This is from John Piazza: Ben, I came across this article by Mike Peto on transitioning a department toward an CI approach. Among the very helpful advice he offers, there is this reminder about how powerful the timed/free-writes can be as evidence of student learning/acquisition. I have certainly discovered this, and I plan to capitalize […]
On Transitioning an Entire Department Towards CI/TPRS Read More »
Grant Boulanger is working with Carol in organizing iFLT in Saint Paul this summer. This means it will be better than in previous years. Here is a message from Grant: Ben, Yesterday Carol Gaab sent out a January newsletter announcing IFLT 2015. It’s going to be hosted by my district, at the high school my
Robert’s email discussing scope and sequence with his district World Languages representative continues: 2. In the second year students continue with oral language development through interpersonal and interpretive communication on topics related to the students, their community (including school) and their environment with emphasis on hearing, understanding and responding to spoken language. At this level
Robert’s email discussing scope and sequence with his district World Languages representative continues: So now that I have prefaced my submission to you with all of that, if I were free to design a Scope and Sequence based on ACTFL, Krashen, SLA, Brain-Based Research, etc., I would have something like the following: 1. In the
Robert’s email discussing scope and sequence with his district World Languages representative continues: D. We need to decide what ought to be accomplished in a high school program and how much can be accomplished. Both ACTFL and the College Board indicate that the AP program is designed for students who have been exposed to the
Gratitude. That’s what I felt today when at the gym a 6’5″ guy came up to me with a big smile on his face and started telling me all about a group of monkeys behind a cart and where they were going and all that. He went on and on. I pretended to remember him,
Robert’s email discussing scope and sequence with his district World Languages representative continues: C. The time necessary for true mastery far exceeds the time available in the school setting. Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” postulates that a minimum of 10,000 hours are needed for true mastery of any given subject or activity. He shows
Recently we got into discussing Carol’s “the brain craves novelty” idea, and though the brain does indeed crave novelty, James wrote in response: …here’s what we do in class. I speak in Latin in ways they can understand and they pay attention. Or else I give them a reading they can understand and they read
Robert’s email discussing scope and sequence with his district World Languages representative continues. Has anyone noticed that the guy hasn’t responded yet? He doesn’t respond to Robert until the 17th of these posts. There is a reason for that. I won’t go into it now except to say that this professional district level advisor to
Robert’s email discussing Scope and Sequence with his district World Languages representative continues: 9. Acquiring a language is different from learning in nearly all other areas (Van Patten) because it is, especially in the early stages, essentially an unconscious process (Chomsky, Krashen). While one learns history by reading about history in the native language or
Robert’s email discussing scope and sequence with his district World Languages representative continues: 8. Brain-based research also shows that the brain craves and requires meaning and significance. This is why people see figures in clouds or the face of Jesus on a tortilla. Language that is not meaningful (and meaning requires comprehensibility) and significant will
I got this question today: …I am interested in seeing CI activities and or videos for upper levels. I teach Spanish III and AP. I am somewhat familiar with CI/TPRS for lower levels and am always working to incorporate these into my upper level classes. However, we have a fairly traditional program and our upper
