If you’re trying out comprehensible input (CI) and need some ways to quickly check for comprehension, guess what? I have solutions for you!
1. Circling and ¿Sí o no? Questions
This may be the quickest way to check for comprehension with CI activities. Circling is an invaluable skill that helps students understand and get the output they need in the target language. Start with a statement. Repeat the sentence for students slowly.After repeating a sentence a few times, reword the sentence into a question.
Margarita es creativa y artística.
¿Es ella artística? ¿Sí o no?
¿Es atlética? ¿Sí o no?
A Margarita le gusta dibujar y pintar.
¿Le gusta pintar a Margarita? ¿Sí o no?
Circling and using ¿Sí o no? questions is great for students in Spanish for the first time. They don’t have a wide range of vocabulary and output will be limited. My students were able to confidently answer questions ¿Sí o no? questions until they felt comfortable to give me more output in the target language.
Ashley from SrtaSpanish has a great blog post about how to circle in a CI classroom for more tips and trick.s
2. Cierto o Falso
True or false questions are amazing for checking what students understand. This will be a great strategy for story-telling. You can change minor or major details to match the story you’re working with. This is also a great listening practice for students. They have to listen closely to details and understand what they are hearing.
In my classroom, I ask CIERTO or FALSO questions as a whole class and I also use it as an individual student formative assessment. Most often, students are only writing CIERTO or FALSO so I print them short slips or let them write on paper. It’s so quick and easy to grade if you decide to take them up. You know less time to grade it a PLUS 🙂
3. Exit Slips
Exit slips are my favorite way to end class. I get to see what students know individually. You can print them and have them ready for the last ten minutes of class or project questions or prompts onto the board.
I’m all about building student confidence. Exit slips are a great way to get students to show what they know but to also help guide instruction for students that may be struggling.
4. Quick Draw
1. Give a simple sentence to students. You can test reading comprehension, listening comprehension or a mix of the two.
2. Display the sentence or write it out on the board and have students draw on a sheet of paper or little slips of paper. You could even have someone come draw it on the board.
3. An alternate option to writing would be to say the sentence. Repeat the sentence a few times while students try to get their pictures drawn.
5. False Descriptions with images
1. Display an image and begin to describe what students can see. Give descriptions sentence by sentence.
2. Give a false description of the image from the start. This would be great to check for comprehension of vocabulary and structures that you’ve been working with.
3. After you’ve circled a bit, change a detail in the story. It can be a minor detail just to check to see if they’re paying attention.
