To invoke the image from Rabelais, we have focused too much on the outside part of the bone – the skills – and not enough on the bone marrow – FLOW and a sense of soft heart centered communication with our students. We can’t be blamed. Schools have had that effect on us. We started […]
I feel that I have finally uncovered, via bloody hands and fingers, the nature of this work. I feel as if I’ve been off track for fifteen years now. It is because I worked in schools, so no blame. I see now that the real nature of this work with comprehensible input lies in being
In the following exchange, who asked and who answered? (Hint: they are both familiar names in our PLC.) Q. Is Non-Targeted input less efficient? Someone recently said that with only a hundred hours of class time we need targets and that Non-Targeted work can only exist in a perfect ideal world. I’m wondering if there’s
Sorry to keep talking about the Invisibles. The old stuff just lacks the power I find there. Many who have been trained in their use are finding out the same thing. The concept does need explanation and I intend to get going on a video on how to use them in class that is very
I just got an email from John Daley in Boston who, talking about ways to best present CI to our colleagues, offered up the best image I have yet heard on how to reach out to others about CI: …we don’t catch fish by jumping in the water and choking them….
How do we teach using CI in 1:1 or very small group situations? Nothing has worked so far. It’s been a kind of a leitmotif question here over all the years, one we really haven’t been able to answer. I believe that an answer, a really good answer, can be found in the Invisibles. During
Jim has been with the group for many years. He is always changing and evolving. Here is an excellent report describing what he is up to these days: Lately the way I’ve approached CWB has changed. After a few conversations with Bryce and others about how they do personal interviews, I’ve found myself more comfortable talking
A repost from when I was in India last year: If a class is being gnarly, put them immediately on a worksheet program. I did so recently because a lot of my diplomat kids are going back to countries next year where it is all grammar. Their parents, knowing this, have expressed “concern” that their
Some points about how people acquire languages: From Dr. Beniko Mason: “The best way to improve in a foreign language is to do a great deal of comprehensible, interesting reading. The case for self-selected reading for pleasure is overwhelming.” From Dr. Stephen Krashen: “Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and
Brian Barabe has been doing this work for almost twenty years and really gets it. It is so nice to hear from him once again in this report from Chandler, Arizona: Hey Ben – I have given various TPRS related presentations at the fall conference of AZLA, the Arizona Language Association since 2005. Two years
An option for how you use free writes: Divide classes into teams of four or five. Read two or three sentences from a free write (editing for correctness on the fly). The winning team is the one which listens the best and produces the drawing with the most correct details from what was read aloud. Students
I got this comment from a colleague: Ben – It was a huge revelation to read your book (The Big CI Book) and finally see it all brought together. I always knew I hated the textbook language study model but I didn’t really know what to do. Your book explains it. It explains the philosophy.
