John sent this: Ben, I thought you’d either be horrified or entertained by the description of a panel at this year’s upcoming American Philological Association meeting. It is called “After Krashen.” What amazes me is that the working assumption seems to be that Latin teachers and textbook companies have already integrated and exhausted K’s findings, […]
Robert sent me two takes on the Beatitudes, both of which I have published below. The first is a spoof, but the second is most wonderful, irrespective of whatever faith one might profess, or not profess. Truth is truth in any form, and we can always use a reminder to not let go the hand
This from John: Ben – Recent conversations in my school are causing me to think that I am soon going to have to justify my assessments in very concrete terms, possibly in the context of a framework that applies to all subjects. With this in mind, I was hoping that we could establish a place
This content from a recent response by Robert to Jody on https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/12/05/ohio-may-have-a-problem/ cannot be ignored so I am reposting it here as a blog entry: I have to agree with Jody. Most programs ignore the importance of the conversation, i.e. the interpersonal component. I also question whether Chris’s correspondent understands Krashen. From what I have read and
This content from a recent comment by Jody on https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/12/05/ohio-may-have-a-problem/ cannot be ignored so I am reposting it here as a blog entry: …in TPRS and the CI methods that “we” use, negotiation of meaning by the instructor and student are constant: Teacher asks question. Students answers correctly. Teacher checks for comprehension anyway. Student answers
Brigitte’s follow up meeting with her administrator was different than she thought it would be, for those who remember her comment here of a few weeks ago in which she felt that the kids “froze up” when an administrator walked in. Really, we are often our own worst critics, right? Hi Ben, I wanted to give
Thank you Michael for this bio: I haven’t yet gotten around to writing my bio, but I could cut and paste the majority of Jen’s bio into my own. Everything she said about not feeling like a “real teacher,” trying to do things “the way we’re supposed to,” having lesson plans and sticking to them,
This is from John: Ben, I wanted to make sure this helpful resource is accessible to Latin teachers on your blog. It is a list of the 300 most frequent Latin words, based on the classical literature. http://users.erols.com/whitaker/freqappx.htm#300 Obviously, some important daily-use words are missing, but this list can be supplemented by classroom vocabulary and
There is one thing about the use of English that I am not sure we have mentioned here but that illustrates exactly why it is so crucial to enforce our rules, especially the non-use of English, and strongly. That is that when we have to redirect kids back to L2 by using L1 ourselves (I’m not the only
We didn’t get a discussion going on Michael’s blog post from Friday. However, we need to step up on the follow-up email below from Michael. I don’t mean to demand responses here, but this is a serious situation. We just need to know that there are no “leaders” or “experts” here who can answer questions,
More from Byrce and AshLee: (posted by Bryce Hedstrom at his site http://www.brycehedstrom.com/2011/university-student-classroom-observation) These are some further reflections by AshLee, a student at Colorado State University. I had presented on TPRS in her Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages class and she came to observe in my classroom. The students in the college class had good
(posted by Bryce Hedstrom at his site http://www.brycehedstrom.com/2011/university-student-relfections) Bryce shares: I recently did presentations on TPRS at two regional universities. This is a journal response from AshLee Pray, a Spanish student at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The reflections of a teacher-in-training are valuable because they give us glimpses into the thought processes of
