I should have got this on here sooner. Nathaniel could probably use our feedback/ideas/suggestions before Friday on an upcoming presentation, although what he describes below is pretty badass already:
Hi Ben,
Friday is a professional workshop day for us at Shepherd Hill Regional HS (Dudley, MA). The recent trend has been to get as many teachers as possible to be instructors/facilitators. I decided that if we were going to have anything to do with foreign language I would have to do something about it. Well I stepped up to the plate and submitted this description.
90%+ Strategies for Staying in the Target Language
In 2010, ACTFL recommended that language educators and their students use the target language over 90% of the time at all levels of instruction. Is this possible? How? What are successful K-12 teachers doing to accomplish this? There will be some explanation but the focus will be on observation and practicing of proven basic skills with discussion following practice.
I not only took the plunge; I took a deep plunge, proposing an all day workshop (6 hours). Since we need 10 hours of instruction in a topic for said topic to count for our Professional Development Points, part of the workshop is to schedule another four hours of meeting time over the next 4 months to do follow and create a PLC.
I am also having a former student coming next week to do observation hours (she wants to be a Spanish teacher). So next week is a big week. I vacillate between How great it will be! and What did I get myself into? (One thing is for sure. If it had not been for the PLC I would not attempted this. Thanks to all who posted comments, and also to all who have not posted but are listening and learning.)
I plan to start with the document that gives support to the title (ACTFL’s 90%+ statement), show how the core of the Mass Framework is the Interpersonal Mode, hours necessary for L1 compared to L2, how much can we expect from the beginning language learner, the power and priority of acoustical input, CI, LAD, unconscious process, etc. I am currently viewing Karen Rowan’s coaching workshop from 2004 NTPRS to see what coaching looks like. I plan for us to work on TPR, slow, circling/parking, possibly OWI – we will have Spanish/ French/Mandarin/German to work with (I am also working on a demo with Modern Greek). I don’t know if there will be anyone with zero Spanish. I thought that Spanish would be a good way to demonstrate that this is also for advanced structures (wants/wanted him to buy). I would also like to show some You-Tubes of TPRS teaching, especially if the language is unknown – it is so important to feel the helplessness of the learner.
There is so much and so as I continue to prepare this week I have three things to keep in mind: 1) I am trying to win people over, 2) there has to be a lot of interaction/activity/brain breaks, 3) the ultimate goal is to foster an interest in how to achieve the 90%+.
Let me know what you think. When I recover, I’ll let you know how it went.
Nathaniel