I attended the IDT (International German Teachers) conference in Jena, Germany, in 2010 and learned the following: – the value of chunking language so students don’t experience cognitive overload – that everything is lexical until a learner has acquired sufficient language to begin making connections. “Voy = I go” and “Fui = I went” are […]
Don’t forget that Laurie is going down to Washington, D.C. this week to visit Lea and talk about what we do with some teachers at her school and on the East Coast. Here is the information if you are in that area and would like to attend. Lea informs us that there is still time to
Hi Ben, I received an e-mail from a colleague who is looking for ways to help her achieve and maintain the 90% target language goal. She has been turned off about TPRS, but does tell stories from personal experience to her students, so I tried to explain things without using any of the jargon. Here’s
Drew hit on a great plan re: leveling kids in language classes. We all need to think about whether it is something we would want to fight for in our schools. I personally will, because I think it has the potential to solve a lot of problems. Here is Drew’s four year plan: I am
Why do I believe Teaching with Comprehensible Input is the most effective method for producing speaking fluency? Before proceeding, it is important to make a distinction. TCI is not TPRS. While TPRS is one method of providing Comprehensible Input, it is not the only method. Experts on Second Language Acquisition (e.g. Asher, Krashen, Van Patten,
Jen said: …Isn’t every class a mixed level? Aren’t there really no such things as “levels” anyway?…. John said this: …this statement from Jen’s recent post I think deserves to be a post on its own, because it really touches on the the assumptions most teachers, parents and administrators hold. How many of us are
Once we have decided that the goal is fluency or communicative competence, we have to decide what method best helps us accomplish that goal. To answer that question, we need to know something about both Second Language Acquisition and how the brain works. Some of the things we know include the following: 1. The brain
Just thought I’d turn these two paragraphs (from a comment by Robert in response to a question from Libby) into a post. We need to gear up for next year when we start defining rigor and defending our positions in terms of ACTFL and the Three Modes. We must make it clear to all concerned – students,
And the last “variety pack” question is from jen directly: I have 3-4 kids who will continue to Spanish 3; another CI based teacher (also the department head) in her building has 4 kids who will continue to Spanish 4, more likely it will be 2-3, so a total of 8 at the most. I strongly recommend
This from Carol in NJ: Hi Ben, Even though my grammar crazed colleagues can be a real pain, sometime things can work out for the CI team! Every year I undergo a summative evaluation at the end of the school year. When I began with TPRS, I also began the process of schooling my administration
We can look forward to a series of four really excellent posts by Robert Harrell this week, starting here today and running through Friday. This first one addresses how we got off track in methods historicially: Far too few teachers think strategically about their teaching methodology. Yet Socrates’ statement that “the unexamined life is not
I got this question from someone: Hi Ben, I’m an ESL teacher who’s been introduced to TPRS and your website recently and I really like what I see. The approach makes a great deal of sense and I’d love to make TPRS a major part of my teaching approach. I’d like to order some of
