Making it Happen: Chapter 9

I victoriously punched the air when I started reading this chapter. This chapter is rich with ideas for interactive strategies and their foundation in studying "the natural approach." The natural approach plots the progression of students through three stages: comprehension, early speech production, and speech emergence. The comprehension stage is also known as the silent stage, when students absorb what they are acquiring of the language through listening. Next they begin to make meaning through output (or attempt to do so). And finally, they become more proficient with their speech, supplemented by more input. The chapter provides several activities to support students at all stages.