What I enjoy most, and that which is most fundamentally aligned with my teaching philosophy is the idea of using my classroom to support student development across content areas. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills discusses the importance of preparing students to think critically and make connections instead of simply memorizing lists of vocabulary and/or grammar rules solely for a written test or quiz.
I've also learned that when we think of "CI," and consider it defined as comprehensible or compelling input, what can often make it compelling is when the students realize that they are learning something nuanced and substantive in the target language. Learning how to read and interpret maps; learning to make historical connections (which happens to be a great way to get them to learn years and numbers); learning how to discuss themes that they see in other classes...all of these are what makes the input compelling by contextualizing the language.
Here are videos of one of my classes reviewing our unit on Communities. We did everything from coming up with our own working definition of communities, finding examples within our school and area, and then eventually learning about other communities in the Francophone world.
I hope you enjoy them!
Also, keep an eye out for some tools and resources that I will share shortly. As you may know, I have dedicated a bonkers amount of time and energy developing CI French Curricula that centers Black and Brown people in the Francophone world. I'll have my level 1 ready to share in the coming months!
In the meantime, be sure to follow on Instagram/Twitter @AfroFranco2