From TPRS in a Year! – Skill #43: The Whacky Transportation Scene Whenever an actor needs to go to another location in a story, the potential for a humorous mode of travel exists. The conveyance can be merely described in words, or it can actually be put into action, which the kids love, because they […]
In my book, TPRS in a Year!, written a decade ago, I identify a number of skills and strategies which have morphed into the current version of comprehensible input that Tina and I recommend. It’s been a long and winding road. In an important, searchable post here called “Hit List” – which is also a
My first career choice was to repair lava lamps, but they went out of style, although you can still get them at Walmart. My next career preference was to become a choral conductor, but that didn’t happen either. So my third career choice was to become what is now called a traditional language teacher. I
A re-post from 2010: I’ve always been slightly puzzled about why people reject TPRS/CI without deeper investigation. It just seems so silly. Here we have a way of easily reaching kids by staying in target language that is interesting and fun for them, something we never had before, and people toss it off out of
The other day I asked my French 2 students to watch one of Alice Ayel’s short story videos on YouTube at home and write whatever they understood in English over the weekend and bring it to me on Monday. They all actually understood a lot of it! Two students handed me the exact same thing
Cameron reminds us about the silent period (it is so easily forgotten!) – “My son was 3 years old when we moved to Japan. He started at a Montessori preschool at 3 1/2 years old. We were worried when at 5 years he was still only producing words and phrases in Japanese. We speak Spanish
Steven said in a comment here this morning: …output as per BVP is “original thought being communicated unrehearsed”. ACTFL distinguishes between two terms: Performance (what is rehearsed and memorized) vs. Proficiency (unrehearsed output). Language acquisition should be effortless and accessible to all because it is hard-wired in the brain. It is innate for us to
Julia reports this very cool vignette: …last week in study hall (free time), some of the 6th Graders played “Spanish class.” They went over the classroom rules, had a test, and everything. I think it’s a good sign….
Hola, Ben and Tina, I recently received and am reading your new book and program “A Natural Approach to the Year.” I am so enthusiastic about implementing all of this as I have been a passionate follower of you and CI the last four years (and TPRS for the last 15). I have a question
Dana reports from India on the word “playfulness”. It’s not a word that is going to get a lot of play in the research world, or with 80% of teachers who might consider it out of the realm of what we do. However, it may be the most important word, or one of them, in
Hey Ben, It looks like my school is pushing the seal of biliteracy. And it looks like it is literally a gold star that gets put on kids’ diplomas. My question is does anyone on the blog know anything about it? Is it at all useful? If so great if not and I have to
Alisa, this comment was made on FB by someone doing NT CI at the elementary levels. I would be curious to know how you would respond to it: …I am in the same boat this year after learning about non-targeted structures. I also have students 2x/week for 30 minutes. I found it really hard to do non-targeted
