The idea I am exploring, and this is all speculation, is if there might be some kind of link between textbooks and ACTFL. Anyone who has been to an ACTFL national convention knows that the sharing of knowledge in presentations is really done in an atmosphere of sales, sales, sales. Even the individual presenters market things in their sessions. There is very little discussion, no arguments, and the ACTFL teachers of the year are often picked for curious reasons.
Like in 2011, the convention floor was all about, and I mean ALL about, the use of computer technology and foreign language instruction and the national teacher of the year that year was Noah Geisel, who claims to teach using comprehensible input but in fact uses almost exclusively computer tech gadgets and games and neat stuff that really doesn’t have much to do with comprehensible input at all. How do I know that? I know that because at East High in Denver all our classrooms have full glass doors and my room was on a corner with Noah’s so I could not help but see into his classroom and each time I looked in there was little comprehensible input happening but a ton of kids looking at screens.
What prompted my speculation here and the reason for these two articles is Catharina Greenberg’s story here this past week. In the comment fields here in the past few days, Catharina has related some information that we kind of need to know, if we are to fully wrap our heads around the newish fact that we may be being led by people who don’t really and truly know what they are talking about, but who may be making boatloads of money off our continued focus on pedagogy and ignoring of any discussion about content and materials until our Eric’s now famous (possibly infamous depending on one’s point of view) “Show Me the Research!” posts almost two weeks ago on the ACTFL list.
Catharina’s story further makes the case that in ACTFL all is perhaps not as it should be, and that those extremists who may see real or imagined ties between ACTFL and the textbook companies may not be total wing nuts. Here is what Catharina shares with us. You have to read the link for it all to make sense, to see how gullible teachers can be as to believe some of the nonsense presented there:
Some years back ACTFL and Weber State University developed an Online FL teaching methods course. The course is based on “state-of-the-art research and practice in FL education” and is taught by Dr. June Phillips. It is based on two textbooks: “Teacher’s Handbook” by Shrum & Glisan and “Standards for FL language learning in the 21st century”.
The course promotes teaching with thematic units and the use of unedited authentic resources, and everything else that comes with a communicative approach. The students are taught that authentic materials (oral or written) must always be left unedited: “Edit the task. Not the text”. (Shrum & Glisan pages 170-174 3rd edit.) The newer edition costs $152 on Amazon. Not kidding.
The course is filled with contradictions, inconsistencies, and one wonders if they had real kids in mind.
When I asked Dr. Phillips about classroom management she told me she knows nothing about it. Huh??? I kept all my notes. I have proof 🙂
I found the course useless and never applied any of it. Here is the link (Untitled) I refer to in the Shrum & Glisan text:
I want the FL Methods Course endorsed by ACTFL to be revoked. And I want my money back.