#all classroom learners ALSO learn using comprehensible input (general term for category)

[rigelmejo]

Just a little clarification. Because a lot of 'comprehensible input' study materials and advice-giving methods market themselves as 'learning a language like a child'

Comprehensible Input Lessons specifically are lessons designed to be VERY understandable using pictures and gestures, so that no translations are needed for the student to understand what is being taught. These lessons ARE in regular classrooms, are in many immersion class programs, are in many language tutoring centers, and they're online made by lots of tutors and teachers. They're just a type of lesson. They don't require you to specifically do anything 'like a child.' They only require the student to do something besides follow the lesson itself, if the specific teacher or program is telling you X is a requirement! Anyone can use these kinds of lessons. Any teacher can utilize these lessons, if they're trying to make their lessons as understandable to students as possible - these lessons are useful when students don't speak the same native language so every student can understand the material, and for supplementing lessons that use translations (by giving the students VISUAL context along with translations). TPRS Teaching Proficency through Reading and Storytelling is one example of this type of lesson, often TPRS uses some amount of translations and a lot of visual context.

Comprehensible input GENERALLY is just... material you can comprehend. That's it. Material you can generally understand the meaning of. Comprehensible input would be any graded reader or textbook dialogue that you as a student can understand the meaning of by reading, any conversation you have in the target language you can understand, any show you can understand, any lesson the teacher does IN the target language that you can understand. As you learn more of the target language, obviously the amount of input that is comprehensible (that you understand) increases. That's it. That's all comprehensible input is. It's a very broad category. It does NOT require you to think or do things in a certain way to be 'comprehensible input,' it's just engaging in some situation or engaging with some material you understand. Comprehensible input lessons specifically are a TYPE of comprehensible input, designed by teachers and tutors to be extremely understandable to learners of various levels. Similar to how graded readers are made to be VERY understandable to the learners at the level the graded reader is designed for. But comprehensible input lessons and graded readers are NOT the only kind of comprehensible input. So are cartoons you understand, fanfictions you read and understand, people talking to you where they gesture and you understand what they're trying to convey, people who talk and don't gesture but you still understand because you know enough things to understand them, etc.

Comprehensible Input Learning Programs - these are the only things that MAY tell you to 'learn like a child.' It depends on the learning program, and the teacher's instructions. These Learning Programs typically are made up of teachers providing a lot of Comprehensible Input Lessons, directions on how they want the student to study/think/engage with the lessons provided, and directions to engage with other experiences the student understands in the target language (which will increase as the student learns more).

If you are using Dreaming Spanish and following Pablo's directions completely, then you'll study the Comprehensible Input Lessons on his website in the way he recommends. So when he says no translating in your head, no reading about translations and explanations, you follow his directions. It's his teaching program, and if he says not to do those things, then you follow his directions if you've chosen to follow the teaching program as directed. The rules Pablo gives are not required to learn from the material, they are the requirements to follow his teaching program as directed and get the results he's expecting the program to provide students. He can't guarantee students will get the same results if they vary from his directions. There are many people who use the Comprehensible Input Lessons posted on dreamingspanish.com without following Pablo's directions. That's also fine. The directions to learn a certain way, to do certain things, are not required to 'use' comprehensible input... everything you understand, is comprehensible input. You can engage with it however you like, and you will learn from the experience, because you understand the experience.

ALG is another example of a comprehensible input learning program: comprehensible input learning programs generally are structured with teachers providing Comprehensible Input Lessons specifically, encouraging students to seek out other comprehensible input experiences - experiences the student understands in the target language (which will become easier as the student understands more), and for students to follow the program's directions.

Alice Ayel's Lessons for French also follow this structure: if you pay for her website's lessons, she gives directions on how she wants students to engage with the Comprehensible Input Lessons, and the student is expected to do the Comprehensible Input Lessons.

If you are not specifically deciding to follow a Learning Program, you don't have to avoid thinking about the target language, avoid translations, or avoid grammar explanations. Those are just directions some Learning Programs give students, and you can choose to follow if you're doing that Learning Program and want to follow the teacher's directions.

You can also just use Comprehensible Input Lessons as a tool, like any other lessons or resources. And comprehensible input in general is just... experiences and materials you understand. You can engage with comprehensible input however you want, you will eventually run into comprehensible input (stuff you understand) as you learn more and understand more. Textbooks include comprehensible input - assuming you are studying the material previously presented. Graded Readers are comprehensible input - assuming you're the language level the graded reader is recommended for. Classes often have comprehensible input moments - moments the teacher says stuff you understand, because it's stuff you've learned. Some teachers do Comprehensible Input Lessons specifically - using minimal translations and a lot of gestures and pictures. Some teachers do TPRS. Some teachers eventually ask you to read novels, or watch shows, in the target language, and as you understand novels and shows those count as comprehensible input. Every conversation you participate in the target language and understand, is comprehensible input.