I’ve known and worked with Diego Ojeda (Louisville, KY) for years and would like to formally welcome him into our group. Many of you know Diego as one of the premier presenters in the CI world and a true gentleman. He is busy with all sorts of projects, but tonight in a phone call I
In their efforts to show that they are in line with the research and the buzz word of the day, CI , there are many language departments now claiming – innaccurately – that they do CI, and it’s getting worse daily. They are straddling centuries. They have one foot in the last century and one
Here is my new, honest mission statement. I put it in orange because it is such a big deal to me, to finally write something true about my goals in becoming a teacher so long ago in 1977. It’s taken this long: My mission as a language teacher is to create a learning environment, in
For over 95% of our students, over all those years, being in my classes was little more for them than just a job, with little of the joy of communication, and too much memorization and focus on lists of words, semantic sets, thematic units, etc. They accepted it and I accepted it. As a result,
Yes. For most of my career, I can say that I, as a teacher, was more focused on myself and getting my own emotional needs met through teaching than trying to actually increase the acquisition of my students. It was all about me. I thought that I wanted to help my students learn French, but
I believe that it is important for any professional in any field to have a mission statement. I never actually wrote one when, for the first 24 years of my career, I was teaching AP French Language and Literature, because I didn’t really have a mission, and if I ever published one it was a
Those who have indicated to me your interest in the new Invisibles Zoom trainings, let me know at benslavic@yahoo.com when the best time for you to meet is during the week. I’ll take the most requested time on the most requested day and we can start next week. We will meet for about 90 minutes
Think of these words: warm, reciprocal, participatory, fun, human, uplifting, flowing Now think of their opposites: cold, solitary, alone, boring, robotic, depressing, locked up Which set of words do you like better? Which set better describes the way you would like to teach a language? If you chose the second set, you are describing what
We’ve been unloading some truth bombs on the novels lately. Really, we’ve been doing that for years. Today, Greg laid it all out pretty clearly in this fine and very accurate comment-turned-article, whether people like its content or not: The issue is this – the pure novel brand of CI is super boring. The interesting
Got this. This is not the only such email I’ve gotten lately. Something is happening: Ben – Just wanted to let you know that, after dabbling in comprehensible input instruction for years, my school has decided to do away with it entirely. I can understand the decision – our admins spent a lot of money
Questioning Level 2 – Who As stated earlier, when you use the star curriculum, everything is based on creating images. In this first sample (Category A) journey around the star, your image will come from one of the students’ cards that you see in front of you. How does this process, called Card Talk, work?
Questioning Level 1 – The Town Meeting We start each class with a town meeting. Go quickly around the room and inquire in English about what is going on with your students that day. You probably already do this. We can’t just barrel our way into stories – it spikes affective filters. This light discussion
