When Attacked – 4
The Chef Everything rests upon the main research idea that language acquisition is an unconscious process. Here’s an image to drive the point home: The unconscious mind is like a chef whose kitchen is located in the basement of our students’
When Attacked – 3
Noam Chomsky Noam Chomsky said, back in the 1960s: “Grammar [is] acquired by virtually everyone, effortlessly, rapidly, in a uniform manner, merely by living in a community under minimal conditions of interaction, exposure, and care.” Look at the words that Chomsky used
When Attacked – 2
A Big Pill The idea that we have no control over how languages are acquired and cannot think our way to acquisition is a big pill to swallow for many language teachers. After all, many of us who are not native speakers
When Attacked – 1
When we get observed, we often realize how truly out of touch our evaluators are. They don't get the research. It makes for a very nervous few days of pre-observation and then the observation itself. It's like a hospital administrator
How CI Works
Personalized discussion provides the glue for the process. During the class we don’t go out of bounds - we keep things simple for our students by only introducing new vocabulary in the form of reading. When we only use language
Mission Statement
You are welcome to share this with anyone who wants to more about your work with CI: Despite huge expenditures of public funds, most language students in American schools are failures in their study of languages. It is not their fault.
Advice to a Teacher on the Fence with CI Instruction
Q. What does one do without the support of one's colleagues when trying to make the change to comprehensible input based instruction? How does one react to a colleague who does not wish to implement a non-textbook approach within the
Rigor – 2
According to the US Department of State, an academic program is rigorous when there is: depth and integrity of inquiry: Many teachers have expressed concern that there is too much curricular material to “cover” and not enough time to teach it
Rigor – 1
If I'm teaching kids who are new to comprehensible input, I typically make four posters out of the facts below to help them understand how they should feel in a CI class. They deserve as much. My concept of rigor
Rant – 1
Yesterday I got some specific questions from a colleague and want to share my responses to him with the group. Sorry for the long rant. I do that sometimes, more for my own mental health than anything else. My colleague writes: I