If you polled your students on the first day, "Why are you taking Spanish*?
*Or insert whatever language you teach.
While some of them might say things like:
- "I need it to graduate"
- "I need it for a credit"
- "It looks good for college applications to have 2 years of a foreign language"
- "I want to know what 'those people' are saying about me at Walmart'**
The other thing they would say is, "I want to speak Spanish!"
So my followup question naturally is: how many of them would say, "I want to learn all about Spanish through its grammar as if I am taking a linguistics class"?
In my experience, the best way I've found to accomplish the goal of helping them speak is through Comprehensible Input and stories!
And while I am only in Spanish 1 this year, my classes at this point in the year are just going crazy with output.
Sure they don't speak perfectly, but what Spanish 1 student does? Comparably, what 2-3 year old speaks perfectly? Heck, what adult speaks perfectly?
