What does Acquisition Driven Instruction (ADI) look like in practice?

Teaching with a focus on acquisition is fundamentally different than teaching with a focus on explicit learning, and it can be hard to visualize if you have never seen it in action. Firstly, the goal of an Acquisition Driven Instruction (ADI) curriculum like Somos is to provide students with extensive, robust exposure to 

(a) the target language

(b) used in communicative contexts

(c) in such a way that students understand it.

There are several core activities that are used in The Somos Curriculum to provide students with this extensive, robust exposure. The following activities are all conducted in the target language, and it is not an exhaustive list:

The class reads stories and/or informational texts, which are projected on a screen, together. 

- Blog post with demo

- Virtual demo

The class invents original stories using story frames.

- Blog post

- Demo by Martina Bex

- Demo by Adriana Ramírez

(Or MovieTalk) The teacher narrates action in a short video.

- Blog post

- Demo by Martina Bex

- Demo by Alina Filipescu

The teacher leads the class in discussion on a topic.

- Blog post

- Demo by Alina Filipescu

- Demo by Dania Hill (discussing favorite days of the week at about minute 7)

The teacher tells a story or shares information with the class, using simple illustrations to support comprehension.

- Demo

After engaging in one of these "big input" activities, the teacher generally uses follow-up activities and games to revisit the content. For example, after reading together an article, the teacher might have the students play a true/false game or write an article summary by copying the most important ideas from the text. After reading a story, the teacher might have the student illustrate a storyboard and then read the story aloud to a partner. There are dozens and dozens of different activities that can be used, and you can find many ideas on The Comprehensible Classroom blog.