I found a kind of strange-ass line from Dr. Krashen that reveals to me that there is quite a bit of distance between T2 and NT: “Hypothesis: Grammatical rules targeted in this way [T2] are much more likely to be at the students i + 1 than items used for Targeting 1.” It’s so weird […]
Alisa reports from Chicago, showing what hard work over years with a few dedicated colleagues by your side can do: In my district we were given explicit permission to follow the research and not worry abt what the high school that we feed into does once our kids get there. We have observed a positive
When I say that the real enemy is using T1 and expecting kids to show on an assessment that they “acquired” certain words/structures, I do not want anyone to think that there are not CI and TPRS teachers expecting T1 type results. (“I taught it now I will test to see who got it” types.)
Nathaniel said: …knowing a list of grammar points may be considered a skill, but it is not a communication skill. It is more like Sudoko or finding the differences in the two drawings. So I distinguish three practices: 1) communication (expression, comprehension and negotiation of meaning), 2) communication skill-building (practice ordering a taco) and 3)
I am not a research scholar, and so this may be way off, but it is what I have experienced as a teacher in the classroom. There is this term, “tracking acquisition”, that has come into my mind. Can we actually visually perceive acquisition in our students? I think so. While teaching them, I try
If the story script ywe are using has only action, it is not as interesting to the students. A script must contain some element of emotion, pathos, sadness, etc. This brings emotion to the story – something is emotionally wrong and needs to be fixed. That makes a better story. So we need to ask
Dr. Krashen says this about T2: 1, The goal is comprehension of a story or other CI activity. 2. This will not require as many comprehensible/interesting reps as in T1. The goal is comprehension of the story or activity, not full acquisition of the rule in a short time. 3. The source of the rules
Tina wrote this on her FB page this morning: There are some radical, life-altering tenets of CI that, if we would just heed, could transform education from the bottom up. Or at least language education. The payoff is great, if we could but wrap our minds around the fact that ALL it takes is comprehensible, compelling
I got this from Ben Lev this morning in Sebastopol, CA (just north of SF). Tina and I met Steve at a summer workshop organized by Erik Olsen and by Don Read: Hey Ben, here’s a PLC success story: My teaching colleague just wasn’t working out (no class control, speaking English in class, losing papers, unwilling/unable
Before 1990, we had stuck language learning up in the brains for so long with the book. Then Blaine applied Krashen’s ideas on purpose in the early 1990’s. For Blaine it was a wonderful process which for him in the earliest days was highly intuitive and aligned so nicely with SK’s work that an instructional
Heading into a tough part of the year, we need mental support tools. The classic French dictée format to teach writing and reading is a powerful tool indeed. I think of dictée as a nice complementary activity to stories. I can even teach grammar during a dictée without using of a book. When would I teach grammar?
Jen wrote this a few days ago here as a comment. I made it into a post: The gulf between research and real live classroom / school requirements for teachers. I am not saying we can’t bridge it to a large extent. Our children are suffering. We do not really know their lives in the
