Comprehensible Input Comes Alive in Senegal

Where CI Meets Cultural Immersion

This is not a typical educator trip—and it’s not a typical CI workshop. It’s both, woven together in one of the most vibrant Francophone countries in the world. Led by CI practitioner Elodie Channa and organized by Vive l’expérience founder Katy Wheelock, this program immerses French educators in Senegal’s rich culture while building practical, transferable CI skills grounded in real experiences.

Every day in Senegal becomes source material for your CI practice. A conversation with a university student in Thiès. The rhythms of a djembe workshop. The layered history of Gorée Island. The warmth of sharing a traditional meal around the bowl with a Senegalese family. Elodie will guide participants through CI workshops that draw directly from these encounters, showing how authentic cultural experiences can fuel compelling, comprehensible language instruction back in your classroom.

Because K-12 schools will not be in session during our visit, classroom observations will focus on meeting and exchanging with high school French teachers and visiting university students and professors. These interactions provide rich, real-world CI modeling opportunities and will be integrated into workshop sessions throughout the trip.