Transform a Textbook Unit into a CI Sequence in 5 Steps

A Step-by-Step Breakdown with Before-and-After Comparisons (and a few dramatic teaching flashbacks)

🎬 Intro: "It Was a Dark and Stormy Unit…"

You know the drill. You crack open the textbook to Unit 4, and what do you see?

A list of verbs that no teenager has ever used.
Dialogues starring Ana and Pablo awkwardly complimenting each other’s school supplies.
A grammar explanation that could double as a NyQuil substitute.

And just like that, your soul gently leaves your body and floats up to the fluorescent lights.

Here’s the good news: You don’t have to follow that script.

Better news? You can still meet the standards, keep your admin happy, and hit all your learning targets—without sacrificing your students’ attention span or your will to live.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to CI-ify any textbook unit in five practical, hilarious steps—with real examples, specific strategies, and some much-needed comic relief. And if you’re thinking, “But Scott, my district requires me to use the textbook,” don’t worry. We’re not burning the textbook. We’re just...gently repurposing it. Like turning an old sock into a puppet. A really engaging, language-rich puppet.

Let’s do this.

🧠 Step 1: From Grammar Objectives to Real-Life Questions (That Don’t Bore You to Tears)

Textbook Says: “Students will learn regular -AR verbs in the present tense.”
Reality: Students fall into a grammar-induced coma by page 3.

Your New CI Goal: “Can students talk about what they do after school?”

Here’s your first mission: Take that robotic grammar objective and flip it into a juicy essential question—something students actually want to answer. We’re talking questions like:

• “Can I talk about what I do on the weekend?”
• “Can I describe my weird morning routine?”
• “Can I explain why I’m always late for everything?”

See? That’s communication. That’s real-life language use. That’s also 95% of middle schooler conversations.

Once you have your essential question, choose 2–3 high-frequency verbs and a handful of must-use structures that support that goal. Don’t try to teach everything. Pick the words they’ll use again and again—words like “tiene,” “quiere,” “va,” and “le gusta”—and run with those like they’re Black Friday deals at Target.

CI Hackery at Its Finest:

• Convert the textbook’s “Grammar Goals” page into “How to Outsmart Your Parents in Spanish.”
• Reframe your objectives as student superpowers: “I can narrate a weekend like it’s a soap opera.”
• Write the target structures on the board with dramatic flair and glitter gel pens. Commit to the bit.

📦 Step 2: Ditch the Vocabulary List, Keep the Vocabulary

Textbook Says: “Memorize these 38 words. Quiz on Friday. Cry on Monday.”
Reality: Students remember 3 words and one of them is “estudiante.”

Your New CI Move: Use 10–12 high-frequency words naturally—like ninja input masters.

CI isn’t about memorizing lists. It’s about using words so much that students absorb them by accident—like secondhand smoke, but good for brains.

Start by identifying the most useful words in the textbook list. Ask yourself:

• Can a 6-year-old say this word and be understood?
• Would this word help someone survive in Target or Taco Bell?

If yes, it stays. If not, it gets sent to the Land of Forgotten Cognates.

Here’s How You CI-ify the Vocabulary:

• Visual Hooks: Use funny images, props, and memes. Show “tiene hambre” with a photo of a raccoon holding a burrito.
• One-Word Image Prompts: Say a word like “quiere” and build a scene around it. “Ana quiere...¿un burro? ¿una pizza? ¿un iPhone 87?” Students get into it real fast.
• Class Stories: Create short, silly stories that recycle target words. A kid wants to eat 42 pizzas. A cat goes to Target. A llama refuses to go to school. You get the idea.

What you’re doing is sneaky repetition with joy. The best kind.

🎬 Step 3: Turn Soul-Crushing Activities into Input-Rich Gold

Textbook Says: “Fill in the blank with the correct conjugation of ‘estudiar.’”
Reality: Student fills in “poop.” Laughs for 10 minutes. That’s the lesson.

Your New CI Reality: Scrap the worksheet. Use the same structure, but in an engaging way.

Textbooks love dry drills. You know who doesn’t? Humans. But here’s the trick: the language isn’t the problem—it’s the context. So instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater (or in this case, the -AR verbs with the soul), repurpose them.

CI Makeovers for Dull Activities:

• Instead of fill-in-the-blank: Try a PictureTalk that uses the same structure. Find a chaotic image—like a dog wearing sunglasses riding a skateboard—and ask questions using your target vocab.
• Instead of workbook Q&A: Ask your students those same questions in a personalized way. “Do you study every day?” “Where does Kevin study?” “Does Kevin even know what studying is?”
• Instead of dialogues with Ana and Pablo: Create your own class conversation. Give students a ridiculous context and let them “act it out” with exaggerated facial expressions and 90% English. (Yes, that’s still input!)

CI lets you keep the language without the lameness. It’s like taking the raisins out of trail mix and replacing them with chocolate. Now everybody wins.

📈 Step 4: Create a Meaningful Sequence, Not a Sad March to the Test

Textbook Says: “Follow this order: Vocab → Grammar → Culture (a.k.a. random facts about Spain) → Test.”
Reality: Students forget everything the second the test is over.

CI Version: Spiral structures in stories, input, and conversation. Build up to something real.

You don’t need to teach the vocab first, the grammar second, and the culture third. That’s not a learning path—it’s a sleep aid.

With CI, you spiral. That means you re-use key phrases and structures across multiple contexts so students get repeated, varied exposure.

Think of it like a Netflix series. You meet the character (structure) in Episode 1. Then they show up again in a different outfit. Then they get involved in drama. Then they come back in a flashback. That’s how language sticks.

Your CI Sequence Might Look Like:

1. Day 1 – Intro the essential question and 2 structures using a short story or image.
2. Day 2 – PictureTalk with a meme that uses the same words.
3. Day 3 – Class-created story with a surprise twist ending. Maybe Kevin’s cat is an alien.
4. Day 4 – MovieTalk with a Pixar short that reinforces your target structures.
5. Day 5 – Exit ticket: “Write 3 sentences about a time you went to Target and saw your teacher.”

Boom. No worksheets. Maximum input. And students are actually understanding and producing language. Imagine that.

🧪 Step 5: Assess Like You Actually Want to Know What They Can Do

Textbook Says: “Match the vocab. Conjugate 12 verbs. Label this diagram of a bullfight arena.”
Reality: It’s 30 questions, 7 minutes of effort, and 2 mental breakdowns.

CI Says: “Let’s find out what students can actually do with language.”

In the CI world, assessment is about proficiency, not perfection. It’s not “How many points did you lose?” It’s “Can you get your message across?”

CI-Friendly Assessments:

• Exit Tickets: “Can you answer this question using today’s words?” (Bonus if it’s funny.)
• One-Minute Write: “Tell me about your Saturday...but make it weird.”
• Conversations: Ask students to chat about their routines, preferences, or the weird story they made up about Kevin’s llama.

Use a simple rubric that reflects communicative ability, not grammatical accuracy. Something like:

• I can express an idea clearly.
• I can use words we’ve been working on.
• I can keep going even if I mess up.

And please—don’t grade like you’re trying to join the Red Pen Olympics. Give kind, growth-minded feedback. Be a coach, not the villain from every high school drama ever.

If discipline issues are sabotaging your assessments (looking at you, Chad), the Dynamic Discipline Course will save your sanity. You can’t assess proficiency if the room’s on fire—literally or figuratively.

🧠 Conclusion: You Are the CI Alchemist

You started with a dusty, lifeless textbook unit that could double as a sleep aid. Now? You’ve transformed it into a goldmine of meaningful input, ridiculous engagement, and real growth.

No, you didn’t “cover” all the vocab. You didn’t “drill” every grammar point. But you did get your students to understand and use language in ways that matter—and that’s kind of the whole point.

So go ahead—rip that vocab list in half (figuratively… unless you’ve got tenure). Make the textbook your servant, not your master. Teach like the CI rebel you are.

And when in doubt? Take the CI Proficiency Quiz to see where you stand, or check out the Dynamic Discipline Course if your classroom feels like a circus (but without the popcorn).

🔑 Five Key Takeaways

• Reframe textbook objectives into real-world questions that drive communication.
• Choose 10–12 high-frequency, useful words and weave them into input-rich activities.
• Ditch drills for compelling input—like stories, PictureTalks, and MovieTalks.
• Spiral key structures through multiple contexts instead of teaching in isolation.
• Assess for growth, not grammar perfection, using rubrics and real communication tasks.