Hear me out. I am proposing not insisting.

For years I stared my younger classes with the days of the week, date, weather etc. My older classes started with a few questions reviewing what we did the class time before (translate the sentences, fill in the blank, answer these basic questions etc.)

Then I stopped… why?

REASON #1 – TIME

I believe in the Comprehensible Input Hypothesis by Stephen Krashen which means I believe the only path to acquisition to language is providing comprehensible language and preparing my students to read comprehensible language.

“The Comprehension Hypothesis says that we acquire language when we understand what we hear or read. Our mastery of the individual components of language (“skills”) is the result of getting comprensible input.” (The Case for Comprehensible Input Stephen Krashen, www.sdkrashen.com,  Published in Language Magazine, July 2017. )

• So the majority of my time with my students which is not as long as I would like to think should be used PROVIDING COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT through listening and reading.
• RICH & COMPELLING comprehensible input is BETTER than DULL & SHALLOW comprehensible input. So just because it is comprehensible does not mean it is good use of your time.
• Based on my observation, (working on tying it to research) the first 20 minutes of my class is the GOLDEN TIME that I do not have to fight (as hard) for my students attention. Would you agree?

So here is my question, is the CALENDAR or BELLRINGER time at the beginning the BEST use of my time?

I say NO.

BELL-RINGERS- short activities like fill in the blank, translate this sentence, write the answer to these questions etc. (grades 3-8)

Maybe I am doing them wrong. My “bellringers” can last 10-15 minutes when I count

• students getting in the class
• starting the activity
• completing the activity
• reviewing the activity

Maybe I should just be more time efficient. Have a timer. Use a shorter activity.  Well… there is an argument for that, but my question is  WHY? What is so great about these activities that I need to protect it this much?

What I could do with my students instead?

I have my older students that I see everyday read for 10 minutes. They read from my classroom library of novels, readings and current event articles from Martina Bex and stories from Amy Vanderdeen at Storyteller’s Corner.

My younger students, who are not ready to read independently, start a story or other CI activity with the goal of getting to the MEAT (a.k.a – RICH & COMPELLING input) as soon as possible. We might read a passage together instead of listening to a story.

REASON #2 – CHILD DEVELOPMENT

CALENDAR routine- What is today? What was yesterday? What is tomorrow? Let’s do the days of the weeks. What is the weather today?

** I have seen other teachers use the calendar time to discuss the students’ schedules and interests. I am not really talking about that. I know Tina Hargaden has suggested Calendar Time at the beginning of the year for YEAR 1 students. This is more of a conversation discussing personal interests using the calendar as spring board to personalize content. I am NOT talking about that kind of activity.

I have twin 6 year old boys who started Kindergarten this year. They do the calendar in their classroom everyday. So I should do it in my classroom, right? Well… maybe but WHY do they do it in their classroom?

According to child development research, 5 & 6 year olds are on the edge of understanding time.

My boys ask all the time- What is today? Is it a school day? How many days till my birthday? Is that a long time? Is it tomorrow yet? When is Friday? Is 7 days a long time?

In the article linked above, it says “Weather provides a perfect observable (and changeable) event to mark the passage of days … A weather calendar and graph is a perfect way for children to experience yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

OK … so adding weather helps make CALENDAR more concrete, but if they are still learning the concept of time in their Kindergarten class, then I am taking a concept that they struggle with in their native language and then adding a language barrier. WHY?

REASON #3 – INTEREST

I will restate “Just because it is comprehensible DOES NOT mean the activity is a good use of your time.” Can anyone really make an argument for the RIVETING calendar discussions you have had lately?

Being COMPREHENSIBLE does not automatically make it COMPELLING.

Yes the 5% of language nerds will LOVE anything you do in another language. (Hint- you are probably a language nerd.) But the rest of the 95% just want to have something interesting to talk/read about.

“It may be the case that input needs to be not just interesting but compelling. Compelling means that the input is so interesting you forget that it is in another language. It means you are in a state of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). In flow, the concerns of everyday life and even the sense of self disappear – our sense of time is altered and nothing but the activity itself seems to matter.” The Compelling (not just interesting) Input Hypothesis, Stephen Krashen, The English Connection (KOTESOL) in press

FLOW- Our goal is to have the students listen/read and forget they are communicating in another language. If the only thing compelling about the activity is that it is in another language then FLOW is nearly impossible.

If the activity is ONLY compelling because it is in another language, then it is not COMPELLING enough.

What do I do with my students instead? Stories, Discussion of Interests, Games that use language in context like Mafia

REASON #4 – NEED

But my kids need to know this stuff?

Why? Is it high frequency?

You will probably use some higher frequency words when discussing the calendar and days of the week. But the vocabulary you are targeting IS NOT high on the frequency word lists according to Mark Davies Frequency Word Dictionary (Spanish), These are the calendar words ranking when the written and spoken language were analyzed.

• Monday- 2187
• Tuesday- 3490
• Wednesday- 3431
• Thursday- 2606
• Friday- 2483
• Saturday- 1816
• Domingo- 1121

*** the #1 word would be the most used Spanish word in written and oral language (el/la is number 1). The words are then ranked by their use.

Seasons? The lowest number (meaning the most used) was for the word SUMMER (893)

Months? The lowest number was for the word AUGUST (1244)

If you look at the other more basic words used in conversation to discuss calendar, then yes, there are higher frequency words like DAY (71), YEAR (55), TIME (44), but isn’t there a better way to use these words in a richer and more compelling way?

COVERAGE of REQUIRED VOCABULARY

If the word is important, then it will come up. My students know the word día and noche. How?… Stories. The colors, numbers, calendar, food and any other word can be told in a story. You can even come up with a story that targets some of the words if you want. I have started to move away from this because I want the STORY to drive my instruction and not a vocabulary/grammar list. I am not there yet, but I am headed in this direction.

But Anne Marie, I HAVE to teach these words. The parents expect it. My administration requires it. Their next teacher will DEMAND it.

Ok, so what about the end of class?

I have Kindergarten for 45 minutes. I strive to fill the first 20-30 minutes of rich, compelling comprehensible input activities. By the last 10-15 minutes, my students’ attention is starting to wane. Maybe you could use that time to do calendar and weather.

For older students, maybe the vocabulary lists or games you need to cover REQUIRED vocabulary could be the last thing you do.

CONCLUSION- I have my students for 45 minutes, some everyday and some 2X a week. There are so many more rich and compelling things to talk about. Why do I need to spend that time, especially at the beginning of my class, on the calendar or a traditional bellringer activity?

** Full disclosure-  Leslie Davison brought up the question of Calendar time not being a good use of time in an elementary classroom. The idea has stuck with me since NTPRS Chicago 2014. Thanks Leslie!