I’m sure few will agree with me, but any focus in a language class on a scope and sequence, or pacing guide, or curriculum map, whatever it is called, is bad. Increasingly, I see that the necessity for maximum repetitions as the key to what we do. We can’t talk about the importance of repetitions anymore. […]
I got this from a PLC member. It’s a repeat post from a few weeks ago. It’s about the bios. If you are new to the group, you missed what we went through in terms of safety issues about a year and a half ago here. There is the need for everyone to identify who
From Robert: Whenever colleagues question the “rigor” of your class and try to say that TPRS/CI is “too easy”, discuss with them the concept of academic rigor. I really like what the Department of State has to say about rigor: An academic program is rigorous when there is: depth and integrity of inquiry sustained focus
Mary Beth shares: My cousin (school librarian) just posted this to Facebook – hahaha….written by Dr. Krashen! http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=5627#.UVmsKH5JMOY.facebook
The two articles that follow this one are from previous years. Some may remember this thread, which I made into a category because I thought it was so important. I want to republish it here now for a very specific and important reason: I am having much more success this year reaching my students in the real way
Sabrina sent this and keep them coming Sabrina. The kids eat ’em up. Great way to start off a class. We probably need a category. I’ll make one called YouTube French Clips. I’ll make them for four language groups. The Latinists will have to make their own, costumes and all, and publish them on YouTube and tell
This is from Mary Beth: Hey Ben – I am working on a paper right now about Standards for my Masters class. I was poking around the NC Dept of Public Instruction site (NCDPI) because we were going to move there a few years ago and are still planning to retire there. So, I started
Q. I’ve been trying your dictée idea with all four levels of French and see lots of benefits. I’m curious, though, about why you insist on no English during the process. Is it just a general desire to stay in French or is there more to it than that? Dictée certainly improves listening and writing
About a year and a half ago Charlotte (Germany) invented something for middle and elementary kids and shared it with us here. It’s called a Wall Zoo. Then today Eric Herman referenced the idea in a comment, using the term that best describes Charlotte’s idea – Draw and PQA (DPQA). It is another blue chip
Sabrina sends this: Ben, I found this link reading some posts on the TPRS list. It’s an interactive storywriting software. I can totally see this as another technology tool to add to Textivate and such. It is called inklewriter. This is how the creators describe it: “inklewriter is a free tool designed to allow anyone
For every circled question in a story, there are a number of cute answers, but only one can be chosen. The kids have these kinds of “inner score cards” during class. They know who said what, and sometimes they talk about it after class. What is a cute answer? Most cute answers aren’t that cute.
Sometimes I feel a distance between me and the words I am saying to my students. I don’t feel connected to the words. When that happens, I am not connected to the students. I don’t like it when the words I am saying are just words. I have to remember that, to inspire my students,
