Skip is presenting soon and has a question for the group:
Hey Ben,
I have been asked to present at the 2014 FLAME (Foreign Language Association of Maine) conference.
I think I am going to run two sessions:
The first will focus on the basics – learning vs. acquisition, key elements of CI, CI strategies and a demo).
The second one I am going to bill as “peer coaching” – I hope to have a group of my students there so that people can see me work with them and so that teachers can practice TCI with my students.
My concern is that many workshops “demonstrate” what to do and allow people to “see” TCI in action and how it is done. My impression though, is that VERY few actually leave with new skills or techniques that they could actually use. I remember the year I helped Susie at National… We were presenting on “contrastive grammar”. There was actually time at the end for folks to practice but not many did. Most just sat around and chatted…
I know that members of this PLC have attended hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of workshops collectively. I wonder if, first, you agree with my “impression” and two, if you have ever thought about ways to remedy this?
I guess what I am asking is, how could workshop presentations better equip attendees to leaving “knowing HOW to do it” and not just “having seen it”….
I am presenting in March and would welcome any thoughts you might have…
Thanks so much,
Skip