Cool things keep happening. Today we welcome a new PLC member from New Zealand! Here is a little about Eric Lindblom:
Hi Ben –
I teach Japanese to Years 7-13 (6th – 12th grade) at a very small rural secondary school about 2 hours south of Christchurch, New Zealand. I’m actually an American and began my teaching career as a German teacher in Birmingham, Michigan in 1985. I started learning Japanese in my late twenties and then began teaching it soon after that. I met my wife (a New Zealander) in Japan while in Japan on a teacher exchange and after 9 years living in Japan and a few children later, we moved to New Zealand. We been here for about 13 years and love it!
I started reading about TPRS a few years ago and was immediately interested. Stephen Krashen’s Natural Approach was part of my teaching methods classes in the early 80s, so I was familiar with the theoretical background. Then when I found out that Krashen actively supported the method, I was hooked. I tried asking other language teachers and our NZ national languages advisor about TPRS, but no one had heard of it. I joined the moretprs mailing list, read Blaine Ray’s TPRS green bible, your Big CI Book and TPRS in a Year! and have been following many of the blogs. I haven’t jumped in with both feet yet, but I’ve been ‘circling’ new vocabulary and structures and ‘asking stories’ and have generally had positive results. It feels right to me and I know I’ll get better at it the more I keep at it. Our school year is winding down now and we finish in early December for a 2 month holiday. I plan to be very busy getting ready for a new school year using more and more CI and TPRS. I’m really looking forward to learning more from your PLC.
Oh and not only am I the furthest south, but also the furthest east. The sun rises on New Zealand before anywhere else in the world!
Cheers,
Eric Lindblom
Japanese Teacher
Opihi College
Temuka, New Zealand