We might as well get the bathroom pass discussion going here, since we are in the middle of the seating chart discussion right now as well: What I personally do is allow two 3 min. trips per class without asking. They just get up and go. When I explain that policy in the first few days of […]
So many creative seating arrangements are out there. Some are designed for classroom discipline and others are designed to stimulate creative sharing of ideas around the room. The problem is that in classes based on comprehensible input the kids can’t share creative ideas – all they can do is distract each other. They must be listening. So,
A guy at my Tuesday session in Las Vegas asked me during a crucial point in the session, “Where are you going with this?” The underlying tone of the question was, “I don’t know what you are doing there – it looks stupid to me.” I smiled and answered, “Mind meld!” Can you imagine how
As many of us get ready to do the Circling with Balls/Cards activities to start off the year, or whatever we do to start things off, let us remember what our goals are: 1. To teach the rules. 2. To personalize, including names. 3. To teach some language. Let us clearly understand that if we
Did you see the Olympic women’s gymnastics team win gold? Who didn’t? I applaud them and their coaches for their great work and their victory. Awesome effort, awesome results, awesome cuteness factor, something the government, I mean the corporations, will be able to take to the bank. An all around good day for America. Hey,
It’s time again for the reminder that we don’t have to be entertainers. A lot of us believe that still. We think that our success is tied to how much our kids laugh and have a good time in class. This is hogwash. Our success is tied to how much our kids can/want to understand
It’s not just a town in Rhode Island. When we fear that we won’t be able to generate enough CI in our classes, which is a basic and genuine fear that comes with the territory of working with comprehensible input, we can always do what Huck Finn says he does (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Bob Patrick recently reported that his first trip to the computer lab with his classes made him aware of how computers affect his language instruction: Going to the lab changed everything. Even though I had something interesting for them to read, I was not directly interacting with all of them as we have been all
Two group members cancelled their memberships in the past week, each with short identical statements to me in private emails stating flatly that “I won’t be teaching any more.” This has stuck with me. Both were enthusiastic students of comprehensible input when they joined a year ago. What happened? Of course, I can’t ask them. They would
Bob’s report on a Thursday: Today brought some administrative reality into my work. I had to take my Latin 2 students to a computer lab to get them signed up for a couple of online services that I use. I also had some really good, fun, online reading of a story about a character named
Clarice sent this: Oakmont High School in Roseville, CA has an opening for a part time (.66) Spanish teacher. The position is for grades 9-12. We are a TPRS/CI department. Due to the growth in our high school, as well as our program, the district has created this opportunity. There is a good possibility this
Nina Barber sent me some short clips from one of my sessions in Las Vegas. I noticed that the clarity of my teaching, which is totally dependent on pacing, SLOW, wait time, pointing to the targets in real time with laser or hand, seemed a lot more distorted in the video, whereas I know that it was completely
