This article is aimed at those who crush children’s dreams, consciously or without being aware of it. I direct my comments at those who see bright and excited children enter their classooms in August and who, by October, have succeeded in turning those dreams back from ever becoming real.
This article is not intended to be read by the people who are members of this blog community, so if you are in this PLC, stop reading – it is not intended for you. It’s just a way to vent. The thought may arise in the minds of those community members who are still reading (who can’t follow instructions) that nobody will then read this, since it is an internet space that is inaccessible to non-members.
Fine. I don’t know where else to express myself on this point, so I write it here, and it is probably best if no one reads it. We do vent here, and it is good for us. We are not just here to share ideas about comprehension based language instruction; we are also here for the occasional vent. So be it. Here’s the article:
Teachers who push back on the current change, who refuse to do the difficult interanal work required of all language teachers right now, are raping the language hopes of kids by favoring only the few and ignoring the many.
Only the few who can handle thinking about how the language is put together mechanically, who are good at editing tasks and who take that for language acquisition, seem to be able to succeed in far too many American language classrooms.. There are just too many kids, millions nationwide, who come into your classrooms all full of hope in the fall, thinking:
- “This is not a math class, but a language class!”
- “Surely we can have fun and learn in here!”
- “I love languages!”
- “I already know one (or two or three)!”
But:
- when you don’t ask about them, and
- when you don’t give them jobs, and
- when you act like studying grammar rules and verb charts are more important than they are,and
- when you fail them, and
- when you withhold the beautiful sound of the language from them
then you are messing it up. Pure and simple. I implore you to:
- get with the research
- stop messing it up!
- stop wasting their time!
- figure out a way to align with current research!
- figure out a way to align with standards! believe that you can change on the kids’ behalf and your own!
- believe that learning a language is a gift to all of us, not just the few!
Ok. Vent over. I hope nobody read it!
Related:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2009/08/29/they-dont-fail-we-fail-them/