

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Just to get your feel for what it's like

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to talk to kids in the classroom, you

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know, like in the target language and how

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to do so very slowly.

Speaker:

That's where targeted and non-targeted

Speaker:

has come up before in the podcast because

Speaker:

I always forget his name. I think it's

Speaker:

Ashley, but I can't remember Dr. Ashley,

Speaker:

somebody or other, because he removed his

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website now since he's retired.

Speaker:

The inventor of movie talk. He had a beef

Speaker:

with the CI community about targeted and

Speaker:

non-targeted because movie talk is

Speaker:

non-targeted. Period.

Speaker:

Right. Right. And when you target it, he

Speaker:

said if you're going to target

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vocabulary, that's fine, but do not call

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it movie talk because

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that's not what movie talk was.

Speaker:

So that's when the clip chat came out.

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For me, for movie talks, I do it his way

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because I don't. That's my break from

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stories that have vocabular that I'm

Speaker:

trying to work on in it because I pick

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movie talks 100% on

Speaker:

interest level of kids.

Speaker:

So I think they're going to like this

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one. And I don't care if it's got

Speaker:

clothing vocabulary or this because I can

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bring to any movie talk any

Speaker:

targeted vocabulary I want.

Speaker:

I don't have to look for a family movie

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talk to bring in family because I can ask

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question with character. Who do you think

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his mother is? Could it be Marge Simpson?

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Or you know, I could go and I can bring

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all that kind of stuff in without finding

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a because what always makes me cringe and

Speaker:

no offense to anybody who does this, but

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they go on the list and on the Facebook.

Speaker:

They go, I need a family movie talk a

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video or I need one that highlights food

Speaker:

or I need one. I'm like, just find one

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that's funny that kids are going to

Speaker:

appreciate and you can bring whatever

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because it's truly

Speaker:

high frequency vocabulary.

Speaker:

It's going to come in without any

Speaker:

problem. You don't

Speaker:

have to really work at it.

Speaker:

I think this was one of the big light

Speaker:

bulb moments for me years ago when I

Speaker:

realized like I'm a nerd. That's why I

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became a professional translator because

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I'm a nerd and it was like, I really want

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to show my students this cool thing and

Speaker:

it doesn't fit into the textbook.

Speaker:

And once I realized, Oh heck, I could do

Speaker:

whatever the heck I want, you know, I'm

Speaker:

not like, like my legs are not chained to

Speaker:

the ground. I can be clever about this

Speaker:

and bring it in. That

Speaker:

was so freeing for me.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, free and

Speaker:

probably free in the sense of like

Speaker:

freeing you from feeling like you have to

Speaker:

limit what you say, but also freeing in

Speaker:

the sense of like you being able to kind

Speaker:

of find your own identity as a teacher.

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Find yourself, you know, make this like

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you're all kind of thing. And I think

Speaker:

that was a big problem with me when I

Speaker:

first started teaching. When I first

Speaker:

started teaching, sorry, like I said, the

Speaker:

first five, 10 years, right?

Speaker:

For all of us.

Speaker:

I always wanted to create things on my

Speaker:

own. Like I always wanted to do things

Speaker:

and create things on my own, like

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whatever, even if, I don't know, I don't

Speaker:

know why I wanted to dig my head into

Speaker:

these texts as much and try to figure out

Speaker:

how to like make discussion like out of

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these texts as much.

Speaker:

And I was an English teacher when I first

Speaker:

started. I was an ELA teacher when I

Speaker:

first started, you know, like kind of

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gradually after maybe six years, I became

Speaker:

like a Spanish as a

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foreign language teacher.

Speaker:

I was teaching like a little bit of ESL

Speaker:

in the meantime, and then like I taught

Speaker:

Spanish and Waukegan, Waukegan High

Speaker:

School, I taught, which is like a huge

Speaker:

Hispanic community up

Speaker:

there north of Chicago.

Speaker:

I taught like history in Spanish and

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Spanish for heritage speakers and stuff.

Speaker:

And boy, I was out of my league because I

Speaker:

was so young and not

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knowing what I was doing.

Speaker:

But I always wanted to do things by like

Speaker:

on my own terms. And I think that's a

Speaker:

dangerous, that's a dangerous route to

Speaker:

take as a new teacher because you're

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going to fail on me.

Speaker:

And this is your some superstar, which

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I'm not, you know, you're going to flop

Speaker:

and I flopped a lot. But I was a great

Speaker:

learning. I think I look back and don't

Speaker:

regret too much. Right.

Speaker:

There's some things I do, but I don't

Speaker:

regret too much because because like I

Speaker:

think it's just the idea

Speaker:

of like of finding yourself.

Speaker:

I think that's what most of us want as

Speaker:

teachers. We want to feel confident and

Speaker:

comfortable and like we want it to be

Speaker:

expression of who we

Speaker:

are, our teaching, you know.

Speaker:

And I think you can really do that when

Speaker:

you're not targeting as much in the

Speaker:

novice level classrooms.

Speaker:

And well, and that's why teaching is an

Speaker:

art is because you've got to put yourself

Speaker:

into it. I mean, at the base, we we are

Speaker:

trying to get the

Speaker:

kids to connect with us.

Speaker:

And we have to do this in an authentic

Speaker:

way. Who we are as people. Yeah,

Speaker:

absolutely. And that's the

Speaker:

thing with car talk. It's so open.

Speaker:

So I can't go, oh, you do this and we

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can't talk about that because that is a

Speaker:

couple of chapter three.

Speaker:

I don't want to do that.

Speaker:

I want to just have that experience with

Speaker:

them. And I don't worry about

Speaker:

past tense and present tense.

Speaker:

I use whatever tense I need to use to be

Speaker:

grammatically correct at that moment to

Speaker:

the best of my ability.

Speaker:

So those are the kinds of things that I

Speaker:

think about. And we talked about card

Speaker:

talk and bringing it back to that first

Speaker:

day, why I like card talk.

Speaker:

And this is my strategy for card talk.

Speaker:

And it wasn't. I can't remember. I

Speaker:

apologize. I have horrible names. But

Speaker:

years ago, I got this

Speaker:

idea from somebody else.

Speaker:

And I love it. I am greeting kids at the

Speaker:

door on that first day, welcoming them,

Speaker:

fist bumps, whatever, as they come in,

Speaker:

make it really getting

Speaker:

hyped up for the class.

Speaker:

But I am looking for the kids who are

Speaker:

already checked out. So the kids who are

Speaker:

going to be eventually, if I don't get

Speaker:

them on my side right away, they're going

Speaker:

to be my kids who are checked out.

Speaker:

They're going to be kids who are going to

Speaker:

be my discipline problems because school

Speaker:

has failed them up to that point

Speaker:

somewhere along the way.

Speaker:

And so those are my kids that I pick for

Speaker:

card talk first. Now, they think it's

Speaker:

random because I already picked them out.

Speaker:

And as I'm walking around, as they're

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drawing their pictures, I am making a

Speaker:

mental note. This one drew this picture.

Speaker:

That one drew that picture.

Speaker:

That one drew that picture.

Speaker:

Then I shuffle the deck and I pull their

Speaker:

pictures out first because if I can get

Speaker:

them on my side, make them feel smart,

Speaker:

make them feel like they're the center of

Speaker:

class, give them that attention that they

Speaker:

want, make them feel smart because no

Speaker:

class makes them feel smart.

Speaker:

That's why they're checked out in the

Speaker:

first place. I get them on my side a

Speaker:

little bit better right away. And so that

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really, really helps

Speaker:

with classroom management.

Speaker:

And then they become my advertisers, my

Speaker:

advocates. They're the ones who like all

Speaker:

of a sudden some kids acting out, they're

Speaker:

like, "Hey, cut it out." They really work

Speaker:

for me at that point.

Speaker:

So that's another reason why I like to

Speaker:

start with card talk and not something

Speaker:

else because it highlights these kids,

Speaker:

makes them look smart, makes them get

Speaker:

their attention that they

Speaker:

want, but it's positive attention.

Speaker:

And it's just a really strong way that I

Speaker:

found to start my classes.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's amazing. Please go ahead.

Speaker:

No, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Speaker:

I was just going to say it's amazing how

Speaker:

much so many students that have

Speaker:

difficulty in another classes can really

Speaker:

be turned on in the foreign language

Speaker:

class if you're

Speaker:

teaching with the CI methods.

Speaker:

I'm thinking like a number of kids, but

Speaker:

this one girl who I would say, I think

Speaker:

you emailed me Scott like a week ago or

Speaker:

so, like, what was your biggest

Speaker:

frustration with CI teaching?

Speaker:

And I think probably it would be when a

Speaker:

student comes in the room negative, this

Speaker:

negativity. It sucks, right? The

Speaker:

negativity sucks. If a student comes in

Speaker:

negative, I hate this. It sucks.

Speaker:

I'm going to do the same thing again

Speaker:

today. Come on. I'm not learning

Speaker:

anything. You know, it can really drain

Speaker:

on you and you got to know how to like

Speaker:

rise above that right as a teacher.

Speaker:

And that was me last year. Last year's

Speaker:

start of the school year, I had one

Speaker:

class. I had 13 kids. Nine of them were

Speaker:

all negative and didn't want

Speaker:

to be there and made it known.

Speaker:

It was all I only had the class for a

Speaker:

semester, but it was horrible the whole

Speaker:

semester long. I dreaded the class. They

Speaker:

dreaded my first period. Fine. My third

Speaker:

period. Fine. My second

Speaker:

period. Oh, my gosh. It was.

Speaker:

It really was. And to have nine out of

Speaker:

13, it was. And then they converted the

Speaker:

other ones, the other four after that, by

Speaker:

the end of the semester, they hated

Speaker:

class, too. So it was really. Yeah.

Speaker:

That's the problem when you got the

Speaker:

negative negativity. You don't want them

Speaker:

to pull the class down. Now, I think it

Speaker:

was like my third year

Speaker:

teaching or something.

Speaker:

I had a girl who everything, no matter

Speaker:

what I did, first words out of her mouth

Speaker:

were always this is so stupid. Why are we

Speaker:

doing this? And it took me a good night.

Speaker:

You know the type, right? Like three

Speaker:

months into this, I suddenly realized it

Speaker:

just suddenly dawned on me. Oh, she's

Speaker:

saying that because

Speaker:

she has no self-esteem.

Speaker:

She doesn't like herself. And once I was

Speaker:

able to reframe it in my head, then I

Speaker:

could deal with her. Then I could shift

Speaker:

the conversation. But it had to wait

Speaker:

until I could step out of my own skin and

Speaker:

stop taking it so personally.

Speaker:

Am I freezing? My picture's freezing.

Speaker:

Okay. But anyway, I had to stop being

Speaker:

first of all. You didn't do those for a

Speaker:

second, but you're back.

Speaker:

Okay. Yeah, I had to, I had to get out of

Speaker:

my own skin. I had to stop taking it

Speaker:

personally and see her as a human being

Speaker:

so that I could connect with her. And

Speaker:

then I didn't have any problems with her

Speaker:

for the rest of the year. But that, that

Speaker:

took a long time. You know, it, it, it

Speaker:

took a mind shift for me.

Speaker:

But you know, there's, there's a scenario

Speaker:

where you have like one or two students

Speaker:

that are super negative and like you

Speaker:

maybe can work with them individually,

Speaker:

having individual chats and stuff,

Speaker:

whatever. But like when you have the

Speaker:

whole class, somehow that social dynamic

Speaker:

where somehow those social clouds.

Speaker:

It spreads like COVID. Yeah. And they

Speaker:

know how to like drag everybody with you,

Speaker:

man. I feel for you.

Speaker:

I mean, even playing games, they hated

Speaker:

games. Who had a game?

Speaker:

My, my ELA class, Sean, I'm going to have

Speaker:

to pick your brains about ELA because I'm

Speaker:

floundering in ELA. My ELA class last

Speaker:

year, it was junior English. They walked

Speaker:

in on day one and they're like, why do we

Speaker:

even need this class chat

Speaker:

GPT can do it all for us.

Speaker:

And I was like, okay, let's compare.

Speaker:

Okay. But, you know, I'm like, okay,

Speaker:

guys, I've made a great Gatsby escape

Speaker:

room for you. And they groaned. I'm like,

Speaker:

who does not like to play games.

Speaker:

Yeah. And I'll tell you, we're talking

Speaker:

about that one student.

Speaker:

Years ago, I opened a brand new school.

Speaker:

So I only started with freshmen and

Speaker:

sophomores to start and language was

Speaker:

required from all the kids.

Speaker:

So for the whole four years, they were

Speaker:

there. I had this sophomore and he didn't

Speaker:

take Spanish at his other class at other

Speaker:

school as a freshman. So he had to take

Speaker:

Spanish one as a sophomore, which put him

Speaker:

out of sync with everybody else.

Speaker:

So he was the only sophomore in a

Speaker:

freshman class and he hated school the

Speaker:

first day because it was a brand new

Speaker:

school. We did a scavenger hunt so we

Speaker:

could all learn, including the teachers

Speaker:

where all the rooms were.

Speaker:

Well, he disappeared. We couldn't find

Speaker:

him for like two hours. We had no idea

Speaker:

where he was. He would always fall asleep

Speaker:

in the back of the classroom. We had all

Speaker:

these issues with discipline

Speaker:

with him and not doing his work.

Speaker:

He was failing all of his classes. And we

Speaker:

had a parent conference. And this was, it

Speaker:

was a sad moment in

Speaker:

my teaching his career.

Speaker:

But everybody, including the counselor

Speaker:

and his parents, gave up on him and said,

Speaker:

let him just get through the end of the

Speaker:

school. He's not going to graduate

Speaker:

anyway. Let's just get it through.

Speaker:

So that was, and I was partied to that.

Speaker:

And he failed my class. And then at this

Speaker:

school, what they said was if they did,

Speaker:

because this was not a regular school,

Speaker:

they had to apply to

Speaker:

get into this school.

Speaker:

So if there's behavior problems or grade

Speaker:

issues, they don't get to come get

Speaker:

invited back. So I thought, I guess I had

Speaker:

to made it through this year and I'd be

Speaker:

good because he would

Speaker:

not be invited back.

Speaker:

Well, I come back the next year and I get

Speaker:

my Spanish one rosters and who is now in

Speaker:

my class yet again, this child, he's now

Speaker:

a junior in a freshman class.

Speaker:

And he's failed Spanish already once. I'm

Speaker:

like, oh my God, I why me? We have three

Speaker:

other teachers. Could they not give him

Speaker:

somebody else? So I got him and then I

Speaker:

channeled Susie Gross.

Speaker:

And this is another thing that I would

Speaker:

like to tell that this is a really good.

Speaker:

I can't even think the word thing that

Speaker:

you really want to

Speaker:

grasp onto and think about.

Speaker:

And Pamela kind of talked about this

Speaker:

earlier, but she says you have to love

Speaker:

every child, love every child. And so I

Speaker:

channeled this. I'm like, okay, I got

Speaker:

this kid for another 180 days.

Speaker:

How am I going to make it the best

Speaker:

possible way? So we started off. I would

Speaker:

just start talking to him about whatever

Speaker:

I thought he was interested in when he

Speaker:

every time I greeted him at the door.

Speaker:

What were you where what he was wearing?

Speaker:

Oh, that's a cool t-shirt. It wasn't, but

Speaker:

I just said it anyway. All those are

Speaker:

those new shoes. Did

Speaker:

you get a new haircut?

Speaker:

Oh, that's an interesting drawing of a

Speaker:

beheading that you put on your paper. You

Speaker:

know, all of these things. I mean, that's

Speaker:

not a joke. He did draw that in very

Speaker:

graphic colors. So I

Speaker:

guess I had him last year.

Speaker:

So I, you know, all of this, I just

Speaker:

connected him with nothing to do with

Speaker:

Spanish, not a single thing. He let

Speaker:

everybody know that he failed the class.

Speaker:

He let everybody know right off of that.

Speaker:

And he became the class clown and not

Speaker:

necessarily in a bad way this year, but

Speaker:

his personality came out a little bit

Speaker:

more. And he ended up passing Spanish

Speaker:

one. And by April of that year, we went

Speaker:

from tolerating each other to maybe kind

Speaker:

of liking each other.

Speaker:

And then come the next year, he still

Speaker:

didn't get kicked out. He's now a senior.

Speaker:

And guess who's in my Spanish to class.

Speaker:

He probably chose you. So I got him in my

Speaker:

Spanish to class. And by mid year, he

Speaker:

invited me to his, he was good. He was on

Speaker:

track to graduate. Who knew? But they he

Speaker:

invited me to his graduation party.

Speaker:

So, you know, just making that change,

Speaker:

finding that connection, that connection

Speaker:

with kids, that's what you really want to

Speaker:

do on that first day. Make those

Speaker:

connections. It becomes really important

Speaker:

and they can really turn

Speaker:

kids around. They really can.

Speaker:

Yeah, yeah. Those are

Speaker:

powerful experience there, you know.

Speaker:

Took three years.

Speaker:

Yeah, that's crazy. And I don't know if you really need that.

Speaker:

Sometimes it does. I've got a student

Speaker:

emailing me constantly. Oh, she was a

Speaker:

pain in the first, first week of school

Speaker:

when she was a freshman. Just totally

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checked out, not doing anything. And I

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was like, she's going to slip through the

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cracks if I don't change it.

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She just graduated. She took three years

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of French with me because she connected

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with me. Okay. She would have taken the

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fourth year, but she had flunked so much

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in her freshman and sophomore years that

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she had to take make up that they

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wouldn't let her take the

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fourth year French with me.

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She's emailing me constantly. She's

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asking me to write letters of

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recommendation for her for her next stage

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of life post high school. Like she would

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have. I could see on the first week of

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school if somebody doesn't connect with

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her, she's flunking out.

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Yeah. And you did. And a lot of these

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students are able to connect with us in

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ways that they can't necessarily with

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their other classes because we are

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conversing with them.

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We're conversing. It's that authenticity.

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You used that word before in the

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conversation. It's a spontaneous thing.

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And you mentioned chat GPT earlier. Kids

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are more in touch with the true sense of

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what it means to converse with somebody

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now more because everything they see is

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so AI generated and prefabricated.

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And that's like the spontaneity of a

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conversation that's rooted in a

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connection that you're building in the

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moment. These are really valuable

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experiences that also build skills that

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are going to carry

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with them through life.

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And a lot of these students, they don't

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get to do that so much in other classes

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as they do in our classes. And I wouldn't

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necessarily say you have to like Susie

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Gross. Wow. That's great. Did you have

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direct contact with Susie

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Gross? How did you learn from her?

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We worked together at NTPRS for many,

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many years. I worked with her at the

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multicultural conference before they

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turned it into IFLT. And I take it before

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I even knew her as a person, I had a TPRS

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training with her too. But we're friends.

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We've been friends for many, many years.

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That's awesome. Yeah, and unfortunately,

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I haven't ever had like direct contact

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with her. But like I know Ben Slavik

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references her a ton.

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Oh, yes.

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As being a major mentor in his life. And

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I haven't really heard of her outside of

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just him. I don't know. I wasn't really

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involved in Ben Slavik's PLC like you

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know, 10, 12, 13 years ago before he shut

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it down. And like 2017

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or 2018 he shut it down.

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And so I really learned the craft and

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from that PLC and all the great people

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that were involved in trying to put to

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practice all these things that we're that

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we're trying to do by being CI teachers.

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But like going back to the idea of like

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connecting with these students that

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usually these students that have had a

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hard time with school in general and

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maybe are like at risk,

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right? That at risk term.

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You know, I don't even. Yes, like you got

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to love every student, right? Sure. But

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sometimes it's hard. Yeah, sometimes it's

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hard. Yeah, it's hard. Definitely. Right.

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Love is the way. But like, I don't know

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if we necessarily have to look at it that

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way. I think you can look at it like

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treat everybody with dignity.

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Like everybody deserves a sense of being

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treated with dignity, you know? And I

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think like, I don't know, I think every

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teacher has to have, I think teachers are

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unique in the sense that we carry more of

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a sense of empathy than you would find in

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like a field, right?

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Like we're teachers because we're

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empathetic, you know? Like we care, we

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are interested in how other people are

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feeling and thinking and caring, right?

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And so it's probably easier for us to

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like to treat people with dignity.

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But at the same time, boy, like some

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people out there are crazy, you know?

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They're crazy people out there, you know?

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And they're in our classrooms. Sometimes,

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yeah. Yeah, and they are, you know? I

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mean, public school teachers, right? And

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some of them are me.

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Right? I mean, we're all in a little bit

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of craziness being a teacher, too. Like

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you gotta be a teacher. Want to be a

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teacher of like adolescents, right?

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Probably little kids, too. But like even

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those people that like we're just, we're

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feeling, yeah, and you said it before.

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There's something going on. It's not us,

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you know? And oftentimes, their behavior

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comes out with us because we are the only

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channel for which it can come out, you

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know? If you get what I need.

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I got a great story about this. I have to

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be careful. Yeah. Yeah. With then how

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like your expectations are and how much

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it's like a powerful thing and how much

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you really have to help students

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understand what is

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wrong and what is right.

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So that they can be like, they can have

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those soft skills and grow and be like

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good people. Yeah. Later in life.

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Yeah. The soft skills are like, I think,

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I think when we dive into comprehensible

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input, we automatically get those 21st

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century skills, you know? That

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communication piece is so crucial. I had

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a student last year. I had

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many difficult students last year.

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And you know, it takes me a while to

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crack the puzzle. And oh, she was a

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handful. Everything, again, everything

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was stupid. And why are we doing this?

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And I was talking to her mother and her

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mother's like, okay, well, I wasn't going

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to admit this, but I'm

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going through divorce right now.

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And her father is living abroad and he

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really wants his daughter to join him.

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I'm like, where is he living? And she

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goes, we're having this custody battle.

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Like the girl was

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caught in a custody battle.

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And the father wanted to move her to

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Spain with him. And I'm like, no wonder

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she hates Spanish class. It's it's tough.

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It stands for everything. Every bit of

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upheaval in her life right now. And the

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mother was like, really?

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And I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's why she

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hates me. That's why she hates Spanish.

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Okay. Okay. I can work with that now that

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I understand. But, you know, I mean, it

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seems so obvious right now.

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But until I knew that little piece of

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what was going on in her life, she wasn't

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going to tell me that her parents were

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fighting legally over her. She was not

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going to admit that. The mother didn't

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want to admit that to me. The father

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wasn't in contact with me.

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So, yeah, it took a lot of detective work

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to get there. But, you know, by the end

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of the year, she's like, I want to go out

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for the cheerleaders. Would

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you sign my recommendation?

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So I think, yeah, I burst through

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finally, but it took a long time. It was

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a lot of work. I got so many great hairs

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last year. Last year was a tough year.

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And I don't want to go too much into this

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now, but when it comes to discipline, my

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first question when I pull them outside

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to talk to them is not

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what were you doing, but why?

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Yeah. What's going on? Because nine times

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out of ten, it has nothing to do with

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what's in your classroom. I had a kid

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once who is like being a jerk to me. He's

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never been a jerk to me.

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And then when I pull them outside, I

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said, what is going on? Not what were you

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doing in my classroom where you got to

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stop no lecture. And he told me he

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thought he might have got his girlfriend

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pregnant at the time.

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I'm like, oh, that's a big one. OK,

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Bubba. Here, let me give you a pass to

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the library. You can go decompress over

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there because you're about to have 18

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years worth of bad days.

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So and, you know, and I let him do that

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instead of writing him up, because what's

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that going to do? Nothing. It's not going

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to fix the underlying problem.

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Yeah. So he comes back a couple of days

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and he says he goes, perfect. I talked to

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you outside. I go, yeah, he goes, oh, it

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was a close call. But

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no, it didn't happen.

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And then, you know, at that school, the

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only answer to that we could give legally

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was abstinence is the only thing. And so

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I kind of pulled away from the cameras

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that were in the hall and told him I go,

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you learned your lesson, right?

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He goes, what do you mean? I go, wrap

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that rascal. Do not go in without it. And

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I'm like, wrap that rascal. That's great.

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No, because because absence obviously is

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not going to work at this point. Right.

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Yeah. We were way beyond that. And so we

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needed some real talk. And so, yeah. But

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I think like you said, context is

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everything knowing why

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they are behaving that way.

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And then finding out asking what is going

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on instead of accusing them or lecturing

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them, then you get through to the problem

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a little bit better because maybe the

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office isn't the solution. Maybe it's

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going to speak to the counselor.

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Maybe it's a health problem. Maybe she

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goes speak to the nurse. You know,

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discipline isn't always for the

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discipline. You know, there's lots of

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different reasons for it.

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Mm hmm. Yeah. And how this all plays out.

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All the how this all how this all plays

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out in the first couple of days, first

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day and how you try to like avoid fires

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from burning in the classroom.

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You know, like these things that you

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mentioned about as the students are

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drawing their pictures on their car talk

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that you're walking around and you're

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really observant as I walk into the

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classroom. Those first few moments to see

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like who are my students that are going

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to be the ones that are going to be a

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little more maybe problematic in whatever

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way is problematic for you.

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For some of us, it's not problematic.

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Some things and for others, it is

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problematic. Other things, you know, like

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I could have a student who's very

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disruptive but positive

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and I'd be like, great.

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Like, you mean hundreds of those, you

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know, whereas like another student who's

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like very quiet but has like a sneer on

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their face. Maybe doesn't say anything

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but like as it just a sneer.

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You know, like, I don't know. It's like,

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you know, I guess I don't have the

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thickest skin. I don't know. You know,

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we're all get affected by I and I try to

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tell teacher a teacher. Sorry. I try to

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tell students this like you have to help

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me help you. Right. You got it. You got

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to show me. You got to show me some

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tenderness so that I can. So you fill me

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up. You got to fill my gas tank up with

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with the love that I need

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to have to be able to teach.

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You know, like I I try to I try to say

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that to kids as much as possible. I feel

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like that's a great message to give them,

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especially when they're when they're when

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they're acting up or like showing that

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kind of negativity or apathy, especially

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at the first day, you know, like you want

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to try to connect with those kids like

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you were saying, Scott, at beginning just

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and you know what? Even if it's I often

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think like you don't have to necessarily.

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Like always say you don't have to

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necessarily say, oh, good job. Great. I

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love what you're doing like, but just

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responding to them like have a little bit

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of response and oftentimes even be like a

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redirection is a great way to show that

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you care about them.

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You know, so like don't forget to

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redirect them, you know, and show them

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the way. Give them the guidance that they

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need. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

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And I will tell you one thing that I have

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done and I've only

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done a couple of times.

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I've done and I've only done it maybe the

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past five or six years, but it's really

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set a good tone for my classes is the

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moment I get my

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rosters, which was on Friday.

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So Saturday I did it. I send out an email

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to the kids welcoming them to class,

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giving them a little bit of information

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about me. I make it funny.

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But I tell them about me and my

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experience and I say, you know, I tell

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them it's going to be a crazy class. It's

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not gonna like any other class you've

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ever been in. Just warning. You will have

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to sing and dance because I sing and

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dance and nobody does this badly as I do.

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I give them that kind of thing and make

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it kind of funny. And I'm like, you know,

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I put that out there to the kids. And

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then I also send a similar one to the

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parents so they know what to expect.

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And I've already got I mean, I sent it

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out on Saturday yesterday before the

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school even starts. Kids don't have to

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come back to Wednesday.

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Why are they checking their emails

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already? But I already have 10 responses

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mixed between parents and kids. That's

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right. I am getting responses from kids

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and I got one. I have to read it because

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it was so funny that he wrote in here

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because my email is kind of

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long. But he put in here. Where is it?

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It's right here. Oh, this is what he put

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in here. Just to let you know, I actually

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read all of this. Most people don't have

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the attention span. But I

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lock in, sir. Nice to meet you.

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Cool. There wasn't a capital letter or

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punctuation in any of that. But I loved

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it, right? And he said, I mean, my email

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is this long. I had some funny things

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that talk about the class about me, stuff

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like that. I give them I always put a

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funny thing in the email, like, because I

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was telling them that I like

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to be called profane class.

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So I said, if you come give me the secret

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word before the bell rings in my class,

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which is profane for the first week, for

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the first day, you'll get a prize. And I

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have a whole bunch of candy to give out

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to kids. So and I put a magic word in

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each email I sent out because this is my

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before school starts. But I send one

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every week to both parents and to kids.

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Yeah, so I do that too.

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And so in the bottom, make them read it,

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I'll have something in there. It could be

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something like count to five for me when

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you come to class, and you get a prize.

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Or, you know, here's a secret word that I

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want them to do, or a secret handshake

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that I want them to do when they come in.

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And so it's just funny to get the kids to

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read and those things by putting those

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things in there. It's all about and if

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you take away anything today, from the

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first day, the first day is about making

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connections and building those

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relationships through the target

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language, use the

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target language to do it.

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But that the goal is not the target

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language, that's just the vehicle. The

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goal is to get to know your students. And

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I find I don't even start my rules until

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week two or three. I don't even go over

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them. Now, if something comes up, like a

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kid's talking out of turn, I'll just

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point to the rule on my board.

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And that's all I have to do. I don't go

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over the syllabus and all that stuff

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until week two or three. That's boring.

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And every other teacher does it on the

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first day. Can you imagine listening to

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that all day long? So I get them right in

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the target language.

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So that's my really big, big, big thing

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that I would say. Do something

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fun to get to know your kids.

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Yeah, I would throw a little caveat in

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there. Just yes, I definitely think like,

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as much as you have that wow program that

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you have to do the first couple of days,

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like, find a way to whoever has to do

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things like this, right? Try to speak in

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the target language the

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first day, the first few minutes.

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Yeah. But it's okay to go into your L1.

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It's okay. Jump into the L1 when you feel

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like you need to redirect kids or just

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chat with kids. If you feel like you just

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want to connect with kids about something

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that came up, I don't know.

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You just want to be like, Oh yeah, you

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saw that, right? I saw it too, like blah,

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blah, blah, you know, like

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those moments of connection.

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And I do that in the hallway when they're

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coming in, I'll go, I saw it in last

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night's football game. Great job. I do it

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outside the classroom so that when I do

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in the classroom, I try to stay in L2 as

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much as possible. But I will have that 30

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second little chat with the kids as they

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walk in. That's one of the reasons I like

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standing out at the door.

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Uh-huh. Yeah, I mean, right. And that's a

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classroom management move, right? The

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bell rings, you're at the door. And when

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you move to that classroom management,

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it's very, very powerful. Moving from the

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classroom door to the center of the

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classroom and then

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starting to talk with kids.

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That is the moment. Like you don't want

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much movement besides that, right? You

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just want those simple moves from the

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classroom door, the bell rings, you close

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the door, and then you move to the in

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front of everybody and you wait for them

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to like show that they're listening to

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you. And then you talk with them. Yeah.

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Yeah. Yeah. We're getting close to the

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end. So I've got two questions I want to

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end with. The first is, what were your

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biggest first day fails? Oh my God. So

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you guys think about it. I'll tell you

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mine because mine was last year. So

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mine's fresh in my memory. It was that

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first period I had no problems.

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And my old school, we were on the four by

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four. And for people who don't know, that

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means you teach four classes. Kids have

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four classes a semester. But that

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semester covers a whole year's worth of

Speaker:

curriculum. So they get eight classes

Speaker:

throughout the whole year. But it's kind

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of like a college schedule where they

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take four classes. And the class starts

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in the fall, ends in the winter. And then

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they start four new classes in the winter

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and end in the spring.

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So the good thing about that is I knew I

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only had that second. Sorry, there's a

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hummingbird right outside my window.

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Beautiful. So I knew I only had to deal

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with them till Christmas. I had to make

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it through Christmas. But that first day,

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I tried doing the fun things that we did.

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We played the name game with a ball.

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Playing that game right off the bat. We

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did the card talk. And they were not

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having it. I had people turning in blank

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papers without any pictures on them.

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We're not even putting their name on it.

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You know, I go there and I go to I had a

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girl. I'd say, it's not the time to put

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your our makeup on right now. Can you go

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ahead and put it away? I mean, it's the

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second period of the first

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day of school. She goes, no.

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She says no. Oh, I'm like, we're right

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now in Spain. I don't go in your bathroom

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to teach you Spanish. So please don't

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bring your bathroom into my classroom.

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And she goes, you can't tell me what to

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do. That's the kind of stuff I was

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having. And we were fighting it every

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time. One of my favorite games, my kids,

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not my favorite game, the kids favorite

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game is trash get ball.

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They couldn't even figure out who's going

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to throw. I don't want to throw you

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throw. I don't want to throw you throw.

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I'm like, and I had six base. I mean, six

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basketball players in the room. And they

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didn't want to play either. So it was

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fighting. Everything I did was a fight. I

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had to fight for everything. I'm like, I

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have never had to fight for a game. When

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I say let's play a game, they're like,

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whoa, you know, but this is the game.

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This class fought me even on games. So

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that was my everything I tried.

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Everything I tried was an ultimate

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failure and not just than that first day

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for 90 straight days. 90 straight days.

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It was Oh my gosh. My save my saving

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grace was first and third

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period. First period was great.

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Then we had lunch after second period and

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I come back for third period. Fourth

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period was my prep. So third period was

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fine too. It was just that second period.

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13 kids, nine of them.

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Is there, do you feel like that this is

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the same class you were mentioning

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before? And this was last year, right?

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Yeah. Wow. Do you feel like you could

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have should have would have like done

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something different that could have

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helped? Do you know?

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I don't know at this school. I don't know

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if they do it deliberately. The

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counselors do it just to play an evil

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trick. I taught that school for two years

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and every fall semester kids were the

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toughest kids. Not just in my class, but

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in all classes. All the

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teachers talked about it.

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Our tougher kids were in our first

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semester and a lot of them were freshmen

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and so they were coming in not having any

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high school experience and I don't know

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what they were doing in eighth grade with

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them, but obviously they weren't training

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them to be polite, respectful teenagers.

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So I don't know because even in the year,

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the first year I had similar kids, but I

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didn't have that much resistance, but

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these kids have all this stuff going.

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Language was required.

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They didn't want to be there.

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They didn't want, they weren't school

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kids. They didn't

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want to be there either.

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The reason they were in my classroom,

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they took, we had a culinary class and

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they took culinary because they thought

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it was all about eating and it's not.

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It's an actual, you know, Chef

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preparation program and so they were

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discouraged by that because they actually

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had to do work in there and food prep and

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learning the rules and the health

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guidelines and all that stuff.

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So it was a whole combination.

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Were they traveling together as a cohort?

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Well, in my class they happened to be,

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they all were in culinary first period

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and they were in my class second period.

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So they were together every day together.

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In the morning, in the afternoon they

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went to the main high school and were all

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dispersed, but at the Career and Tech

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Academy that we were, they were all stuck

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together. That's how I had

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nine of them in one class.

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And they caused problems in culinary too.

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But I'm like, you have

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knives in there and open flames.

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I would be terrified.

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I would be terrified.

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So I don't know what I could have done

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that was different because what has

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worked for 24 years for a whole different

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variety and personality of kids from

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inner city in Vegas to, you know, rich,

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suburban kids outside.

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His work did not work for

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only that group of kids.

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And I just think it was just that I had

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too many in one class to overcome.

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And they were a small group, 13 kids.

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And a lot of them were the ones, you had

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at least half of them.

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I mean, you have more than half that are

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like that negative ones that they're

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going to pull the other ones down.

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And they looked at their records.

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They were having problems

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in kindergarten all the way.

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They've had problems every

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year all the way through.

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So it wasn't just high school.

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So it wasn't me.

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It wasn't a me thing.

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It was counselors did a really funny

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trick by putting all of

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these kids together at once.

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They should have been broken up.

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Yeah.

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Because they all had

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red flags in their files.

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Every single one of them had red flags.

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Some were already on

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contracts, behavior contracts.

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Some couldn't even be in the

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same room with another kid.

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You know, these weren't your average Joe

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Schmo kids who, you know,

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just didn't like school.

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And they put them all in the same class.

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So that was...

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And it might have been that just the

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counselors, whoever schedulers just

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didn't have the time or the

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means to look at those details.

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Yeah. When I say it was a cruel joke, I

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don't think they did it deliberately.

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But it just happened to be.

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And we weren't...

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At my school, we were not

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allowed to kick kids out.

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They had to stay in the classroom.

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Period.

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So...

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Yeah, that's a growing trend, I think.

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So I'm like...

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They're like, they have a right to learn.

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I said, so did the other 32 kids in my

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class and they're not

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learning because of this one kid.

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So I think they lose their right to learn

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if they're going to be a jerk in class.

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I think you got it.

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I think your school really has to have a

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place that you can send a student though.

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I mean, you really do.

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I know that's like a trend.

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That's a common thing with

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administration, like keep the kid in the

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classroom, work with

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them, have you escalated.

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And I totally agree.

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Like you try to escalate the

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consequences, but you start off small.

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You start off with like, okay, a

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redirect, you know, and then the next one

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would be like a chat

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in the hall, you know,

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and the next one would be like then a

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warning or something.

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You know, you have like these small steps

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that you take and they can be very

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effective, especially

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when you're telling students,

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okay, like I'm going to have to, we're

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going to have to escalate your, we're

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going to have to escalate

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this, you can just say, right?

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But escalation could be a small step, but

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they sense the weight of it.

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But like my last school was great.

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They were so good.

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The administration was so great.

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Like if, as long as you're escalating, as

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long as you go through the steps, then

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like, yes, absolutely.

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Send the kid out to us because we're not

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going to let this kind of

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thing happen and to disrupt.

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My school was and I had all the steps and

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the kids, when they took that final piece

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from me, when I couldn't like kick them

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out because they're, they knew, no matter

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what I do, I'm here.

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So they knew they weren't going to have

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any real serious consequences.

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So they figured they took all the power

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from me from that because I mean, I had

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already done the call homes.

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We've already, we didn't, I couldn't do

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detentions because the kids get bused

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back to the main campus.

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They have to take the

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main campus bus home.

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So they, I couldn't

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keep them after school.

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They, they couldn't stay before school.

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So I had no, none of that.

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Everything that was other

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than talk to them, call home.

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That's my, were my only real

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things I could do with them.

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There was nothing more than I could do.

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So that was my worst class.

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What about you guys?

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Yeah, I don't know.

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I don't know.

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You want to go next, Sean?

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I'm trying to think of first date, like

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worst case scenarios.

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All right. Well, I'll start then.

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It's not, it's not funny, but let's say

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for five years I was the good little girl

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and on the first day

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you go over your syllabus.

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And this is what Scott was just saying is

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like, everybody's

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going over their syllabus.

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And as, oh, I don't know.

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Oh, you know what?

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It was, it was COVID when we were

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recording everything.

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I realized I could record my syllabus

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instead and make the kids

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watch it on their own time.

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That way I'm not taking

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up my precious school time.

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Now, like Scott said, he

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sends an email home every week.

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I do that too.

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I send an email home to the

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students and I CC the parents.

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So I'm not writing two different emails.

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I'm writing one email and I just click

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the CC button for the parents.

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And it says, this is

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what we worked on this week.

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This is what we're working on next week.

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And that way the parents can nag the kids

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at the dinner table.

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Oh, oh, I know you got this, this big

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project coming up here.

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You're going to make

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crepes in French class.

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Oh, we'll tell me about that.

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You know, so then they could talk to the

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kids about it and everything.

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And the beauty of that is whenever I have

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discipline problems, the parents feel

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like they already know me because they've

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been getting these emails

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from me every single week.

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That's what I do.

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That's why I write the email

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personally though to parents.

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I don't have it. It's not a CC.

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I write a separate one.

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Yeah, that's fine because

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it has helped me so much.

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But so I started recording the syllabus

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and then I put the

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link in that first email.

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So now the parents see my syllabus too.

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So the parents know how eccentric I am

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and they know these theories of language

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acquisition that I talk about in the

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syllabus about how,

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hey, guys, you got it.

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Being houses forgetting curve.

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You got to look at the

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language one time outside of school.

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You got to do this.

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You got you can't stay up all night and

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cram and wake up fluent

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in Spanish the next day.

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So don't try to do that.

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I'm not going to accept that.

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You know, every every single bit of like

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pedagogical moves that I'm going to be

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using, the parents now understand.

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So I'm going to say that, you know, I

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tried doing the whole syllabus on the

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first day thing and that didn't work.

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And recording the syllabus, I think.

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Yes, that's true.

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We are both weird and eccentric.

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But I'm going to say my my first day fail

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was trying to do the

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syllabus on the first day.

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I got over that first day is golden.

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So I mean, you can make it.

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What are they called?

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I always forget the name of the app that

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does it where the video they have to

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watch the video and then it stops.

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You have to answer a question before you

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can go and finish watching the video.

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Oh, yeah.

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Wayground. I use wayground.

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Yeah, I wasn't wayground, though.

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It's the the original one

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who came up with this quizzes.

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Quizzes change their name to wayground.

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I know, but it's not that one.

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It's Ed U something or other.

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I forgot.

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There's Ed puzzle.

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That's the one. Ed puzzle.

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Yeah.

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Ed puzzle was the first one

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who started that that thing.

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It was to do that.

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I always give a quiz.

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The first quiz is on

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the stuff in the syllabus.

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Like, how do you ask for

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a bathroom in my class?

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And those kinds of things.

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It's a fun little, you know, easy little

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quiz I do with them.

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Yeah.

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So do you have one, Sean?

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I can't think of anything specific like

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but in general, beginning of the

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school year, I know that like not being

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on students for pulling out their

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phones, being too lax on that.

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I think I've I've I've erred and not not

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enforcing that kind of like no

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phone.

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Yeah, you got to hit the

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state law in California.

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It's a state law.

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So we have to enforce it.

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Lovely, lovely.

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Yeah, it's also it's just became a state

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law in Illinois too, right?

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Oh, wow.

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That's great.

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Yeah.

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That is our governor kind

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of copped out with the law.

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They can bring the phones to school, but

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they cannot have possession of

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them during the class period.

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So in all class periods, we've got one of

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those like shoe things.

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Yeah.

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And then we have to put the their number,

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the phone in the slotted one

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and they have to stay there the whole

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class unless we have an activity

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that we specifically

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say you need a phone for.

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Go grab your phone, do the

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activity and put it back.

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And then it's easy when

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you see them numbered.

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I'm all for like from eight o'clock to

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three o'clock, no phones.

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Like I just beautiful thing to see the

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adolescents, their teenagers in the

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cafeteria talking to each

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other without their phones.

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And last year I was at school.

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Amazing.

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And then the old

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middle school has outlawed.

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They, they, the way they interpreted the

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law, they said no school, no

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phones on campus period.

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If you bring your phone, there are

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lockers in the front office that are

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just for phones.

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You put your phone in there, it's locked

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up and then you pick it up at the

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end of the school day.

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Yeah, that would be beautiful.

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So I was, I was thinking about phones and

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I was also thinking about having

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a sofa in my classroom, having a sofa to

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like for independent reading time.

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I know I don't do independent reading the

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first day of class, but like

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mistakes I've made, I

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guess, just like the phone thing.

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And then also allowing students to sit in

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the sofa in the back corner of the

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room where I like, I had, I had two big

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bookshelves and I kind of, I put it,

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but the bookshelves in a way where you

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had this like nice little secretive nook

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and I couldn't,

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Oh, you can't see.

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Like certain four kids, three or four

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kids from sitting back there all year.

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I could not stop it.

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Yeah.

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So that was a fun one for sure.

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Yeah.

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I had a sofa of one for a few years when

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I first started teaching, but then I

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had a back counter.

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My kids like to sit on the back counter.

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I had to keep telling him, get off the

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counter, get off the counter.

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And it wasn't so much that I cared

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because my rule is that within your

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sign seat area, you

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can sit however you want.

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That's comfortable.

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If it's on the floor, if

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it's upside down, I don't care.

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As long as you're paying attention.

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And the moment I catch you not paying

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attention, you're back in the chair,

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sitting like everybody else.

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But they used to sit on there and they

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would kick the cabinets, you know,

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kick their feet.

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And that echoes loudly

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in the next classroom.

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So I'm like, you can't do that.

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You cannot kick.

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And everybody who sat up

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there would kick their legs.

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And I'm like, you can't.

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She's going to come in here and she is

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going to decapitate each and

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every one of you because it echoes.

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And she was a special needs teacher and

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the kids are really focusing and

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she's trying to keep them calm and boom,

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boom, going through her room.

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So she would.

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It was hilarious.

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But so that's my thing

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is seating is important.

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Making, yeah, seating, right.

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That can be a whole nother like podcast

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seating arrangement.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You got games.

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You have to be careful to

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like just managing them.

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Right.

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Small classes.

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I remember a small class I had last year.

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I was doing a game.

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It was like it was an ESL class.

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Right.

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And so we were doing like a pop up like

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senior chase, right?

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Like a pop up.

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I say a question.

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You have two teams.

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Each team has like each member of the

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team has a number and it will post it.

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So like there's like I

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think I only have eight kids.

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So there's four kids on one

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team, four kids, another team.

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Each team has one

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through four, one through four.

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Right.

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So I asked a question is Bobby blue or

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red and everybody thinks about it.

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And then I yell, okay, number three.

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So that number three stands

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up and they try to answer it.

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But it was like these kids, I don't know

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what was going on that day or this the

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whole year.

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They were so into it.

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I need a chance to like move and be a

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part of something like they were just on

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top of it and they didn't know how to

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like can try contain themselves.

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So like I had one kid

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with a big heavy desk.

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He just threw it like

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through the desk up there.

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Like this huge heavy desk and

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like handed boom on the floor.

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Like the spent teacher again, a spent

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teacher was my neighbor came into the

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room was like, what is going on in here?

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Like seriously.

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I was like, I'm like, thank you for

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coming in here

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because they have to realize

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that they are part of a

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bigger school community.

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I realize like the noise that they're

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making is having an effect.

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Yeah.

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I had to assure that look,

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I'm going to call their parents.

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I'm going to talk to the parents.

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I'm not going to just let the slide.

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So I didn't get like

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a bad name for myself.

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You know,

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I'm going to call my parents.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Well, we are way over our time.

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Let's end with other things.

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We all talked about card talk as a good

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strategy to start with.

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What other first week moves that pay off

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that are really successful for you?

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Uh-huh.

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I think we've got a TPRS story about

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somebody looking for a school supply

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and he wants the school supply and he

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needs the school supply.

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And somebody else is offering him a

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school supply and no,

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he doesn't like that.

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And the students know their school

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supplies by the end of the first day.

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And they are like,

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they're kind of invested in the story

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cause it's got the truck I fail cycle,

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You know, and they feel they feel a

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certain amount of success of having

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conquered these words.

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And it was a pretty simple story.

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So you use that story?

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The other thing I do.

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I'm sorry, say again.

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You use that story every year at the

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beginning, first week or so?

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Yeah, pretty much.

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Pretty pretty much for

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Spanish and French and Japanese.

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Just a very simple story.

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You call your student down who wants to

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be the first person, who

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wants to be the second person,

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who wants to be the first person again.

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Yeah, you're starting

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to break up and freeze.

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Okay.

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Sorry, it's my bad.

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The other thing I do is on the first or

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the second day, I always talk about

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Sudoku, the number game.

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And I teach my students how to play

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Sudoku if they don't already know it.

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And we do an easy, easy one.

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And there's, you know, a lot of just

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working through it and everything.

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And then I'm like, this is how your brain

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is going to feel on language.

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Language is nothing but a logic game.

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You start saying something and what's the

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next thing you could say,

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depending on what word you use, it's

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going to affect all the

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other words in the sentence.

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And so I'm always calling back to it all

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throughout the year.

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Hey guys, we're going to

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have to Sudoku this sentence.

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You know every single

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word, but you don't know this.

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You've got to figure

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out what could fit here.

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So those are my first two things I do.

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So you don't do the

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Sudoku in the target language.

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I was thinking that would be an

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interesting activity.

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Not on the first day.

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Not on the first day.

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Yeah.

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But I just want them to

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know this is how logic works.

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Yeah.

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This is how your brain is going to feel

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when you're searching for another word.

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Uh-huh.

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Yeah.

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Cool.

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Thanks for that interesting stuff.

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I too also in the first

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week, I will do a mini story.

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Not a TPRS story necessarily, but like

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something again, I

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learned from being on that PLC,

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Ben Slavik's PLC, several years ago.

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These are like mini stories, mini

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scripts, and the real

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simple, a real simple script,

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using the three very high frequently

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verbs, has, wants, and gives.

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So and then I can just like non-target

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basically from there,

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but try to keep it simple.

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So like one student or

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character has something.

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We decide what that

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thing is that they have.

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And then another student or

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character wants that thing.

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And we talk about where they are.

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You know, the, and with who,

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well, yeah, just the where.

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Like we don't ask too many questions

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where, and then the end of the story is

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the second character.

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No, no, no, I'm sorry.

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The second character

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wants that thing, right?

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That the first character

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has, has, wants, and gives.

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And then you end the story with whether

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the first character gives that thing

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to the second character or doesn't give

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that thing to the second character.

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That's a great one.

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I mean, I always, always, always have

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success with that mini story.

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Yeah, for me, I'm always looking for the

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humor and what I can do.

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Like when people tell me the key, what

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kind of music do you listen to?

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And they're like, Oh, I

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like all kinds of music.

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So then I, I key up my Google music and

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play a Barney song, the dinosaur song.

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And I'm like, their

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favorite singer is now Barney.

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And they have a poster of

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Barney in their bedroom.

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And we have this now we have this running

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joke that we can play along the whole,

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the whole way through.

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But the other thing I

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do, I do limited TPR.

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I do it with the sweet 16 verbs, but I'm

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starting with the

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super seven is where I'm

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starting with right off the bat.

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So I just sprinkle it

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in 10 minutes a day.

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I'm on a block schedule, so

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I have them for 90 minutes.

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So for about 10 minutes, I do some words

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of TPR, but it's always

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I'm focusing on the sweet 16.

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And if we get through the sweet 16 and I

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have time left, like it

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takes me months to get through

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the sweet 16 because I want to make sure

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they really know them.

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Then I'll start adding some other high

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frequency verbs in there.

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But for the most part, I

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stick with the sweet 16.

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It usually takes me almost to the end of

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the school year with the

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sweet 16 to get them to

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really know them so that

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they come spontaneously.

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But I work on those ones with TPR that

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gives me some other activity.

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And I kind of told you what else I do

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with the, the write and discuss.

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And I also do reading.

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I'll take like a summary of

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some of the kids from reading,

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or if there was a really funny story that

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we got up there, I'll

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write that story up.

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We have reading on once a week during

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that first couple of weeks,

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but it takes me about six weeks.

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It's six weeks of first days.

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I'm working with that

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card talk for the most part.

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I'm setting the routines, but we really

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get to know each

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other really, really well.

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I mean, last year we came

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up with some great ones.

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We had a kid who I like, what

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was, what do you like to do?

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His favorite thing

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was playing video games.

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And I said, do you play video games on

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Mondays, on Tuesdays?

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No, every day.

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And what time do you play video games?

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All the time.

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So then I, my mind is

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going and I'm like, class.

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Oh, poor Eli.

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This is like the second day of school.

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Poor Eli.

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They're like poor Eli.

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I'm like, poor Eli.

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Poor Eli doesn't have a girlfriend.

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Why doesn't he have a girlfriend?

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Because he's always playing video games.

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He doesn't have any time

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to get on the dating apps.

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So we're joking around this and some kid

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goes, I go, so when he goes

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to the prom in three years,

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who's he going to go with?

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And one of the kids

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goes, his game controller.

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So, and he was in the culinary class.

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And he asked me what, I said, what was

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your favorite thing to cook?

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He goes, spaghetti.

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So we made date night,

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him and his controller.

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And I used AI.

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I used AI to make a graphic of him

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cooking spaghetti with

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his controller next to him.

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So it was just kind of funny.

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And it was a story that

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we had going all year long.

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We kept adding on to this story.

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But those are the kinds of things that I

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try to do with the kids

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that first week to build

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those connections.

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And Eli loved the attention.

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He's going, what did I

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do to you that first day?

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What did I do to you all the time?

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But, you know, making these experiences

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with students is like

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one of the best ways I feel

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like with these stories, these made up

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stories, like the best way

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I feel like you can connect

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with students, build relationships.

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And it's just like, it's such a beautiful

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thing when they come

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back, they bring them

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back up later in the school year, you can

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talk about them again.

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It's just such a beautiful thing.

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And also print all the

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stories out for each kid.

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So if their name appeared in a story at

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the end of the year,

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they get a stack of stories

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with their names on them.

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So if they were in a story, they have

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like a little keepsake to have.

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I should find a way to make it into a

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real book, but that might get costly.

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But it's still something that the kids

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always know they have something to take

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with them at the end.

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That's cool.

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That's cute.

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That's a cute idea.

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Okay, well, we are way over.

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So let's go ahead and

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wrap this one up today.

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We had a good conversation.

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We did.

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We did.

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So everybody, thanks for joining us.

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That's the episode.

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So thanks for spending part of your

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morning with us

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instead of doing the thing

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that's been on your

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to-do list since June.

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Quietly judging you.

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I know I have.

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Um, Pamela, thank you for the bit about

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the skeptical kid in the back.

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I'm stealing that.

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August and I will not be

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crediting you in the moment.

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Maybe later, but probably not.

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Oh my god, it's funny.

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Sean, thank you for telling the truth

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about the year it fell apart.

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Everybody's got that story.

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Almost nobody says it out loud into a

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microphone with their name attached.

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Go listen to the CI Renaissance podcast.

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The show he does with Greg Schwab.

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Um, yes, yes, yes.

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Please do.

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Their whole thesis is that your money

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belongs in your own

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training, not in a textbook.

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Absolutely.

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Textbooks are resources.

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They are not guidebooks.

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Please, because you are the text, which

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is either inspiring or terrifying,

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depending on how day one went.

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So here's the whole thing your first day

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does and have to be impressive.

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It has to be understandable.

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Low bar.

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Take the win.

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The syllabus can wait.

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It has waited before.

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It will wait again for

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the first couple of weeks.

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The trust is the curriculum.

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Build those relationships.

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If this helps, subscribe to the next one.

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Just shows up like a good little episode.

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Leave a review and forward this to the

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one colleague teaching CI

Speaker:

for the first time this year

Speaker:

who keeps saying they're fine

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when they definitely are not.

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You know it.

Speaker:

They know it.

Speaker:

Send the link.

Speaker:

Watch us live on YouTube or grab the

Speaker:

replay wherever you get your podcasts.

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Ditch the drills.

Speaker:

Trust the process.

Speaker:

And we'll see you next

Speaker:

time on Comprehend This.

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Bye bye, everybody.

Speaker:

Thanks for joining us.

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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.