Sylvia, who works with AIM up in Canada, sent these links. The second one is really amazing because of the recall level of details of the kids – they remembered every single detail of a story!
As you know, I have started a blog following the progress of my first year AIM students. I also videotape my 2nd and 3rd year AIM students from time to time (grades 4 & 5). Here is some recent footage, if you’re curious to see the level of fluency they reach. The students are retelling the play we are currently studying in class:
http://www.vimeo.com/9923019
password: aimlanguage
http://www.vimeo.com/9924647 (this clip is more impressive since I’m not prompting with any questions)
password: aimlanguage
Syl
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
2 thoughts on “AIM”
Ben, interesting point about teaching to the eyes. When I’m teaching, I will stop if I notice that a student is not looking at me. This does require an inordinate amount of patience especially teaching 7-8 year old boys who really are quite distractable! The following video clip demonstrates this (and also how important it is to talk slowly, as you mentioned.) This clip was taken on Day 6 of the school year. Most of these students have never had any French before since our school starts in grade 3 and French is not mandated in our province until grade 4.
The class is quite low-energy as they are just learning how to speak French and getting used to French class and my expectations.
http://www.vimeo.com/6619974
password: aimlanguage
Contrast this to my latest blog entry where the boys have a lot more energy (Day 72)!
http://www.vimeo.com/10016095
password: aimlanguage
Interesting!