The Pre-Story phase gives learners the language, confidence, and comprehension habits they need before the class begins creating longer stories together. The instructor introduces high-frequency language, gathers learner-driven input, establishes gestures, and practices asking questions that keep communication understandable and engaging.

Core Principle: Move Learners from Zero to One

Learners cannot build an internal language system from messages they do not understand. The first goal is therefore not grammatical mastery. It is to give learners enough comprehensible language to get their first foothold. Once they can understand a small number of useful phrases, the class can gradually expand what is possible.

Why Stories Drive Acquisition

• Stories naturally contain useful vocabulary and grammatical structures.
• Stories transmit information in a form that people are prepared to follow.
• Narrative creates novelty, anticipation, emotion, and personal investment.
• Story-based instruction recycles language without making repetition feel mechanical.
• Co-created stories can develop at the pace and level of a particular class.

The Pre-Story phase prepares learners to participate in that process. It gives them a small but flexible base of language that can later appear in its natural habitat: meaningful stories and conversations.

Target High-Frequency Language

Begin with language that appears constantly and gives learners immediate communicative power. In English, this includes common forms such as is, am, are, was, were, has, have, had, do, does, did, will, would, should, can, could, may, might, and must.

Languages organize these ideas differently. Spanish, for example, carries more information inside its verb forms. Instead of waiting for a textbook chapter to introduce every structure, teach useful chunks such as debería or podrías when they serve the message learners need to understand.

• Prioritize verbs, verb phrases, and useful chunks.
• Introduce only enough language to support meaningful interaction.
• Model first-person forms so learners hear how speakers talk about themselves.
• Recycle the same structures through many different messages.
• Keep the focus on meaning rather than grammatical explanation.

Use Learner-Driven Input

The first days of class should give learners something simple to contribute. A name tag can include the name they prefer and a drawing connected to a prompt, such as an animal they have or would like to have. The instructor can then use those details to build personalized conversation with a limited set of high-frequency structures.

• What does the learner have?
• What does the learner want?
• What does the instructor have or want?
• Who wants the same thing?
• How can the class describe it?

A simple drawing of an elephant can generate repeated, meaningful use of phrases such as I have, I want, you want, and he or she wants. The content comes from the people in the room, while the instructor controls the amount and complexity of the language.

Protect Comprehension

CI Immersion aims to maintain the target language while keeping messages understandable. Learners should be responsible for signaling when meaning is unclear. The instructor should slow down, repeat, gesture, point, write, or briefly pause the target language when a complex explanation is necessary.

• Make it normal for learners to indicate confusion.
• Do not let stronger classmates perform all of the mental processing.
• Watch the learners who appear to be struggling.
• Adjust speed and complexity before comprehension breaks down.
• Build a low-pressure environment in which uncertainty is acceptable.

Add Total Physical Response

Total Physical Response, or TPR, connects a word or phrase in the target language to a physical movement. Before a story, select a small number of phrases that learners are likely to need and create clear gestures for them.

• Choose three to six gestureable phrases for an individual story.
• Use commands and action phrases that learners can perform immediately.
• Introduce the meaning directly the first time.
• After that, connect the target-language phrase directly to the gesture.
• Require everyone to hear, see, and perform the movement.

For example, the Spanish phrase va can be paired with a forward movement. At first, learners hear the phrase, receive its meaning, and perform the gesture. With repetition, the English definition drops out. The learner hears va and responds with the movement, or sees the movement and retrieves va. The connection becomes target language to meaning rather than target language to English to meaning.

Build an Initial TPR Base

During the first one or two weeks, an instructor may build a larger base of approximately 25 to 50 gestureable words or phrases. These can be combined with high-frequency language and practiced through short, entertaining interactions.

• Stand up and sit down.
• Go, grab, dance, work, and other visible actions.
• Short commands that can be understood as complete chunks.
• Phrases likely to appear in an upcoming story.
• Language that can be recycled across multiple stories.

Learners do not need an early explanation of command forms or verb morphology. They need to understand the message and connect it to an action.

Orbit the Sentence

Orbiting is the central questioning skill of the Pre-Story phase. Begin with one comprehensible sentence and treat it as the center of a small system. Ask different kinds of questions around that sentence until learners are comfortable with its language. Then use the momentum of that interaction to move to a new sentence.

For example, begin with: He goes to the university. The instructor can then revisit the same structure from several angles without simply repeating the original sentence.

Keep the Questions Unpredictable

Do not ask the four question types in the same order every time. Predictable patterns allow learners to guess without processing the language. Mix affirmative, negative, either-or, and open-ended questions while continuing to check that the class understands the central sentence.

• Ask questions about the instructor.
• Ask questions about individual learners.
• Compare two learners or two possibilities.
• Add one new detail only when the current language is secure.
• Stop orbiting when the interaction loses energy, then move forward.

Expand Like a Spiral

Early communication should remain tightly centered on a small number of structures. As learners understand more, the instructor can widen the spiral and bring additional language into bounds. Each new sentence connects to language that has already become familiar.

The goal is not to flood learners with language. It is to steadily enlarge the amount of language they can understand while preserving comfort, curiosity, and meaningful participation.

Practical Timeline

• Spend approximately one to two weeks on the initial Pre-Story phase.
• Move faster when institutional schedules require it.
• Include short, temporary descriptions or mini-stories during this period.
• Use images, learner drawings, and class-created characters as conversational anchors.
• Continue using brief TPR preparation before later stories.

Why Orbiting Matters

Orbiting gives the instructor a flexible tool for sustaining comprehensible interaction even when a lesson plan changes or fails. A teacher who can ask varied questions around a shared sentence can extend discussion, personalize content, review language, and respond to the people in the room without abandoning the acquisition process.

Why the Pre-Story Phase Matters

When this phase is implemented well, learners have a base of high-frequency language, a growing bank of physical associations, and experience processing messages for themselves. They are prepared to help create fiction rather than merely listen to language they cannot follow.

The next phase moves into collaborative storytelling: using these structures, gestures, and questioning skills to co-create fiction that is personalized, comprehensible, and memorable.