Redirect Behavior Without Interrupting the Input

5 Short Phrases and Strategies to Handle Disruptions on the Fly—Without Murdering the Vibe

🧁 Introduction: Because Teaching Shouldn’t Feel Like Herding Cats in a Tornado

Picture this: You’re mid-story, narrating how el dragón gigante steals a burrito from la princesa valiente, your students are engaged, they’re nodding, maybe even gasping… and then—

POOF.

A rogue paper airplane slices through the air like a budget airline on fire.

Kevin’s making pigeon noises.

A pair of eyeballs has disconnected from the rest of the body and is slowly sliding under the desk.

You pause. You blink. You consider teaching yoga in Bali instead.

But before you abandon CI and move into a hut with no Wi-Fi, know this:

You do not have to stop the story. You do not have to switch to English. You do not need to summon the ghost of Señor Grammar Packet.

You just need a few well-timed redirection strategies so you can keep input flowing and chaos at bay—all while looking like the calm, commanding CI wizard you were born to be.

This article will teach you how to redirect behavior without interrupting input, crushing souls, or sacrificing your mental stability. Let’s do this.

1. 🦅 The Side-Eye Swoop™: Your Most Powerful Silent Weapon

CI teachers are the Cirque du Soleil of the language classroom. We narrate. We gesture. We point. We act. Sometimes we sing. But we rarely get credit for the most magical move in our arsenal:

The Side-Eye Swoop™.

This move involves continuing your input in the target language—without breaking rhythm—while simultaneously redirecting a student with your face. Not your words. Not your megaphone. Just… your facial energy.

How to Master the Side-Eye Swoop™:

• 🔄 Eye Contact Shift: Swing those teacher eyeballs over to the offender with all the sass of a disappointed grandma. Don’t stop talking. Just... stare into their soul.
• 😐 Add a Dash of Judgy Eyebrow: One single raised eyebrow can say “I know it was you, Brittany” in seventeen languages.
• ✋ Layer in a Physical Shift: Turn your body slightly toward the noise source without interrupting the storyline. Keep gesturing. Keep narrating. Make it clear you’re still on script—but you see EVERYTHING.

Why It Works:

This technique sends the message: I’m watching you, Kevin, and the llama story continues whether or not you’re picking glue off your shoe. It’s non-verbal, non-disruptive, and 100% CI-aligned.

Plus, it gives you major Gandalf energy. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS… without returning to the story.”

2. 🧻 Routines Are the New Rulers: Redirect With Structure, Not Snark

Y’all, let’s just say it: traditional classroom management tools like yelling, writing names on the board, or banishing kids to The Desk of Shame went out with dial-up internet.

In a CI classroom, your routines are your Jedi mind tricks.

When disruptions happen, and they will (because children are adorable chaos muffins), you don’t need to stop everything to address it. Instead, train and lean on routines like your sanity depends on it. Because it does.

CI-Compatible Routines That Redirect Without Talking:

• 👆 Point to the Poster: Create a routine poster with simple expectations in the TL: Ojos aquí, escucha, siéntate bien. When chaos erupts, just point. You don’t even need to pause. It's like the "clapback" of classroom management.
• 👐 Use Hand Signals: Pre-teach silent signals like “sit up,” “track speaker,” “lips closed,” or “you are dangerously close to being written into the story as the class clown.”
• 🕺 Reset With a Ritual: If the vibe is off, go into a quick group reset that doesn’t kill the language. Count in the TL. Do a breathing exercise. Start a rhythmic call-and-response. Basically, teach them to reset like a Wi-Fi router on a bad day—automatically and without needing a lecture.

Why It Works:

You’re keeping the TL sacred. You’re modeling consistency. You’re giving students boundaries without turning your lesson into Judge Judy.

And best of all? You look like a calm, collected professional even when your brain is actually screaming into the void.

3. 🎭 If You Can’t Beat the Disruption… Storyfiy It

Some days you’ve got narrators. Other days you’ve got narcoleptics, amateur percussionists, and kids making walrus noises with their juice boxes.

Instead of shushing the chaos—fold it into the fabric of your story.

That’s right. Make the chaos your curriculum.

How to Storyfy the Nonsense:

• ✈️ Turn Objects Into Plot Devices: Paper airplane mid-lesson? “Y de repente… un avión misterioso llegó del cielo y aterrizó en la cabeza del dragón.” Boom. Input restored. Kids engaged.
• 🎭 Insert Student Behavior into the Plot: Is Jayden humming loudly? “El personaje malo canta muy mal... como Jayden…”
• 🧠 Use Comedic Exaggeration: “La clase es muy caótica. Hay gritos. Hay papeles. Hay… ¡explosiones de mocos!”

Why It Works:

Disruptions become memorable language moments. The story becomes student-centered. The noisy kid suddenly becomes part of the canon, and their desire for attention is satisfied without derailing your instruction.

It also builds class culture. Kids start to realize: If I do something weird, Profe’s gonna narrate it—and that’s way more fun than a detention slip.

4. 🪧 Silent but Savage: Visual Redirection Tools That Don’t Kill the Input

You’ve tried the side-eye. You’ve tapped the poster. You’ve folded chaos into the storyline. And still, little Timmy is beatboxing into his water bottle like it’s a halftime show.

It’s time to bust out your secret weapon: visual redirection.

Tools to Add to Your CI Toolbox:

• 🧼 Mini Whiteboards: Write a name. Draw a quick 👀 or a 🧠. Hold it up. Don't say a word. Just let it hover like the ghost of expectations unmet.
• 🟨 Redirect Cards: Laminated and magical. Keep a stack of cards that say things like “¿Listo?”, “Escucha con los ojos,” or “¿Dónde están tus orejas hoy?” Show it. Move on. Input remains flowing.
• 🔀 Pointy Arrow of Destiny™: Create a laminated arrow or giant emoji hand that literally points at the board or input source. When students are lost or distracted, hold it up and redirect their eyeballs like you’re commanding air traffic at LAX.

Why It Works:

It’s fast. It’s visual. And it doesn’t break your flow. Most importantly, it keeps the input going—which is the ultimate flex.

Plus, it gives your classroom a bit of ✨theatre✨. You’re not just teaching. You’re performing a highly choreographed opera where disruptions are background dancers.

5. 🎤 Shout-Outs & Spotlight: Redirect Through Positive Narration

This one’s sneaky. While you're tempted to laser-beam your attention on the wiggle worm in Row 3, try instead to narrate who’s doing it right. Loudly. Dramatically. Like you’re the host of the “On-Task Olympics.”

Praise That Doubles as Redirection:

• 🧑‍🏫 “María está usando sus ojos, sus orejas, y su alma… ¡qué estudiante!”
• 👼 “Wow. Estudiantes como Diego me dan ESPERANZA para la humanidad.”
• 🌟 “Look at this table—prepared, engaged, and emotionally stable. ¡Excelente!”

Other Strategies:

• 👏 Non-Verbal Praise: Air high-fives. Silent applause. Mimicking angel wings. Whatever it takes to shine the spotlight.
• 🧠 Tie Praise to the Narrative: “El personaje es valiente, inteligente… y enfocado, como Sofía.”

Why It Works:

Kids want your attention. They will fight gladiator-style for it. When they see you praising someone else, they want in.

It’s redirecting with honey instead of vinegar. It’s sneaky. It’s effective. It makes you look like a motivational speaker trapped in a language classroom.

🎯 Key Takeaways (for the TL;DR crowd or those skimming during lunch duty)

• 👀 Use the Side-Eye Swoop™ to maintain control while keeping language input flowing.
• 🔄 Train routines that students can follow nonverbally so redirection doesn’t derail the lesson.
• 🎭 Use disruptions as fuel for your storytelling fire. Chaos = content.
• 🪧 Use visual cues like whiteboards, redirect cards, and arrows to silently refocus attention.
• 🌟 Praise the on-task students like they just solved world peace. The rest will follow.

🔥 Ready to Redirect Like a CI Jedi?

Want to know where you stand with your classroom skills and CI fluency? Take the free, drama-free, judgement-free (but extremely enlightening) CI Proficiency Quiz at https://imim.us/ciquiz and level up your teaching superpowers.

And if you’re tired of battling behavior like it's the final boss in a video game, check out my Dynamic Discipline Course at https://imim.us/discipline. It’s classroom management—but with brains, boundaries, and input-friendly solutions that won’t make your students hate Spanish or you.

Stay strong, stay silly, and keep that input flowing.
Your students may not remember every verb you teach,
but they’ll never forget the teacher who redirected their chaos into a story. 🎉