Recently kale has become the food to eat. Food researcher Mike Anderson, in his important book The Rave Diet, has made that claim for over twenty years. He claims that the closer one gets to a diet of pure dark leafy greens, the better one’s health.
Recently TPRS has become the way to teach a language. Spanish teacher Blaine Ray, in his important book Fluency Through TPR Storytelling, has made that claim for over twenty years. He claims that the closer one gets to using pure comprehensible input when teaching second language classes, the greater will be the learner’s gains.
Anyone who has tried to embrace the kale revolution in their own diet knows that it’s not an easy thing to do. One thinks about doing it, one has conversations about doing it, one even plants kale in their garden. They do that because they want the health gains. But those efforts don’t last long. It’s just too far to jump, to eat with the level of discipline and commitment necessary to bring the guaranteed results about. They won’t do it. Soon they forget about it as something that didn’t work for them.
It’s the same with TPRS. Teachers read about it, have conversations about doing it, even go to workshops. They do that because they want the classroom gains. But those efforts don’t last long. It’s just too far to jump,to teach with the level of discipline and commitment necessary to bring the guaranteed results about. They won’t do it. Soon they forget about it as something that didn’t work for them.
I get that. The only thing is that when one is disingenuous, it wastes the time of others around them who want to get it going for real in their own lives. That sucks.
Everybody needs to be honest about this. If one believes in the kale/TPRS revolutions and genuinely wants to adopt that way of eating/teaching in their lives, then they need to stop all the talk, all the planning, all the hedging and just do it. This means cutting out a ton of dangerous things from one’s diet, and from one’s teaching repertoire.