There are ripple effects happening from Bob Patrick teaching a class on TPRS at the University of Georgia, starting about three years ago and still going strong. This post provides us with some Chinese instruction video from Sandra Lin at UGA. The video is 49 minutes long but I was thinking that if we all watch some of it we could give Sandra some great feedback as a group. So any observations from those who have the time are welcome. I have always thought that, even though pulling together video of ourselves is a big challenge to make happen, it does give us a chance to make really good use of the technology we have available to communicate with each other about our teaching. (The securing of releases from parents on this topic has always been a sticky point, because it is so hard to get them. My thinking now is that maybe it is easiest if we just don’t get any kids in the video, shooting the video from the side and just on us or from the back. Just don’t bring any actors up if it’s a story, or keep them out of camera range. Those releases are such a pain to get, maybe doing this would create more video traffic for us here. It’s a great way to learn from each other, as we know from years past, when we used to do it a lot more often. We can’t let that parent release deal block us from sharing and working together.)
Hello Ben,
Long time no see! I hope this email finds you well.
I think you have heard from Dr. Melisa Cahnmann, who is introducing TPRS in her class Theatre for Reflective Language practice. She asked me to do three classes of Chinese demo for her students. I want to collect as much feedback as possible to help me grow up as a mature Chinese teacher. I was wondering if you can give me some comments about my teaching. I am preparing for my second and third classes for Dr. Misha. I hope I can improve during this process.
Joining your war room last year was the most wonderful experience in my academic life! You inspired me a lot, and I really appreciate your comments and the conversation, which encouraged me to stick to it. I still remember you said that “one day you will realize that when everybody else is looking for a great teaching method, you will have already finished a lap of running on the teaching-track.” So I am determined to continue with TPRS, and I am willing to start my teaching career with this method. I know I’m not going to regret because it is the ONLY way to improve students’ proficiency in Chinese. You are very welcome to give me more feedback, which will definitely help me further improve my steps of practice.
https://youtu.be/47ZuCypdvm4
Thank you for your time!
Best,
Sandra (Zihan Lin, MAT)
World Language Education
LLED College of Education
University of Georgia