This pig/kid thing is real, rarely talked about in a clear way because the kids who oppose us in this passive aggressive and devastating fashion are so rare. But that they are rare makes their effect on our work no less devastating as we try, sometimes against hope, to teach languages using comprehensible input. I would […]
This is the second in an eleven part ramble: Is there a “cell of defiance” led by one single kid, a group leader of a few other kids, being built in your classroom right now or already in place? Do such uniquely and intentially troublesome kids really exist? Are the other kids victims because the teacher didn’t stop the defiance in time
There is a thing that I call the October Collapse, where the reality of the year sets in and a lot of new CI teachers begin to collapse under the weight of what they are trying to do, and the students’ interest often collapses too. The teachers often think it’s them. We can’t let that
This is the first in a series of blog posts about how pigs can’t fly: I have come to the conclusion that teachers who use comprehensible input are in a much more dangerous position than regular teachers. They are in a dangerous position because the work of making a class human, that is to say one in which
Here’s another post from 2012: When that feeling of resentment comes up inside of me when I feel that too many of my students aren’t trying, I realize what quicksand that anger represents for me, and so I avoid it at all costs. When I try to replace that anger and resentment with a kind
Here is a post from 2012 on the topic of communicating with parents early on in the year before it’s too late: I was communicating with a teacher about getting the parents of kids who act out in class involved early, actually right away, at the beginning of the year. She said: I have not
Insist On The Parental Support You Deserve This Year Read More »
I’m very concerned about how ppl are being trained now with CI methods. It’s the same way they were trained twenty years ago.The mechanical aspects of forcing speech output in CI classes are even on the rise, and I think it’s got to do with wanting to “align with the existing [ed. note: usually outmoded]
I have heard from a few teachers that implementing the Invisibles at the lower levels is not easy. Corroboration came on that from Alisa this morning who was responding to a question from Jenna about it. Below is Alisa’s sage advice, which in a nutshell is to keep the Invisibles program itself above sixth grade,
Hi Ben, I’m an elementary teacher of Spanish these days (coming from a secondary background), I can see why elementary foreign language teachers go through a revolving door. Most of the challenge is parent/admin perception of how much can be learned quickly by small children. This year I’m tasked with teaching K-7. Yes 340 students,
Hi, Ben! Here it is! My first report from the field. Today was our first day of class. Here is what I did on day one with my Grade 9s. First, we looked at our goals (not a requirement from our school, but thought it would help the kids) I wrote that today our goals
So today I began class with 10 minutes of reading our class readings document. I can share that with you if you’d like to see it. I asked them to read about one classmate, and one character. They all read. Then we did a short discussion around 2 questions “You read about what classmate or
Q. I am accountable to parents, students and administration and I have to explanations for my classroom rules and grades. A. This is such a good point and one that has occupied my mind on and off for years. There really is no solution. We are talking about a product, CI, that could be compared
