Discover how Spanish teacher David Rice transformed his classroom with Comprehensible Input (CI) and made proficiency feel achievable for every student.

👉 Want ready-to-use strategies, lesson plans, and tools for YOUR classroom? Grab the CI Survival Kit here: https://imim.us/survival

The CI Story Series highlights everyday language teachers who have embraced CI and changed the way their students experience language learning. From struggles to breakthroughs, each story shows that creating joyful, proficiency-focused classrooms is not only possible—it’s easier than you think.

#ComprehensibleInput, #LanguageTeaching, #WorldLanguageTeachers, #SpanishTeacher, #TPRS, #LanguageLearning, #TeachingStrategies, #CIClassroom, #LanguageAcquisition, #TeacherLife

Host:

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

Guest:

• David Rice

Resources & Links:

• CI Survival Kit - https://imim.us/discipline
• Dynamic Discipline - https://imim.us/discipline
• TPRSBooks - https://tprsbooks.com
• Somos - https://comprehensibleclassroom
• TPRS in a Year - https://benslavic.com
• PQA in a Wink - https://benslavic.com

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

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Host: Scott Benedict — Immediate Immersion

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<b>Good morning, everybody.</b>

<b>Welcome to the CI podcast,</b>

<b>the Comprehend This podcast.</b>

<b>We're doing CI Stories this morning and</b>

<b>we have a wonderful guest today.</b>

<b>So let's go ahead and get started.</b>

<b>So today's CI Story is a good one. Our</b>

<b>guest is David Rice,</b>

<b>the Spanish Teacher Department Chair and</b>

<b>once upon a time, full</b>

<b>blown textbook warrior.</b>

<b>That's right. He was marching through</b>

<b>chapter three vocab</b>

<b>lists like the rest of us.</b>

<b>Until he realized it just</b>

<b>wasn't working. So what did he do?</b>

<b>He tossed a textbook grab, laying Ray's</b>

<b>TPRS playbook and never looked back.</b>

<b>Fast forward a few years and not only has</b>

<b>he transformed his own</b>

<b>classroom into a joyful,</b>

<b>proficiency focused space, but he's also</b>

<b>convinced his department and now even his</b>

<b>district to embrace CI.</b>

<b>Basically, David went from textbook</b>

<b>zombie to CI superhero.</b>

<b>And today he's sharing his story, his</b>

<b>stumbles and his strategies with us.</b>

<b>Stick around because this conversation is</b>

<b>equal parts inspiring, relatable and</b>

<b>let's be honest, a little funny too.</b>

<b>We'll be right back</b>

<b>after these short videos.</b>

<b>Ever feel like you're clinging to the</b>

<b>edge of your teacher planner, just hoping</b>

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<b>the wheel every Sunday night.</b>

<b>Each month you get fresh, ready to use</b>

<b>lessons, time saving tools and just</b>

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<b>No stress, no guilt, just monthly help</b>

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<b>Welcome to comprehend this real talk for</b>

<b>real language teachers.</b>

<b>No drills, no dry theory, just honest</b>

<b>stories, practical ideas and a reminder</b>

<b>you're not alone in the CI trenches.</b>

<b>Let's dive in.</b>

<b>Welcome, welcome, Mr. David Rice. How are</b>

<b>we doing this morning?</b>

<b>Doing good. How are you doing?</b>

<b>I'm doing excellent for a Sunday morning.</b>

<b>Awesome.</b>

<b>Give us a little bit about...</b>

<b>I got joined by my</b>

<b>cats. I don't know why.</b>

<b>I just cut my door. I have two dogs and</b>

<b>they'll bark, bark, bark.</b>

<b>So I cut my door on them.</b>

<b>Tell us a little bit about yourself that</b>

<b>I haven't already talked about in that</b>

<b>little intro just to get so people get to</b>

<b>know you a little bit.</b>

<b>OK, my name is David Rice, obviously.</b>

<b>I am a Spanish teacher in Memphis, Shelby</b>

<b>County Schools in Tennessee.</b>

<b>I've been teaching forever.</b>

<b>And as Scott said, I was a textbook</b>

<b>teacher and now I'm a full</b>

<b>blown TPRS CI teacher now.</b>

<b>So it's a bit of a journey.</b>

<b>I'm a US Army</b>

<b>veteran, served in Iraq, etc.</b>

<b>Well, thank you for your</b>

<b>service. We appreciate that.</b>

<b>No problem.</b>

<b>So tell us what your teaching looked like</b>

<b>before you went to CI.</b>

<b>So people...we have a lot of people on</b>

<b>here who are textbook teachers who are</b>

<b>thinking about transitioning.</b>

<b>We've got textbook teachers who are</b>

<b>dabbling in transitioning.</b>

<b>We got textbook teachers who want to</b>

<b>transition over but are terrified.</b>

<b>So let us know where you started from so</b>

<b>they can kind of get a little...feel a</b>

<b>little relatable there.</b>

<b>So when I graduated college and I got my</b>

<b>first teaching job at Texas High School</b>

<b>in Texarkana, Texas,</b>

<b>I went in and the textbook of choice at</b>

<b>that school at the time was Realidades.</b>

<b>And so all my training prior to getting a</b>

<b>job at Texas High was, you know, my</b>

<b>mentor teachers and my textbook teachers.</b>

<b>And I didn't know</b>

<b>what CI was at the time.</b>

<b>I didn't know there was anything.</b>

<b>And turn to page three and</b>

<b>let's do a little vocabulary.</b>

<b>Go to page four, let's do the same thing.</b>

<b>Give it eternity and get a grade degree.</b>

<b>And so and so forth.</b>

<b>So that was the world.</b>

<b>And there was...you know, I remember when</b>

<b>I was setting up my</b>

<b>classroom, there in the classroom,</b>

<b>there was that little green book that</b>

<b>Blaine Ray wrote, Blaine</b>

<b>Ray and Conti Sinne wrote,</b>

<b>Fluency through TPR, TPR Storyteller.</b>

<b>Now I'd heard something about TPR as</b>

<b>total physical response</b>

<b>and that was all I'd heard.</b>

<b>And but that was my mentor teachers</b>

<b>didn't know anything about it.</b>

<b>The teachers in the department at Texas</b>

<b>High didn't know anything about it.</b>

<b>So, you know, it wasn't ever mentioned.</b>

<b>So, so, yeah, that happened.</b>

<b>Then the army needed my services again.</b>

<b>So I had to go back</b>

<b>and we gave up that job.</b>

<b>That was there for</b>

<b>about a year in Texas High.</b>

<b>But yeah, and back to</b>

<b>that little green book.</b>

<b>The little green book</b>

<b>was in the classroom.</b>

<b>And I remember looking at it, flipping</b>

<b>the pages and like, okay, I can't set it</b>

<b>down because I'm a textbook teacher.</b>

<b>And so I did another year service with</b>

<b>the U.S. Army, came back and they'd</b>

<b>already hired somebody in</b>

<b>the position at Texas High,</b>

<b>which, you know, I understand that the</b>

<b>job safety measures that we</b>

<b>have in place and all that.</b>

<b>So we did because there was a job</b>

<b>position over in Arkansas High, which is</b>

<b>right across the border for two miles</b>

<b>because the texture can is in Twin City.</b>

<b>So, yeah.</b>

<b>So I went across the border, started</b>

<b>teaching at Arkansas High.</b>

<b>Arkansas High was also a textbook school.</b>

<b>And I taught there and I</b>

<b>taught there for about 10 years.</b>

<b>And like, as I was saying in our</b>

<b>pre-interview, you know, I taught that</b>

<b>book so much that I</b>

<b>have pages written right,</b>

<b>that I can tell you where this is at in</b>

<b>this book, where this particular word is,</b>

<b>what, you know, what section, what page,</b>

<b>what column right or left.</b>

<b>And then I left Arkansas High and I went</b>

<b>back to Texas and I taught at a small</b>

<b>school called D-CAB,</b>

<b>D-CAB High School,</b>

<b>Independent School District.</b>

<b>And it was also a textbook school.</b>

<b>So I'm like in my element, textbook, yay.</b>

<b>But it really wasn't working.</b>

<b>It's like, you could tell that the kids</b>

<b>were like, oh, my God, we're going to go</b>

<b>to this page, memorize this vocabulary,</b>

<b>do the activity, data, data.</b>

<b>And honestly, the kids weren't really</b>

<b>learning, I don't think, you know, they</b>

<b>were learning, but they</b>

<b>were just rote memorization.</b>

<b>And so every school that I went to, that</b>

<b>little green book by Blaine Ray was at,</b>

<b>somebody somewhere had went to one of his</b>

<b>things and picked up a copy.</b>

<b>But I don't know if they did anything</b>

<b>with it, but they left it</b>

<b>there in that classroom.</b>

<b>And so it was at D-CAB.</b>

<b>And then I was looking for</b>

<b>improvement and more salary.</b>

<b>Honestly, I was looking for more money,</b>

<b>as every teacher does.</b>

<b>We try to find those</b>

<b>opportunities to make more money.</b>

<b>And so there's a position in Memphis that</b>

<b>paid considerably more.</b>

<b>And so I was like, you</b>

<b>know what, let me go for it.</b>

<b>And so I interviewed and I got a job in</b>

<b>2018 in Memphis at Cordova</b>

<b>High School, where I am now.</b>

<b>When I got to Cordova, I discovered</b>

<b>really quickly that Memphis Shelby County</b>

<b>School District, we are a CI</b>

<b>district, not TPRS, but CI.</b>

<b>And so as well as they</b>

<b>understand what CI is.</b>

<b>And so there was a lot of me for that</b>

<b>first year at Cordova High School in</b>

<b>Memphis that I'm playing, teach Spanish</b>

<b>by the seat of my pants</b>

<b>because I don't have resources.</b>

<b>I don't have a textbook to refer to.</b>

<b>Now, we do have a curriculum guide here</b>

<b>in Memphis Shelby County Schools that</b>

<b>says it's divided into four units.</b>

<b>Unit one, unit two, etc., etc.</b>

<b>And specifically things that they want</b>

<b>level one students to</b>

<b>learn, level two, three, four.</b>

<b>And they do this curriculum guide for all</b>

<b>the languages taught in the district.</b>

<b>Everything from Spanish to Arabic and</b>

<b>Chinese and German and French.</b>

<b>And I'm trying to remember the other</b>

<b>languages that are taught.</b>

<b>There's several languages taught, at</b>

<b>least commonly taught languages.</b>

<b>But so it's a blanket curriculum guide.</b>

<b>And so you as a teacher, you get it and</b>

<b>you have to figure out like what language</b>

<b>do I need, what words and phrases and all</b>

<b>that do I need to teach to be able to,</b>

<b>you know, make them happy at the district</b>

<b>level that I'm teaching the curriculum.</b>

<b>And so that first year that I'm teaching</b>

<b>via the curriculum guide.</b>

<b>And there's a lot of</b>

<b>support in the district.</b>

<b>There was a lot of</b>

<b>support from the advisor.</b>

<b>Her name was Jane Davis at the time.</b>

<b>She's not going with us.</b>

<b>She since retired.</b>

<b>My department, I was I was just a teacher</b>

<b>at the time and I had a</b>

<b>lot of support from them.</b>

<b>They were great ladies and</b>

<b>they are still great ladies.</b>

<b>And but, you know, it was it was still a</b>

<b>bit miserable because I'm trying to make,</b>

<b>you know, I'm trying to make it work and</b>

<b>teach without a textbook.</b>

<b>And I had my first evaluation, which I</b>

<b>did not understand the system</b>

<b>that we use here in Tennessee.</b>

<b>And I didn't score very well on it.</b>

<b>And that bothered me because there's a</b>

<b>competitive side to me.</b>

<b>I want to be I want</b>

<b>to be a great teacher.</b>

<b>I want to be the best</b>

<b>possible teacher for my students.</b>

<b>And and so I didn't like that.</b>

<b>And then over the course of that year,</b>

<b>had a few more evaluations.</b>

<b>They were mediocre at best.</b>

<b>And so finally, spring break gets here.</b>

<b>And right before spring</b>

<b>break, we do we do the portfolio.</b>

<b>And the portfolio is where a selection of</b>

<b>of 12 of our students are chosen to</b>

<b>demonstrate their their speaking, their</b>

<b>reading, their writing and their</b>

<b>reflection piece on how, you know,</b>

<b>how well they understand the language.</b>

<b>And so I submitted that and had to wait</b>

<b>for the results to come that summer.</b>

<b>But then we went to spring break and over</b>

<b>spring break, I decided because, you</b>

<b>know, Blaine Ray's little</b>

<b>green book is in that classroom.</b>

<b>You know, it has it's there.</b>

<b>It's there.</b>

<b>I mean, that book has followed me.</b>

<b>It's I'm trying to, you know, it's like</b>

<b>it's just right there.</b>

<b>It's always in every</b>

<b>classroom that I've ever taught in.</b>

<b>I pick it up, I look at it's cute.</b>

<b>And I said about that down.</b>

<b>Well, that's spring break.</b>

<b>I said, you know what?</b>

<b>Let me take this sucker home and read</b>

<b>because I got to</b>

<b>figure out something out.</b>

<b>I got to make a change.</b>

<b>It's not working.</b>

<b>And I've done move my family from from</b>

<b>Southwest Arkansas and Northeast Texas</b>

<b>all the way to Memphis.</b>

<b>I've got to do something.</b>

<b>And and because I want to,</b>

<b>you know, it's a good job.</b>

<b>It's a great place to be.</b>

<b>And I read the book.</b>

<b>I said, you know what?</b>

<b>Let me try.</b>

<b>So I went on the TPR books.</b>

<b>I watched some videos online on YouTube.</b>

<b>I would be our books.</b>

<b>I got their first.</b>

<b>I got the resources there.</b>

<b>I got, you know, the</b>

<b>Spanish one resources.</b>

<b>I got the CD and</b>

<b>download the the PowerPoints.</b>

<b>And, you know, and it's great.</b>

<b>The system that Blaine Ray and Craig</b>

<b>Craig, she high and all them and Von Ray</b>

<b>created that there was all those</b>

<b>resources as a support resources.</b>

<b>And so we came back from spring break and</b>

<b>I looked at my kids and I said, OK, yeah.</b>

<b>So welcome back from spring break.</b>

<b>And I told him, I said, y'all, my</b>

<b>philosophy is this fourth quarter, you</b>

<b>know, we just got to make it till May</b>

<b>31st and we're out for the summer.</b>

<b>So I like to use fourth quarter as my</b>

<b>experimentation quarter.</b>

<b>I like to see, you know, let's let's try</b>

<b>something different.</b>

<b>So I want to teach via a story and I want</b>

<b>to teach you a story.</b>

<b>And I did, you know,</b>

<b>I did all the buy ins.</b>

<b>I did everything I went.</b>

<b>I found as many resources to help me</b>

<b>understand the process.</b>

<b>And so I started teaching and midway</b>

<b>through the story and I started teaching</b>

<b>that very, very first story, George,</b>

<b>George, George, George, George,</b>

<b>George, I did it in the past tense.</b>

<b>George wants to want to Coca-Cola.</b>

<b>And so I started teaching it.</b>

<b>And midway through the story, my kids</b>

<b>were a little bit annoyed.</b>

<b>And they were like,</b>

<b>they were like, Profe.</b>

<b>Why haven't you been</b>

<b>doing this this whole time?</b>

<b>This is we understand that this is easy.</b>

<b>We like this.</b>

<b>I'm like, I didn't know how.</b>

<b>And so and I was honest because my kids,</b>

<b>if you teach, if you're a teacher and you</b>

<b>teach in Memphis, you know</b>

<b>that Memphis kids are different.</b>

<b>The kids around the nation, I believe, in</b>

<b>that they can spot a fake a mile away and</b>

<b>and they will call you out on it.</b>

<b>And I didn't know how and I didn't want</b>

<b>to be fake with you guys.</b>

<b>And so they enjoyed</b>

<b>it and I kept doing it.</b>

<b>And the biggest grouch that the kids had</b>

<b>in the story that George wanted to</b>

<b>Coca-Cola and they couldn't figure out</b>

<b>why this boy wanted to Coca-Cola.</b>

<b>And it opened up the avenue to introduce</b>

<b>different vocabulary and different ideas.</b>

<b>And for example, we had George wanted</b>

<b>Coca-Cola because there was absolutely</b>

<b>nothing in the entire</b>

<b>state of California to drink.</b>

<b>There was a drought and</b>

<b>they enjoyed that element.</b>

<b>And the kids were we were</b>

<b>co-creating the story together.</b>

<b>We would get to a</b>

<b>point and kids like why?</b>

<b>And I said, tell me,</b>

<b>you'll give me an idea.</b>

<b>And so they gave me an idea.</b>

<b>And and so we'd add it to the story and</b>

<b>eventually that George story over the</b>

<b>course of that, you know, that quarter</b>

<b>became huge, became long.</b>

<b>And and and the kids were getting it and</b>

<b>they were speaking back.</b>

<b>And then we do like retails.</b>

<b>I would retell the story and just ask</b>

<b>them to close their eyes and listen to me</b>

<b>retell the story to ask.</b>

<b>And then, you know, I do a five finger</b>

<b>check, you know, five</b>

<b>fingers if you totally got it.</b>

<b>One finger.</b>

<b>I'm very, very frustrated.</b>

<b>I'm not getting it, et cetera, et cetera.</b>

<b>Three.</b>

<b>I could do it with help.</b>

<b>And so there was a</b>

<b>lot of threes and fours.</b>

<b>There's a couple of fives not.</b>

<b>And there were I think</b>

<b>maybe one one one finger kid.</b>

<b>And and he just simply had wasn't paying</b>

<b>attention and fell asleep or whatever.</b>

<b>So he missed out.</b>

<b>You're going to be frustrated.</b>

<b>You got to pay attention.</b>

<b>You got to buy in.</b>

<b>And but they enjoyed it.</b>

<b>And so we finished the George story.</b>

<b>And then we went into the many readers</b>

<b>where it was like this kid named Ed wants</b>

<b>pizza and his kid named</b>

<b>Rick wants wants a Xbox.</b>

<b>This boy named Bart wants a cat.</b>

<b>And since, excuse me, I get choked up.</b>

<b>And then this other boy</b>

<b>named Ben wants an igloo.</b>

<b>And we did those.</b>

<b>And the kids they were reading and they</b>

<b>were enjoying the heck out of it.</b>

<b>And so summer gets here.</b>

<b>So the end of the quarter.</b>

<b>Then we've had a successful quarter.</b>

<b>The grades have gone up.</b>

<b>The kids can do stuff.</b>

<b>They've enjoyed it.</b>

<b>And so summer gets here.</b>

<b>You know, we go on for the summer.</b>

<b>Well, that summer 2019, I had seen where</b>

<b>the there was a national TPRS conference</b>

<b>going to happen in Chicago.</b>

<b>And I said, you know what?</b>

<b>I'm going.</b>

<b>And I talked to a fellow teacher here at</b>

<b>the time here in Memphis.</b>

<b>Her name was Krishna.</b>

<b>Krishna Washburn and great lady.</b>

<b>Awesome teacher.</b>

<b>And she decided to go with me to the TPR</b>

<b>conference because she wanted to find out</b>

<b>more, too, because she we we</b>

<b>constantly talked about it.</b>

<b>She taught at another</b>

<b>school in the district.</b>

<b>And I would talk to her every day about</b>

<b>like what I was doing in my class or she</b>

<b>was doing that it up.</b>

<b>And she wanted to find out more.</b>

<b>And so we both went to the the TPRS</b>

<b>conference in Chicago.</b>

<b>And it was amazing.</b>

<b>It was 500 plus</b>

<b>people there at this hotel.</b>

<b>And I was just like, holy mess.</b>

<b>How these people do this?</b>

<b>Wow.</b>

<b>And it felt so awesome to be a part of</b>

<b>something like that.</b>

<b>And so I learned a lot.</b>

<b>I went to every every breakout session.</b>

<b>I went to Scott's breakout session.</b>

<b>I went to breakout session with Craig</b>

<b>Shehi, with Jeremy Jordan.</b>

<b>Like I'm meeting people that like I had</b>

<b>watched their videos on YouTube and use</b>

<b>their videos and YouTube in my classroom.</b>

<b>And I was like, oh, my</b>

<b>gosh, I was like fan.</b>

<b>I was fanboying out really badly.</b>

<b>It's like, oh, my God, that's you.</b>

<b>That's Jeremy Jordan.</b>

<b>And and it was a neat experience.</b>

<b>Speak with Blaine and everybody there.</b>

<b>And so I came back from that training and</b>

<b>the school year started and immediately</b>

<b>started teaching TPRS that day one that</b>

<b>we got back after I went through the</b>

<b>rules and procedures in the classroom.</b>

<b>I started teaching George</b>

<b>wants a cup of cola again.</b>

<b>And my kids from the previous year had</b>

<b>came by my classroom.</b>

<b>And when they came by my classroom, they</b>

<b>walked in and they were like,</b>

<b>they saw what we were doing.</b>

<b>They saw it projected on the wall.</b>

<b>There's George, that</b>

<b>and they were annoyed.</b>

<b>They were like, perfect.</b>

<b>What? Why are you</b>

<b>doing this with them now?</b>

<b>You made us wait to the end of the year.</b>

<b>And well, it's because</b>

<b>I didn't know how then.</b>

<b>And they were annoyed.</b>

<b>Like it's not fair.</b>

<b>We had to wait.</b>

<b>They need to wait.</b>

<b>I said, no, can you do that?</b>

<b>And so I knew my kids, my current kids,</b>

<b>the two thousand nineteen twenty kids,</b>

<b>they were like, what?</b>

<b>And but they had already bought in and we</b>

<b>were reading and we were doing our homework.</b>

<b>And we were reading and</b>

<b>we were doing all this.</b>

<b>And I had kids who they were</b>

<b>low level readers in English.</b>

<b>They were not very strong readers at all.</b>

<b>I had kids who were in those not so</b>

<b>stellar organizations outside of school.</b>

<b>We call them gangs.</b>

<b>They were in my classroom</b>

<b>and they were very hardcore.</b>

<b>And I would pair everybody up to read</b>

<b>with a partner, do some volleyball</b>

<b>reading back and forth.</b>

<b>And a lot of kids did not want to work</b>

<b>with those kids and be the partners</b>

<b>because either intimidated or whatever.</b>

<b>And so I was like, hey,</b>

<b>would you be my partner?</b>

<b>And to those kids and this one boy said</b>

<b>he said he was very reluctant to come up</b>

<b>and he and I started reading together.</b>

<b>And you could almost see like this light</b>

<b>bulb went off in his head that, oh, my</b>

<b>gosh, I can understand this.</b>

<b>This is easy. And there were other people</b>

<b>that were in his organization in the</b>

<b>classroom and they</b>

<b>were watching this happen.</b>

<b>And so the next time we decide to read</b>

<b>with a partner, like all these kids in</b>

<b>that group wanted to read with me and</b>

<b>like, can I read with it?</b>

<b>My big group will</b>

<b>say, yeah, sure, come on.</b>

<b>And so that became a good moment right</b>

<b>there in that, you know, the teaching</b>

<b>through reading and storytelling works.</b>

<b>It works so good.</b>

<b>Whatever that was.</b>

<b>But it works.</b>

<b>And those kids like they had better</b>

<b>grades in my class than they had in their</b>

<b>English class, which I always enjoy.</b>

<b>But they understood Spanish and and and</b>

<b>and it just went on.</b>

<b>And then sadly, unfortunately, we know we</b>

<b>had covid pop up in 1920.</b>

<b>And then so our district decided to</b>

<b>dismiss for, you know, for the end of the</b>

<b>for the second semester, we decided to</b>

<b>dismiss and go home and call it a wash.</b>

<b>That summer, we we did try to do a little</b>

<b>bit online material with the kiddos, with</b>

<b>Microsoft Teams and all that to varying</b>

<b>degrees as a district worked it out</b>

<b>because they needed to get laptops for</b>

<b>the kids because we were not a one to one</b>

<b>district at the time.</b>

<b>And then so the the</b>

<b>coming year, 20, 2021.</b>

<b>Yeah, we became a one to one district,</b>

<b>but we were doing that first bit of the</b>

<b>school year, you know, at home, you know,</b>

<b>asynchronous and that</b>

<b>are online learning.</b>

<b>And so I was teaching George via, you</b>

<b>know, via this platform and</b>

<b>and my TPR stories that way.</b>

<b>And also at the time, Blaine Ray</b>

<b>contacted me and asked if I wouldn't mind</b>

<b>teaching with them, teaching stories</b>

<b>online with them as well.</b>

<b>And so I would do my day job teaching my</b>

<b>kiddos, my current kids, and then at a</b>

<b>certain time, log in and start doing</b>

<b>stories with Blaine Ray.</b>

<b>I'm getting more and more training with</b>

<b>TPRS and I'm getting it</b>

<b>from the guy who created it.</b>

<b>And and and it's like it's wild.</b>

<b>And in like every opportunity I had to go</b>

<b>to a training, whether it was via Blaine</b>

<b>or via Vaughn or Craig or anybody,</b>

<b>Jeremy, you know, I would go to it.</b>

<b>And I'd get the certificates and I would</b>

<b>do everything I could to learn more</b>

<b>because, you know, like I said earlier, I</b>

<b>want to be the best teacher for my kids.</b>

<b>I want to be, you know, proficient so my</b>

<b>kids will do well. So ever since then.</b>

<b>My evaluations via the Tennessee system,</b>

<b>the Tim Rubrik, teaching effective</b>

<b>measure, teach effectiveness measure.</b>

<b>It went from that miserable score I had</b>

<b>my first year to I'm making fives.</b>

<b>It's it's it's five is the highest score</b>

<b>we can make and I'm making</b>

<b>fives and I'm not trying to brag.</b>

<b>It's just TPRS and the CI method,</b>

<b>especially the TPRS part of it, teaching</b>

<b>professional reading and storytelling.</b>

<b>It really leans into most of the teacher</b>

<b>evaluation methods and that if you do it</b>

<b>that way, if you follow the</b>

<b>formula, you do the process.</b>

<b>You as a teacher, you're going to score</b>

<b>extremely well on the rubric and whatever</b>

<b>rubric is because</b>

<b>it's involving the kids.</b>

<b>We do the gradual release of</b>

<b>responsibility, whereas I do it.</b>

<b>We do it. You do it with a partner and</b>

<b>then you finally you do it by yourself.</b>

<b>And all of that is that is straight up</b>

<b>like it's like the blame</b>

<b>rate model right there.</b>

<b>It's like that that TPRS model. You know,</b>

<b>it's like I'm going to</b>

<b>show you I want to model it.</b>

<b>I want to demonstrate the thing. You</b>

<b>know, there is a boy. There was a boy.</b>

<b>The boy is George. And</b>

<b>we're going to do it together.</b>

<b>I'm going to circle it. I'm going to ask</b>

<b>you all kinds of questions.</b>

<b>I want to ask you individually that will</b>

<b>triangle that question or</b>

<b>triangle that statement.</b>

<b>And then so the element that I had to</b>

<b>introduce and is is I wanted my kids to</b>

<b>ask each other questions.</b>

<b>So that was the you do together. And so I</b>

<b>created questions in that in that year.</b>

<b>I created questions and I</b>

<b>would display the questions.</b>

<b>I think I now want you to ask each other</b>

<b>questions based off</b>

<b>everything we know in the story.</b>

<b>And they loved it. They were you know,</b>

<b>they were asking questions back and forth</b>

<b>and they couldn't remember.</b>

<b>Can you go back to the story real quick?</b>

<b>And I'd flash back to</b>

<b>the whatever we read.</b>

<b>Let's get looking find it. OK, good. And</b>

<b>I go back. So now I</b>

<b>ask the question again.</b>

<b>And so they got the practice of asking</b>

<b>each other questions. And</b>

<b>it's it's grown in my practice.</b>

<b>It's grown to the point where I've got my</b>

<b>kids this year with with</b>

<b>no prompting on my part.</b>

<b>They are creating questions. And these</b>

<b>are level one Spanish kids.</b>

<b>And we're just we're in the eighth week</b>

<b>of the quarter for this year.</b>

<b>And these kids are asking questions of</b>

<b>me. They might be a few grammatical</b>

<b>errors in the question,</b>

<b>but you can understand what they're</b>

<b>trying to do with it.</b>

<b>They're trying to ask a question and</b>

<b>they're trying to create a question.</b>

<b>It's not just a rote memorized question</b>

<b>like what's your name,</b>

<b>et cetera, et cetera.</b>

<b>It's it's they're trying and it's neat to</b>

<b>hear because that's the effectiveness of</b>

<b>them learning via a story</b>

<b>and language in context.</b>

<b>Yeah. So sorry. Is that enough?</b>

<b>Yeah, that was amazing. I</b>

<b>will talk a lot about it.</b>

<b>Well, we can hear your enthusiasm and</b>

<b>that's what's really</b>

<b>really great to hear.</b>

<b>And I'll tell you a little bit about my</b>

<b>story because my story kind of mirrors a</b>

<b>little bit of what your story was.</b>

<b>Except I started in 2001 2001 right after</b>

<b>9 11. I started I started</b>

<b>late in the year October.</b>

<b>They were desperate need for another</b>

<b>teacher. They had too many students and</b>

<b>not enough teachers.</b>

<b>So they hired me part time</b>

<b>and it was not a C.I. school.</b>

<b>I didn't even know there was no C.I.</b>

<b>wasn't called that back then.</b>

<b>All there was was a text</b>

<b>book and it was all textbook.</b>

<b>I didn't know what TPRS was and they</b>

<b>threw me to the wolves.</b>

<b>I had no idea what I was doing. I was on</b>

<b>an emergency permit,</b>

<b>which means I had not gone through</b>

<b>teaching school yet.</b>

<b>I just had a bachelor's and so they let</b>

<b>me teach, which was a</b>

<b>mistake on their part,</b>

<b>because I had no idea what I was doing.</b>

<b>I walked into that class and I opened the</b>

<b>textbook and I just taught the way that I</b>

<b>was taught in my language</b>

<b>because I took high school French,</b>

<b>German and Spanish. And so and I sucked</b>

<b>at it. I was bored. They were bored.</b>

<b>We were both asleep in</b>

<b>the class. It was horrible.</b>

<b>I remember one of my students told me</b>

<b>goes I look like a scared</b>

<b>rabbit walking in that first day.</b>

<b>I was terrified in there. I</b>

<b>had no idea what I was doing.</b>

<b>I had no business being in</b>

<b>that classroom whatsoever.</b>

<b>And if they weren't desperately looking</b>

<b>for a teacher, I probably</b>

<b>would not have been hired.</b>

<b>As I said, it was a part time position.</b>

<b>There's only two periods, no</b>

<b>benefits, no very little pay.</b>

<b>So there weren't a high demand of</b>

<b>teachers trying to fill that position.</b>

<b>And then I was like you at the end of</b>

<b>that first semester</b>

<b>Christmas break, I was like,</b>

<b>this is not working. I cannot</b>

<b>do this for the next 30 years.</b>

<b>It's just not going to</b>

<b>work. So I found something.</b>

<b>I they put us in something called L.A.</b>

<b>Stars. I was teaching</b>

<b>in Los Angeles and Louie.</b>

<b>I think it's nice name was Anderson or I</b>

<b>forgot. I'm horrible at</b>

<b>names. So I apologize, Louie.</b>

<b>But he taught us a story in Quechua. And</b>

<b>I still remember parts of that story now.</b>

<b>You know, 25 years later, I remember</b>

<b>parts of the story and I</b>

<b>thought there's something to this.</b>

<b>But no one's explained to me</b>

<b>what TPRS was or what it was.</b>

<b>So I did some research. I found Blaine</b>

<b>Ray back then. And I had to</b>

<b>pay for everything myself.</b>

<b>I bought all the books that I could buy.</b>

<b>There was no trainings yet available.</b>

<b>I took my first training that summer and</b>

<b>second semester I went in, you know,</b>

<b>completely full fledged.</b>

<b>I jumped everything I had into it and it</b>

<b>was working. It was hard.</b>

<b>It was difficult for me.</b>

<b>We were in a textbook. We were in an old</b>

<b>textbook way back then.</b>

<b>And we were in the travel chapter. So I</b>

<b>went and found in Blaine Ray's books all</b>

<b>the travel stories that you</b>

<b>find and put them in there.</b>

<b>And I had to teach stupid words like</b>

<b>gaviota and aligas</b>

<b>marinas seaweed and seagull.</b>

<b>I mean, it's really high frequency words.</b>

<b>And it was but it was working.</b>

<b>And my principal told me he goes, I don't</b>

<b>know what you did between first semester</b>

<b>and second semester.</b>

<b>But you weren't on the track to be</b>

<b>rehired after first semester because it</b>

<b>just wasn't working.</b>

<b>But whatever you're doing now, keep doing</b>

<b>that because now you're on</b>

<b>the track to get rehired.</b>

<b>So just kind of like you and your</b>

<b>evaluations, mine went completely up and</b>

<b>it really wasn't me.</b>

<b>It was the method. And as I said, I</b>

<b>didn't even have any official training.</b>

<b>I joined the more TPRS list, which was</b>

<b>way back when what we had before the</b>

<b>Facebook groups that we have now.</b>

<b>That was the group that we did. I had</b>

<b>that. I had the TPRS books that we had</b>

<b>that I had bought in from Blaine Ray.</b>

<b>And I didn't get my first workshop until</b>

<b>that summer. And that</b>

<b>was with Karen Rowan.</b>

<b>And then the following summer I did it</b>

<b>with Susie Gross. And I didn't even go to</b>

<b>my first NTPRS until 2007 because in</b>

<b>California we did not get paid.</b>

<b>Well, you could get paid year round, but</b>

<b>I was getting paid so little they would</b>

<b>have to take like seven or eight hundred</b>

<b>dollars out of my</b>

<b>paycheck to pay for that summer.</b>

<b>And I couldn't afford that to pay my</b>

<b>rent. So it was very expensive. And so I</b>

<b>needed all that money.</b>

<b>So I had to work summer school during the</b>

<b>summertime to be able to</b>

<b>keep my finances going.</b>

<b>And it was always funny because a lot of</b>

<b>people in L.A. couldn't</b>

<b>do the year round either.</b>

<b>And so you'd see them. We our first</b>

<b>paycheck would come at the end of</b>

<b>September and they'd be all like brown</b>

<b>bag in it with little skimpy things.</b>

<b>We all lost a lot of weight before</b>

<b>October came. When that first check came,</b>

<b>we were all like, oh, we can eat again</b>

<b>because we were all</b>

<b>just for the struggle.</b>

<b>No struggle meals for real. Oh, yes.</b>

<b>Spread our salaries out. So I had a very</b>

<b>similar story to you. But I only did</b>

<b>textbook for one</b>

<b>semester and I stuck at it.</b>

<b>And I completely thought that. And after</b>

<b>that, I worked at TPRS schools all along.</b>

<b>Yeah, no, no, I was I was great at the</b>

<b>textbook thing. But when you get in an</b>

<b>environment where you don't have one,</b>

<b>you're like, what do I do?</b>

<b>And it was it was it was a you know, it</b>

<b>wasn't a difficult switch from textbook</b>

<b>to TPR, TPRS and CI.</b>

<b>At least for me. And I know everybody's</b>

<b>everybody's situation will</b>

<b>be a little bit different.</b>

<b>But if you embrace the story and just</b>

<b>relax and speak, I mean, I got to use I</b>

<b>got to stay in the target language more.</b>

<b>I get to stay in the target language more</b>

<b>as a as a as a TPRS, CI</b>

<b>teacher now than I ever have.</b>

<b>It's it's you know, ninety ninety ninety</b>

<b>to ninety five percent of</b>

<b>the time I'm in Spanish.</b>

<b>But the thing about it is a hundred</b>

<b>percent of it's comprehensible or</b>

<b>comprehended by the kids.</b>

<b>And and. And they enjoy</b>

<b>it. It's like I was Friday.</b>

<b>We're playing we're playing this</b>

<b>wonderful little game that I</b>

<b>discovered called Noes Huisto.</b>

<b>It's not fair. And there was a question</b>

<b>that came up and I saw the question.</b>

<b>And before I asked the question to the</b>

<b>kids, I prefaced it with</b>

<b>some background information and.</b>

<b>In Spanish and my kids</b>

<b>are like, they're tracking.</b>

<b>They're like, yes, we got</b>

<b>every detail you just said now.</b>

<b>OK, and now then I asked the question,</b>

<b>they knew the answer to the question.</b>

<b>And so it's being able to</b>

<b>stay in the target language.</b>

<b>And then so anyway, but yeah, a little</b>

<b>bit back like like how how</b>

<b>TPRS is coming to my school.</b>

<b>So I started doing TPRS and there's this</b>

<b>wonderful teacher down the hall from her</b>

<b>name is Javella Johnson.</b>

<b>She is she is my sister from another</b>

<b>mother. She's a great</b>

<b>she is rockin awesome.</b>

<b>She had always talked about when I</b>

<b>started doing TPRS, she was curious and</b>

<b>she had always wanted to try it.</b>

<b>But she always seen it as so much work.</b>

<b>And then she saw that out the way I was</b>

<b>doing it. And I guess she because she had</b>

<b>been to some trainings with</b>

<b>with Blaine there in Memphis.</b>

<b>And and I think back in the back in the</b>

<b>2000s earlier, earlier part, you know, a</b>

<b>few years ago, but she</b>

<b>thought it was just a lot of work.</b>

<b>And so I started showing her the way I</b>

<b>was doing and all this.</b>

<b>And she's like, OK. And then finally she</b>

<b>decided she's going to embrace it.</b>

<b>And she started trying to teach you. She</b>

<b>started teaching her first George story.</b>

<b>And it was like she came in. She came in</b>

<b>my room like David, it's magic.</b>

<b>It's like magic. The kids, they're</b>

<b>getting it. They're getting everything.</b>

<b>They understand it. It's like magic. And</b>

<b>and I know our world</b>

<b>language advisor at the time.</b>

<b>And as I said earlier, like Jane, Jane</b>

<b>Davis, she came to my</b>

<b>classroom as she was doing her</b>

<b>check on all the teachers in Memphis. She</b>

<b>gave them a classroom.</b>

<b>She started what I was</b>

<b>doing. She is not a fan of TPRs.</b>

<b>And and she does like CI,</b>

<b>but she's not a friend. TPRS.</b>

<b>And she said that doesn't go without</b>

<b>curriculum, but it does because</b>

<b>everything that's in our curriculum</b>

<b>guide, you can put in a story, you know,</b>

<b>and and that's how it works.</b>

<b>It's because you're telling the story,</b>

<b>you're creating</b>

<b>language, making it in context.</b>

<b>And I'm not having the kids memorize. My</b>

<b>name is your name is. His name is his</b>

<b>birthday is that it is.</b>

<b>But we're living in the story. And so</b>

<b>when the portfolio team came around</b>

<b>again, I made a five.</b>

<b>And then the first one, my first</b>

<b>portfolio was not a five. It was like a</b>

<b>three. It was an ugly three.</b>

<b>But I made a five. The next year, my next</b>

<b>portfolio made another five and another</b>

<b>five and another five because the kids</b>

<b>are able to use the language.</b>

<b>So and then as as Chevela started seeing</b>

<b>me do TPRS and she embraced</b>

<b>it, you know, it's kicking it.</b>

<b>So now we're going to the DLDs, the</b>

<b>district learning days and the kids.</b>

<b>And we're talking TPRS at the district</b>

<b>level. And so right now</b>

<b>we're going to do a book study.</b>

<b>And it's like it is a bit like pulling</b>

<b>teeth in our district to get change to</b>

<b>happen because the previous</b>

<b>lady, she was not a fan of TPRS.</b>

<b>But we've got new people in charge now.</b>

<b>And so letting them see the results.</b>

<b>The proof is in the pudding. And and so</b>

<b>we're doing a book</b>

<b>study on Blaine's book.</b>

<b>And and I told I told our new adviser, I</b>

<b>said, hey, if you want somebody to lead</b>

<b>the book study, hey, I'm your guy.</b>

<b>I can do it. I will lead it. And because</b>

<b>I'm I'm pushing it, it's</b>

<b>pushing so hard for it to happen.</b>

<b>And it's just so hopefully that will</b>

<b>happen very soon. But yeah, but there's a</b>

<b>lot of teachers who who understand</b>

<b>because I showed it like</b>

<b>one day at one of our DLDs.</b>

<b>We had some downtime or something</b>

<b>happening. And the presenter said, OK,</b>

<b>look, my stuff's not working with anybody</b>

<b>like to present anything.</b>

<b>And me being the guy that I am and I love</b>

<b>to volunteer. I said, yes. And I have my</b>

<b>laptop and let's give it</b>

<b>give me that HDMI cord.</b>

<b>Plugged it in. All right. And I started</b>

<b>teaching my first TPRS</b>

<b>lesson to a group of teachers and.</b>

<b>And I said, OK, look, I know the majority</b>

<b>of y'all are Spanish teachers.</b>

<b>Great. Love y'all. Who are my non-Spanish</b>

<b>teachers, my German teachers, my Chinese</b>

<b>teachers, my Arabic teachers that all of</b>

<b>y'all come to the</b>

<b>forward, come to the front.</b>

<b>And so I started teaching the George</b>

<b>story to non-Spanish speakers, to</b>

<b>non-Spanish teachers and</b>

<b>doing that whole TPR thing.</b>

<b>Now, mind you, I've had a couple of years</b>

<b>of training now and so I'm my</b>

<b>presentation is much better.</b>

<b>And like after I was done, they were</b>

<b>like, OK, we want to know</b>

<b>more. We want to know more.</b>

<b>And so I asked, you know, like, who would</b>

<b>like to know more? And and I got a lot of</b>

<b>feedback that, yes, we want to know more.</b>

<b>So it's trying to get them to push the</b>

<b>leadership to say, hey,</b>

<b>we want more training.</b>

<b>I mean, I would love to have have Blaine</b>

<b>have you have have all the people who can</b>

<b>do it come into Memphis and give our</b>

<b>district a good training.</b>

<b>And I think that's what we need to let</b>

<b>let our district see that</b>

<b>this is easy. This is magic.</b>

<b>And the kids will be much more engaged</b>

<b>because I want to build a program where</b>

<b>the kids, they're not just satisfied with</b>

<b>saying, OK, I've taken my</b>

<b>two years of world language.</b>

<b>I'm done. I want to push them to take</b>

<b>three years, four years to</b>

<b>go on into the AP program.</b>

<b>We have we're doing the</b>

<b>syllabi literacy in Tennessee.</b>

<b>And one of my goals is to get kids, more</b>

<b>kids, especially at Cordova High School,</b>

<b>taking the stamp test and earning their</b>

<b>their their their seal.</b>

<b>And so I think through TPRS and all that,</b>

<b>I think it's totally possible.</b>

<b>All the teachers and that's one of our</b>

<b>goals. That's one of our pushes at</b>

<b>Cordova High School.</b>

<b>Now, that being said, yeah, I am the</b>

<b>department head over</b>

<b>at Cordova High School.</b>

<b>And the way I became it is because I am</b>

<b>that guy that will volunteer and will</b>

<b>come up with new things.</b>

<b>The previous department head, she decided</b>

<b>that she wanted to go to</b>

<b>another school and teach.</b>

<b>And one day we're at a meeting and and</b>

<b>she announced that she was going to leave</b>

<b>and that we need a new department head</b>

<b>and everybody in the</b>

<b>department, there's seven teachers.</b>

<b>I'll point out David's going to be that.</b>

<b>And I'm like, wait, do I</b>

<b>get a decision in this?</b>

<b>And they were like, no. And but that's</b>

<b>who I am because they</b>

<b>know that I am that guy.</b>

<b>Like once I started, you know, started</b>

<b>with TPRS and and it just it relaxed me</b>

<b>and I'm much more, you know, forthcoming</b>

<b>with information and helping people out.</b>

<b>And so they appreciated that. So, yeah,</b>

<b>that's how we do that.</b>

<b>So I get to use that platform to push it</b>

<b>at the other schools.</b>

<b>And there's other schools in the district</b>

<b>where there's teachers</b>

<b>that spoke with the summer.</b>

<b>Who want to know more about TPRS and are</b>

<b>trying to teach it over at other schools,</b>

<b>teach that teach the method.</b>

<b>Since it's not a curriculum, but it's a</b>

<b>method and and and that's what I have to</b>

<b>get them understand.</b>

<b>This is not curriculum. TPRS is not a</b>

<b>curriculum. It's a method of teaching</b>

<b>that language and and it's</b>

<b>it's getting the kids to learn.</b>

<b>You can deal with</b>

<b>anything. And so there's teachers.</b>

<b>I've got I've got teacher friends who</b>

<b>have come to my class and in the</b>

<b>afternoons and we want no more.</b>

<b>And I show them how TPRS works and I've</b>

<b>gotten them to go to the trainings with</b>

<b>with Craig or with Blaine and and they're</b>

<b>starting to do TPRS</b>

<b>over at their schools.</b>

<b>So it's starting to grow in Memphis. It's</b>

<b>it's there. It's in its infancy.</b>

<b>I mean, I think it's probably it's the</b>

<b>sperm has met the egg stage,</b>

<b>but it's it's it's growing.</b>

<b>And the thing about it is it's the neat</b>

<b>thing is how well the kids</b>

<b>and that's what it's about.</b>

<b>It's the kids and how well they</b>

<b>understand the language and</b>

<b>they can figure out stuff.</b>

<b>And it's all the incidental vocabulary</b>

<b>that they learn</b>

<b>through reading the story.</b>

<b>And it's words that I haven't taught, but</b>

<b>they figure it out as</b>

<b>they're reading it in context.</b>

<b>And like it's everything that that</b>

<b>Krashen talks about in all of his stuff</b>

<b>as how effective it is that somebody will</b>

<b>learn 10 times faster through reading</b>

<b>than they will listen to some old teacher</b>

<b>talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.</b>

<b>And so my parents appreciated like during</b>

<b>parent teacher conferences.</b>

<b>I'm that teacher that that I will bribe</b>

<b>my kids to have their parents come in.</b>

<b>It's like if you if your parent comes to</b>

<b>parent teacher conference to see me, you</b>

<b>get a free 100 in power school.</b>

<b>And so these kids will pile it. I mean,</b>

<b>parents for days and like nobody else in</b>

<b>the building has parents coming like, why</b>

<b>do you have like 25 parents last night?</b>

<b>Well, they like me. So</b>

<b>don't tell them your secret.</b>

<b>It's in this. It's the</b>

<b>secret sauce. It's in the recipe.</b>

<b>And so anyway, these parents come like</b>

<b>one night the parents came in and it was</b>

<b>a large group of parents.</b>

<b>And typically I try to meet individually.</b>

<b>But you know what? Heck, that night is</b>

<b>largely because I have come on in.</b>

<b>You don't have a seat. And it wasn't like</b>

<b>I wasn't going to talk about it like your</b>

<b>kid is your kid has a bad</b>

<b>grade because they did it.</b>

<b>No, I just want to meet the parents. Let</b>

<b>them know. So you'll</b>

<b>come on in and have a seat.</b>

<b>So you've heard about me. I'm David Rice.</b>

<b>Nice to meet you. This is</b>

<b>how I'm teaching your kid.</b>

<b>And I started teaching the parents the</b>

<b>George story or whatever story we was</b>

<b>working on at the time.</b>

<b>And I'm going to use the George story as</b>

<b>my go to. That's the story I thought.</b>

<b>And the parents were like, what? I get</b>

<b>this. This is easy. And</b>

<b>so the parents understood.</b>

<b>So the feedback from my parents is</b>

<b>they're happy that the kids understand.</b>

<b>And they realize like he makes it easy.</b>

<b>How do you have a bad grade? Oh, you're</b>

<b>not doing the work. OK.</b>

<b>And so it's I mean, it's that it's it's I</b>

<b>showed the parents like how easy the</b>

<b>material is and how effective this is.</b>

<b>So if you don't. And I do like that one</b>

<b>thing that I read in Blaine's book, like</b>

<b>not every it's not going to work for</b>

<b>everyone type thing for the kid.</b>

<b>But because the kids has a buy in and</b>

<b>it's about reducing that effective filter</b>

<b>and letting the kid understand like how</b>

<b>easy it's so scaffolded.</b>

<b>You start with that one sentence. There</b>

<b>is a boy and add to it.</b>

<b>The boy is George. Add to it.</b>

<b>George is in California. Add to it. Keep</b>

<b>adding. Keep adding. As you've gone over</b>

<b>and asked like 10</b>

<b>questions about that one statement.</b>

<b>And it just it scaffolds it up so well so</b>

<b>that when you hand them a story to read,</b>

<b>you know, they might be like, oh, my</b>

<b>gosh, it's a pretty long story.</b>

<b>I can handle it and they can read it. And</b>

<b>so it builds that up. And so it does. It</b>

<b>helps the kids become not so resistant</b>

<b>and much more</b>

<b>comfortable with the process.</b>

<b>And so they understand everything. So my</b>

<b>kids from I would say that my kids know</b>

<b>way more now than my kids that I taught a</b>

<b>few years ago, textbook</b>

<b>wise, no way more like.</b>

<b>I will get kids from other school from</b>

<b>other schools and I'm not downing. I'm</b>

<b>not I'm not, you know, calling out that</b>

<b>teacher that taught</b>

<b>that child or whatever.</b>

<b>But they'll come into my class and</b>

<b>they're like over when they're like,</b>

<b>whoa, y'all know so much more than we do</b>

<b>or that that it does.</b>

<b>And I said, yeah, just relax. Like I got</b>

<b>a new student Friday. She's a great young</b>

<b>lady. I enjoyed talking to her.</b>

<b>And I said, just relax. And even my kids</b>

<b>in class said they even looked at her and</b>

<b>said, OK, look, just</b>

<b>relax. It's going to be OK.</b>

<b>You'll be lost a little bit at first.</b>

<b>You'll catch it. You'll get it really</b>

<b>fast. And so and these are my kids saying</b>

<b>this and not just me.</b>

<b>I'm saying it's true. You will. You will</b>

<b>get this. I kind of back them up on it.</b>

<b>And so Monday, we're going to tomorrow,</b>

<b>we're going to start our first story.</b>

<b>She's going to start her first story and</b>

<b>it's going to be Bart wanted a cat. I'm</b>

<b>going to do it in the</b>

<b>past tense with them.</b>

<b>And these are level one kiddos. And that</b>

<b>was one thing that the the previous</b>

<b>district adviser didn't like is because I</b>

<b>was teaching stories to</b>

<b>Spanish one kiddos in the past.</b>

<b>I was adding elements of the subjunctive</b>

<b>in it. And because it was language, it's</b>

<b>you know, how do we speak language?</b>

<b>We don't like, OK, I'm going to have a</b>

<b>conversation with you today and it's all</b>

<b>going to be in the present tense. No, you</b>

<b>know, we intermix tenses and moods.</b>

<b>And and and all of that is in a</b>

<b>conversation in context. And so she came</b>

<b>in and she saw me teaching the past.</b>

<b>And she said, wait, this past tense is</b>

<b>not taught to Spanish to my what. No,</b>

<b>it's not here now. My kids understand it.</b>

<b>They can tell you Chico, the new kids,</b>

<b>the boy was 15 years old now.</b>

<b>He's 45, et cetera, et cetera.</b>

<b>That's a big jump in age. But that that</b>

<b>they can I mean, they can get it.</b>

<b>And so they can handle it so long as it's</b>

<b>in context and it makes sense if it's</b>

<b>just abstractly, you know, like we're</b>

<b>going to do the imperfect tense today.</b>

<b>That's going to we don't even teach the</b>

<b>imperfect tense like in those terms of</b>

<b>those terms in English class, we don't</b>

<b>teach grammar in English class.</b>

<b>So why would you teach grammar in a world</b>

<b>language class? I mean, yeah, I get it.</b>

<b>As if you're if you're going to become a</b>

<b>Spanish teacher or a word language</b>

<b>teacher, you do you do need</b>

<b>to know those grammar terms.</b>

<b>That would be great. But</b>

<b>let that happen at college.</b>

<b>Let that happen to university right now</b>

<b>as a learner. You're a level one kiddo.</b>

<b>You don't need to know how to conjugate</b>

<b>500 different verbs. No, you know, it's</b>

<b>you don't need to know like like I'm</b>

<b>introducing like in the stories now,</b>

<b>like, you know, thanks to chat GPT, I can</b>

<b>take a story like one of the stories, one</b>

<b>of the TPR stories, and I can kind of</b>

<b>expand it a little</b>

<b>bit with chat and like.</b>

<b>The most recent story, it's got a couple</b>

<b>elements of the subjunctive in it and I</b>

<b>which there might be a Coca</b>

<b>Cola in New York and my kids.</b>

<b>They didn't blink at it as they were</b>

<b>reading it. And the statement when you</b>

<b>know it's possible that there might be a</b>

<b>Coca Cola in New York and and you know, I</b>

<b>suppose he got a Coca Cola in New York.</b>

<b>And my kids, they didn't blink at it.</b>

<b>They read it and understood it and say,</b>

<b>what's I they didn't care because they</b>

<b>understood it. It made sense.</b>

<b>You know, like I think the thing was the</b>

<b>the the the sentence that I added in the</b>

<b>story is recreated in</b>

<b>light like, you know, the boy.</b>

<b>The boy is hopeful that his friend, his</b>

<b>friend's friend has a Coca Cola in</b>

<b>Atlanta or whatever. Right. So there's</b>

<b>going to be Tenga and it's</b>

<b>going to be more subjunctive.</b>

<b>They're not blinking at it. They didn't</b>

<b>ask what it might be. They just read and</b>

<b>understood it. And that's language.</b>

<b>Language should be like</b>

<b>that. It's not compartmentalized.</b>

<b>I must teach you sales. I must teach you,</b>

<b>you know, if you see, oh, hello, that I</b>

<b>don't know. I don't know about that. I'm</b>

<b>just going to do it. You'll see.</b>

<b>You match it up. How do you learn Spanish</b>

<b>if you were born into that community as</b>

<b>you hear it? Absolutely. I</b>

<b>mean, does that make sense?</b>

<b>Absolutely. Great. You're great</b>

<b>explanations. I love what you're talking</b>

<b>about. We have a</b>

<b>question here from Carina.</b>

<b>If I'm just starting out, what one</b>

<b>resource should I start with? I can get</b>

<b>easily overwhelmed as we all can. Do you</b>

<b>have a suggestion for I know what you're</b>

<b>going to say, but go ahead.</b>

<b>OK. Hey, Carina. Great question. And that</b>

<b>was me a few years ago.</b>

<b>Best thing I can tell you to do is and</b>

<b>I'm not trying to plug any product by no</b>

<b>means. And I think, you know, he's got</b>

<b>already says like, yeah, I kind of where</b>

<b>he's going to go is I would go to either</b>

<b>like either a immediate</b>

<b>immersion or TPRS books.</b>

<b>Look at their product line and like,</b>

<b>look, I'm going to show it. There's my</b>

<b>camera. See this book.</b>

<b>This is the green Bible. OK.</b>

<b>This one is the seventh edition. It's a</b>

<b>big, thick one. They've got another one.</b>

<b>It's eighth edition. And Brian Reyes came</b>

<b>out with another one called TPRS 2.0.</b>

<b>Those two books start</b>

<b>reading them and and and.</b>

<b>And just try to apply it if you get one</b>

<b>of their if you go to TPRS books and by</b>

<b>no means, this is not sponsored that.</b>

<b>I'm sorry, I have a lot of friends who</b>

<b>are influencers and they say that when</b>

<b>they're doing their</b>

<b>stuff. It's not sponsored.</b>

<b>But if you go there in whatever language</b>

<b>you get, go to the online portal or</b>

<b>whatever and just get like</b>

<b>the the free starter thing.</b>

<b>And it comes with it's a neat thing. It</b>

<b>comes with a teacher guide. And the</b>

<b>teacher guide is well laid out in that,</b>

<b>you know, it's going</b>

<b>to talk about circling.</b>

<b>It's going to try and it will give you</b>

<b>starter questions to ask and to ease your</b>

<b>way through it. Right.</b>

<b>Step by step process.</b>

<b>You will not get overwhelmed if you just</b>

<b>go step by step one question at a time.</b>

<b>You won't get overwhelmed.</b>

<b>That's my biggest fear when I start out</b>

<b>doing stuff is I don't</b>

<b>want to be overwhelmed.</b>

<b>But if you'll be very, very methodical</b>

<b>with it, you'll be OK. And your kids will</b>

<b>respond and they will do so well at it.</b>

<b>The the I know I know that that Scott has</b>

<b>his one words, his one verb stories,</b>

<b>which I like. I got those and I've used</b>

<b>and I've got another</b>

<b>teacher friend in my department.</b>

<b>She's doing TPRS now with the kids and</b>

<b>she uses those with</b>

<b>her kids. And so, yeah.</b>

<b>Whatever resource, just a little bit at a</b>

<b>time, you know, just an ask questions.</b>

<b>Start one sentence at a time. Circle it,</b>

<b>you know, ask the whole class, you know,</b>

<b>you know, yes, no, maybe so answers and</b>

<b>then triangle that next question.</b>

<b>That statement with a bunch of kids, ask</b>

<b>so much questions. Just one kid at a time</b>

<b>and then move on. But, you know, don't</b>

<b>spend a lot of time.</b>

<b>Does that make sense?</b>

<b>Did I help you?</b>

<b>Absolutely. And I was just going to add</b>

<b>some other. So, yes, there's TPRS books</b>

<b>has got that's the originator Blaine Ray</b>

<b>and his materials have come a long way.</b>

<b>He's got the slides that will help you</b>

<b>walk you through step by step by step.</b>

<b>Somos is another one that's by Martina</b>

<b>Bex and you can get that at</b>

<b>comprehensibleclassroom.com.</b>

<b>A slow start. And these are older books,</b>

<b>but I still recommend them.</b>

<b>Is I'll put them up here. TPRS in a year</b>

<b>at Ben Slavic.com. I like that one</b>

<b>because it's one step that you work on</b>

<b>and you master and then you move on to</b>

<b>the next step. So he does</b>

<b>it. He breaks it down that.</b>

<b>And in a year you'll get really good at</b>

<b>it. And then I did not understand PQA at</b>

<b>all when it first came out when they</b>

<b>talked about it. I didn't understand it.</b>

<b>They never demoed it in a demonstration.</b>

<b>They went right to the story.</b>

<b>So I skipped that step for many, many</b>

<b>years. My first five years. I skipped it</b>

<b>until I got another Ben Slavic book</b>

<b>called PQA and a wink. And then I</b>

<b>understood what it was.</b>

<b>That's where the term circling with balls</b>

<b>comes from. I learned so much from that</b>

<b>and I hate using terms that you have to</b>

<b>explain what they are</b>

<b>before you can do them.</b>

<b>And so PQA, triangling, circling, they're</b>

<b>not easily identifiable or what do we</b>

<b>call it? They're not. And there's a word</b>

<b>I'm forgetting and I can't think of right</b>

<b>off the top of my head right now.</b>

<b>But they're not obvious to what they're</b>

<b>doing. You have to explain those. So I</b>

<b>like to like call PQA. It's just a</b>

<b>conversation with a kid. It's that why</b>

<b>come up with a whole new word. It's just</b>

<b>a conversation and triangling is</b>

<b>interviewing the characters.</b>

<b>Why come up with a whole new word for it</b>

<b>to go around there and circling is just</b>

<b>asking scaffold of differentiated</b>

<b>questions. So I hate making up words that</b>

<b>you have to explain to</b>

<b>forget people to understand.</b>

<b>But those are great recommendations. And</b>

<b>I do like how Blaine in his newer books</b>

<b>and his PowerPoints, how he is breaking</b>

<b>it down step by step by step, where we</b>

<b>used to do things we used to do seven</b>

<b>steps all in one class period when I</b>

<b>started with the</b>

<b>original TPRS with seven steps.</b>

<b>And I don't know how we all did it, but</b>

<b>we did it in the beginning. And now it's</b>

<b>down to three steps. And now he's broken</b>

<b>it down in those PowerPoints.</b>

<b>So if you really need it broken down step</b>

<b>by step by step for you, then the books</b>

<b>at TPRS books would be the best option</b>

<b>there, as David has been telling you.</b>

<b>That's where that</b>

<b>George story comes from.</b>

<b>And they've got all the PowerPoints.</b>

<b>You've just got to put the words to it.</b>

<b>And a couple of things I want to add</b>

<b>that, you know, he was talking about, you</b>

<b>know, you're talking about how much</b>

<b>Spanish that you're</b>

<b>using in your classroom now.</b>

<b>And I had a kid who came from my class</b>

<b>and moved to a different district and</b>

<b>said, profane, your class, we spoke</b>

<b>Spanish with a little bit of English. But</b>

<b>now I'm in a class that we speak English</b>

<b>with a little bit of Spanish, because</b>

<b>really the only Spanish or language that</b>

<b>would come out would be like reading the</b>

<b>instructions out of the textbook, because</b>

<b>it would all be</b>

<b>instructing in the language.</b>

<b>And so that was a big aha moment. And</b>

<b>then another one, I told David that many</b>

<b>years ago, I did a workshop in Memphis.</b>

<b>I've only done one workshop in Memphis,</b>

<b>but I did a couple in Nashville. And I</b>

<b>did one in Nashville.</b>

<b>It was really a fun one. It didn't start</b>

<b>out fun. I do my demos in German. That</b>

<b>was my major, but I've lost a lot of my</b>

<b>German because I don't get</b>

<b>to use it. I teach Spanish.</b>

<b>So I lose a lot of my German and I'm</b>

<b>always freaking out when I have German</b>

<b>teachers in the room when I do my</b>

<b>demonstration, because number one, I'm</b>

<b>going to make mistakes and</b>

<b>they're going to point them out.</b>

<b>And number two, they don't get to feel</b>

<b>the whole experience because they already</b>

<b>know the language. And I had this one</b>

<b>German, she was from Germany.</b>

<b>And the first thing she did was criticize</b>

<b>my German question word posters saying</b>

<b>they're not capitalized. And I'm like,</b>

<b>well, they're not in the</b>

<b>sentence and they're not nouns.</b>

<b>So they wouldn't normally be capitalized</b>

<b>just being a word out there. And I</b>

<b>thought, oh, this is going to be a fun</b>

<b>workshop. She's going to nitpick my</b>

<b>German the whole way through.</b>

<b>So I was like, this is going to be great.</b>

<b>But at the end, she was dragged along.</b>

<b>There was a young teacher in there who is</b>

<b>a German teacher as well. She dragged her</b>

<b>along to this conference.</b>

<b>She didn't really want to go.</b>

<b>So we did this workshop. It was a three</b>

<b>day workshop. But at the end, she was</b>

<b>transformed at the beginning of that</b>

<b>workshop. She said, I'm on my way out. I</b>

<b>hate kids. I hate teaching now. It's</b>

<b>changed so much. I am retiring. I am out.</b>

<b>And then at the end, she goes, I think I</b>

<b>can do this for five or 10 more years.</b>

<b>This is amazing at what they can do. And</b>

<b>so it is can be a life changing event.</b>

<b>And then she went back</b>

<b>to her school district.</b>

<b>I think it's Clark school. I don't know</b>

<b>something I Clark, I think I remember in</b>

<b>there in the name of the school district.</b>

<b>But they asked her to be the</b>

<b>ambassador for TPRS back then.</b>

<b>And this was probably maybe seven, eight</b>

<b>years ago. And she just fell in love with</b>

<b>it and got a whole new lease on teaching</b>

<b>German. And her kids were liking her</b>

<b>better. She was liking her kids better.</b>

<b>It makes it so much.</b>

<b>It's a whole change in the way that</b>

<b>you're thinking. They always quote,</b>

<b>there's 4% kids can learn from a textbook</b>

<b>and they end up being</b>

<b>language teachers most of the time.</b>

<b>But if you take 4% of a class of 30, it's</b>

<b>less than one kid. And what do you think</b>

<b>if if your supervisors knew that you were</b>

<b>only teaching to one kid of the classroom</b>

<b>to the exclusion to the other 29 in the</b>

<b>classroom, they would</b>

<b>say that's bad teaching.</b>

<b>But we are in this textbook because we've</b>

<b>always had a textbook or we need some</b>

<b>scaffolding for ourselves to be able to</b>

<b>teach a structure to be able to teach</b>

<b>when we don't need that kind of stuff.</b>

<b>And we actually hit more people as</b>

<b>David's shown with his kids.</b>

<b>We hit more people when we leave that</b>

<b>textbook behind and think about it too</b>

<b>from the really basic level going, you</b>

<b>know, taking crashes ideas and thinking</b>

<b>about it. No parent in the history of</b>

<b>parenting has ever brought out a textbook</b>

<b>to teach the language to their kids.</b>

<b>What have they done? They have kept</b>

<b>finger where my fingers supposed to go.</b>

<b>Where is it? Here is sing to your kids.</b>

<b>You talk to your kids. You read to your</b>

<b>kids. Those are the things that you do.</b>

<b>And in California, it's</b>

<b>called the first five.</b>

<b>You're supposed to do this with your kids</b>

<b>to get them ready for kindergarten. Sing,</b>

<b>talk and read, which is exactly what TPRS</b>

<b>and CI is all about. And look, all of</b>

<b>they have teach parents</b>

<b>have a zero failure rate.</b>

<b>There is not a single kid unless they</b>

<b>have a major brain issue that doesn't</b>

<b>learn language. They have a zero failure</b>

<b>rate. There is not a single kid getting</b>

<b>an F in from their parents</b>

<b>from learning a language.</b>

<b>But when we go to school, they try to</b>

<b>teach us a whole nother way and unnatural</b>

<b>way to teach language. And TPRS is just</b>

<b>one method of CI. There's lots of</b>

<b>different ways approaches to CI, but</b>

<b>using CI to actually.</b>

<b>Get back to that natural way of learning</b>

<b>language, the way that actually works and</b>

<b>is foolproof. So if you can just talk to</b>

<b>your kids in the target language, even</b>

<b>Karina, if you've had no training, you</b>

<b>just talk to your kids and make sure that</b>

<b>you're being understandable.</b>

<b>You're going to win. And I know Blaine</b>

<b>and everybody talks about staying in</b>

<b>bounds and I am the out of bounds</b>

<b>teacher. I have never stayed in bounds in</b>

<b>my life because I used to teach only</b>

<b>exclusively level one.</b>

<b>And on day one, everything's out of</b>

<b>bounds. So for me, I found a way to get</b>

<b>around that and my kids develop a lot</b>

<b>faster because I'm not keeping this to</b>

<b>like core six words of vocabulary.</b>

<b>I'm expanding. I do make sure it's</b>

<b>comprehensible. And how do I do that? I</b>

<b>don't stop my language by translating</b>

<b>myself because then the kids</b>

<b>always wait for the English.</b>

<b>I will put up. OK, Karina, thank you so</b>

<b>much. You're so welcome. It'll be</b>

<b>recorded so you can watch the recording</b>

<b>if you'd like to catch up on</b>

<b>the end. So thank you so much.</b>

<b>She says this is helpful and</b>

<b>inspirational. Gotta run now.</b>

<b>So. I put the words up on the board. So</b>

<b>as I'm talking and I put up a new word</b>

<b>that I need to tell a story,</b>

<b>I'll put it up on the board.</b>

<b>I know David talked about having a</b>

<b>drought in California. That's why he</b>

<b>needed to drink Coca-Cola. Well, drought</b>

<b>is not a word in that my</b>

<b>kids would know or ever know.</b>

<b>But I need that word to tell the story.</b>

<b>So I would put drought up on the board</b>

<b>and I put the translation up there. I</b>

<b>would point to it.</b>

<b>This is a throwaway word.</b>

<b>I don't expect my kids to ever remember</b>

<b>this word. They just need it in the</b>

<b>moment to be able to understand the story</b>

<b>and that you don't lose them.</b>

<b>And I do the subjunctive just like you,</b>

<b>David. All the kids want to know is what</b>

<b>does the word mean? And if it's close</b>

<b>enough to the word they</b>

<b>already know, it doesn't phase them.</b>

<b>If it's completely new, then you put it</b>

<b>up on the board. But I is not much</b>

<b>different from I. So if they already know</b>

<b>I, they're not going to</b>

<b>even hear the endings.</b>

<b>You know, Crashing and Bill Van Patten</b>

<b>say kids, especially American kids,</b>

<b>because we don't have endings, don't hear</b>

<b>the endings. They only hear</b>

<b>the root part of the verb.</b>

<b>So they're only hearing I anyway. So they</b>

<b>don't phase over. They don't get upset or</b>

<b>frustrated because they didn't hear that</b>

<b>exact word before. The endings come much</b>

<b>later for them to understand.</b>

<b>And I love the way that you're talking</b>

<b>about how you're getting your kids to</b>

<b>understand and enjoy the stories and</b>

<b>enjoy being in class.</b>

<b>It's so, so very important.</b>

<b>Yeah. Oh, and on the on the throwaway</b>

<b>words. So I've got this one student this</b>

<b>year, and she has introduced a new</b>

<b>concept to her class.</b>

<b>And it's a large class with 35 kids in</b>

<b>the class, but it's a new concept. And</b>

<b>she started it. And it's random. She</b>

<b>calls it random vocabulary.</b>

<b>And she's got a whole page, a notebook</b>

<b>page. It's actually a couple now that's</b>

<b>just random words that I'll throw up on</b>

<b>the board. And so she's not going to</b>

<b>throw them away. She's</b>

<b>going to hold on to them.</b>

<b>And it started that list of vocabulary,</b>

<b>those random words, those ayas and those</b>

<b>sakias and all that, all the droughts and</b>

<b>all those. They have started spreading</b>

<b>across the classroom.</b>

<b>And like they're sharing that vocabulary.</b>

<b>So they're all pulling out going, oh,</b>

<b>that one. And they're trying to use it.</b>

<b>And so it's not because it's like, you</b>

<b>know, one man's trash is</b>

<b>another man's treasure.</b>

<b>And so, yeah, there you go. Good deal.</b>

<b>One, I was going to give you one idea</b>

<b>that I got from Karen Rowan, and it's</b>

<b>really great. I use this for my kids who</b>

<b>lack focus, who have to really focus.</b>

<b>I'll give them some kind of really absurd</b>

<b>word that is like really off the wall.</b>

<b>And their job is to find a logical place</b>

<b>to get that word into the story.</b>

<b>Oh, so like meatball, you know, where</b>

<b>does that come from? But I give that one.</b>

<b>I've done belly button. They</b>

<b>have to find a way to get it.</b>

<b>Can't just throw it out and just make it.</b>

<b>It's got to you've got to find a logical</b>

<b>way to get this word in</b>

<b>there. So I'll give them the word.</b>

<b>I'll give them the definition. And then I</b>

<b>give them the little paper and I go, so</b>

<b>you got to focus and you got to get this</b>

<b>word somewhere in my</b>

<b>story somewhere along the way.</b>

<b>And I don't let them just get it in</b>

<b>easily. They'll say, oh, he wants a</b>

<b>meatball on his salad. No, no, no, no,</b>

<b>no. That was way too easy.</b>

<b>So I'll say no. And I'll turn that down</b>

<b>to make him focus a little bit more to</b>

<b>find a way to get the meatball in there</b>

<b>or something in there.</b>

<b>I got that from Karen Rowan. I really</b>

<b>like that. And I use that. I'll hand</b>

<b>these little cards out with these words</b>

<b>when I'm greeting my kids at the door to</b>

<b>have them, you know, especially I give</b>

<b>out five, five a day to my kids that I</b>

<b>know that lack focus, whether they are</b>

<b>through ADHD kids or the kids who like to</b>

<b>chat with their neighbors too much or</b>

<b>whatever it might be where they're not</b>

<b>going to be paying attention to me.</b>

<b>I give them these words to help them stay</b>

<b>focused because now they've got a goal.</b>

<b>Their goal by the end of the period is</b>

<b>and if they can get that word to work in</b>

<b>naturally, I give them candy. You talk</b>

<b>about bribing your kids. I bribed them</b>

<b>with candy. So to do that. And I've also</b>

<b>bribed my kids on parent teacher night.</b>

<b>We do parent teacher night different in</b>

<b>my school now. But before when it was me,</b>

<b>I used to teach the story</b>

<b>to my parents every night.</b>

<b>And I said, if your parent volunteers to</b>

<b>act in my story, I would give you a get</b>

<b>out, get out of a drop of quiz pass.</b>

<b>That's what I would do. So the kids would</b>

<b>because I was so terrified. I wouldn't</b>

<b>get parents to volunteer. I needed</b>

<b>parents to volunteer to do the story.</b>

<b>So I needed at least four parents. So I</b>

<b>said, if you bring your parents in and</b>

<b>they volunteer to act, then you get this</b>

<b>coupon. And it was amazing because I got</b>

<b>the parents to raise their hands. And so</b>

<b>I got enough people to do it. And it was</b>

<b>that was a good thing. So bribing does</b>

<b>does absolutely work. Absolutely.</b>

<b>Well, we're at our time. Do you have any</b>

<b>final words you'd like to say, David?</b>

<b>No, I think I've talked enough.</b>

<b>Okay.</b>

<b>I mean, I don't know. Like, I mean, the</b>

<b>biggest takeaway is I think of is TPRS,</b>

<b>the whole process that blank came up with</b>

<b>it works. And like, it works. And it's so</b>

<b>it's so it's so blank,</b>

<b>blank word effective.</b>

<b>Yeah. And it is so effective. It's such an</b>

<b>effective method. And my kids enjoy</b>

<b>learning. I enjoy going to class and</b>

<b>teaching. I take great pleasure in</b>

<b>tweaking my PowerPoint every every summer</b>

<b>to make it a little bit nicer for them.</b>

<b>Or like today, prior to this, I was</b>

<b>tweaking tomorrow's lesson to make sure</b>

<b>my PowerPoint slides long. And so they're</b>

<b>getting it. So I'm scaffolding with them.</b>

<b>Yeah, it's yeah, it's it's the best</b>

<b>method ever. It's it's saved my career.</b>

<b>It saved mine too. And I agree. And I</b>

<b>think it's most engaging and more fun for</b>

<b>kids. Right now, I'm at a school where I</b>

<b>am the only CI teacher.</b>

<b>I took this job because I trained this</b>

<b>school in CI. So when I took this job, I</b>

<b>was gonna move from middle school to high</b>

<b>school, I thought they were a CI school</b>

<b>until I got there and then realize that</b>

<b>they're not a CI school, they did not</b>

<b>keep with the method.</b>

<b>So I'm the only one. And so we've got</b>

<b>this textbook. And so I just find ways to</b>

<b>take my textbook because people keep</b>

<b>saying TPRS is not a curriculum. It is a</b>

<b>methodology. And I can apply it to</b>

<b>anything. So I can take that vocab I have</b>

<b>to teach in the grammar, I</b>

<b>have to teach in my textbook.</b>

<b>And I can apply it</b>

<b>using CI methods and TPRS.</b>

<b>Yep, that's exactly it. Exactly it. Yes.</b>

<b>So that's a wrap on today's CI story with</b>

<b>David Rice, you can see all the passion</b>

<b>that he has for what he's doing, and how</b>

<b>he came from a textbook</b>

<b>warrior to a CI superhero.</b>

<b>If his journey proves anything, it's that</b>

<b>you don't need a cape or a Pinterest</b>

<b>perfect bulletin board to make CI work.</b>

<b>You just need to start.</b>

<b>If you love this conversation, don't</b>

<b>forget to check out the CI survival kit</b>

<b>at mm.us slash survival. It's packed with</b>

<b>ready to use tools and strategies that</b>

<b>make your CI classroom run smoother, no</b>

<b>magic wand required.</b>

<b>And let's make sure you join us for the</b>

<b>next CI story, where another teacher will</b>

<b>share their wins, fails and everything in</b>

<b>between. Until then, keep it</b>

<b>comprehensible, keep it fun, and keep</b>

<b>those stories rolling.</b>