Here is a review of my two latest books. I am very happy:
Review of The Ultimate CI Book 1 and Book 2 by Ben Slavic
During my recent long-awaited professional development for teaching using Comprehensible Input, I realized that one of the reasons I had been drawn to the Spatial Curriculum by Ben Slavic was because of the star shape.
His journey of discovery has led him to write, rewrite, simplify and hone his ideal ACFL aligned, research-based curriculum in the Ultimate CI Books 1 and 2 for teachers of world languages in the classroom and more recently online.
Ben Slavic has self-professed having had 6 clinical teacher burnouts and seems called to continue to connect with educators despite having put in enough time writing and teaching for decades now to be able to walk away with his long list of accomplishments to the profession as they are.
How does this fit with my journey as a teacher?
I have watched, first as an educational assistant for eight years and now as a teacher in my third year, how demanding the legacy methods of teaching languages are on the individual and with the predictable decline of student numbers in the high school language classrooms.
Teaching is vocational and honorable work for many, but should not cause teachers to burn out or cease to believe that they can be good at teaching.
There is a way, and I am a strong believer that Ben’s Star Curriculum is the answer for many that can unlock satisfaction, creativity, meaning, and continued job security in our chosen field as language specialists and leave teachers with the ability to lead fuller lives outside of the classroom as well.
It is no accident I feel that returning to the star is significant for me because of my teacher training courses.
Here in Canada, we are required to take what I believe to be a transformative course named Aboriginal Perspectives.
For this course, other teacher candidates and I created, researched, developed, and uploaded onto the web a major culminating project based on the Star Blanket.
The Star Blanket is a significant living artifact that connects the symbol of The Creator as the star, with the past, present, and future in many First Nations communities.
It has its own pedigree of stories, community ceremonies, symbolic and real ties to the life cycle of the buffalo which connects daily life to the Ultimate Creator and immortality.
For this reason, I am indeed astonished and grateful that my path has led me to teach French using the Star Sequence and now Ben Slavic’s Ultimate CI Books 1 and 2.
Very highly recommended essential pedagogy for language teachers!