I was trying to convince a blog member about the importance of using the past tenses in all first year classes during stories (once PQA and Circling with Balls and all that stuff is over) as per:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/08/11/on-use-of-tenses-in-stories-and-readings/
I got this response. It is heart wrenching in a way. Here a professional is being told by someone who doesn’t get how we learn languages to do things a certain way. I really don’t have a comment on it, maybe someones else does:
I must admit that I am a bit weary of the administration. In our textbook the kids are not supposed to be studying the past tense yet. What happens if my principal makes a surprise visit? I just got this new job and I’m nervous about making waves. The past tense is, however, taught at the end of the Expresate textbook, so maybe halfway through the year I can toss it in stories and kind of get away with it.
A big problem I had at my previous school of 3 years was that I was perceived as too radical by colleagues, which led to negativity among the district administration. Although I know that teaching multiple tenses is better for kids, I feel like I have to play the system for a little while first.
Same problem as always.
[ed. note: actually I do have a comment. I think that the past tense won’t be very easy to teach in the middle of the year in stories if the kids by then have fossilized the present. Once the PQA is done and it’s storytime,we have to hit the ground running with stories in the past and the readings that we create from them in the present, as per the point I have been trying to make in recent discussion.]
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
