Kids teach us. Let’s embrace that idea. So when they refuse our academic overtures, those are teaching moments. For us. Students are not mean spirited or lazy, as the Teacher’s Lounge Crew would often have

Another repost from 2017: If it is true that targeted instruction increases constraints on interest, then why do it? How can we possibly get acquisition when the interest isn’t really there, even with 100 repetitions

I’m going to do a workshop in Chicago tomorrow, returning Thursday. Ironically I won’t be able to see Alisa even though the training I’m doing is close to her, because she will also be on

A repost from last year, before ANATTY: It always comes down to submitting docs, it seems, and we just need to get the problem solved. If anyone has a middle school unit plan S/S we

5 Step OWI Process We want complete buy-in from our students when creating a one word image with them. This requires that we are 100% understood when building the image. Here is one way to

A questionable quality found in teachers is perfectionism. So when they see that the new game (CI) is better than the old game (grammar worksheets), they delay entry into the new game because they don’t

Communication is not about trying to say the same word or grammar concept a number of times over and over in class. Communication is about sharing ideas. It is about focusing on the people with

Most of us take on stuff in our classrooms that isn’t our responsibility. We do everything in our power to uplift others and make them feel better so we can make all the comprehensible input

Those who go back over the years know that the mental health piece has emerged, percolated to the top, as the most important thing we discuss here. So as we now start moving into the

Here is a repost from 2016 for Dana, following our recent discussion on the 25 minute thing on NTCI stories: There are, of course, many keys to success with storytelling. But one of the most

The problem we face is one of intent. If our intention is to use stories to deliver instructional services, and thus please those who run the schools, then we will fail in our mission to

Q How can I incorporate 100% CI into my classroom using: Invisibles/OWI/story listening while writing/incorporating a curriculum?  If we stop having those weekly or monthly markers for certain words that are supposed to have been

Hi Ben – I’d like to know what you, or the group, would suggest for classes that just don’t work. By “don’t work” I mean they lack the interest, motivation or communication skills to do

When we ask students to produce writing or speech to align with some kind of desired outcome written in a document somewhere, in the form of either an observable skill or a measurable content task,

Who has indicated interest in working with Julia on her NTCI project? (Texas A&M). We need email addresses. Pls. send to julia.lynch@tamu.edu

I was talking with a teacher this morning and she said that she never needs to worry about her classes because she always knows, and has taught her kids to always know, where she is

Robert on laughter: Humor and laughter are amazing supports for learning. Here are some research-based comments about that. An article from the American Psychological Association points out that “Laughter Aids Learning.” http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/learning.aspx Susan Weinschenk, PhD

I can see that my entire career as a teacher was devoted to trying to be able to find ways to teach that lift children up, to find some way to teach that brings light

Is it not true that our jobs are really about creating an environment for our students to become aware that they are beings who are capable when learning a language of experiencing joy, to be

I remember two occasions in Denver Public Schools hosting Dr. Krashen (in 2012) and Dr. Mason (in 2010) into my classroom to observe, Krashen for an afternoon and Mason for an entire day. Krashen said

There is an interchange between the pilot/narrator and the Little Prince in Chapter 2 of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupéry. When he first meets the Little Prince, he says: Narrator: Mais…qu’est-ce que tu fais là?/What

Q. I was looking at one of your books that talked about a daily quick quiz. Can you tell me what you do for absent students to make up the quiz that is easy to

I just got this very positive report from Anne just now – thought I’d share it: Ben – two things: 1. In the story-making process with the Invisibles, the two questions “where” and “with whom”

Anne Matava just sent me this image from her classroom in Maine: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMEG8-cYZDW0XDx95rqRMW1El0YPr1_GlitnCd3Du-sVdUZvVRtOwO-HRBdARc4lw/photo/AF1QipMo5afXD0ORgucXBeINMPlNGSlwo3GAsWCZCPDU?key=WlExR1Jrc0ZyMDdBM3pUMllnNC1WVWpxb2k3a0lB Those teachers working with ANATS* (the book that explains One Word Images/Invisibles) are asked to note the following: (1) The gallery is

SL post from 2016: Kathrin explains Beniko’s Story Listening in an elegant and simple way. The link is a must-see. In it we see great pacing, nice and slow. We see Kathrin just teaching language

I just found this unpublished and now completed draft that I wrote in January of 2016. It was about the same week that I first started developing the Invisibles concept. Kind of a blast from

Alisa recently sharesd some pencil and paper bail outs for when we need to get the kids writing, if for no other reason than to give ourselves a break: 1. Turn a narrative into a

This is a response to a teacher who is at his wit’s end about uninformed administrators requiring him to do things in his classroom that don’t make sense in terms of the research: Well then

Alisa’s 2nd grade class recently created a one word image together (below). I present it here to make a point about who draws at those lower levels. I’m not sure we’ve talked about this here

I think that this statement reveals a big difference between NTCI and TPRS: “In non-targeted comprehensible input (NTCI) we use images as the starting point to impart language to our students and not the other

Our Alisa has already created a storybook collection in September with her 3rd and 4th graders. She sent me the collection which I share below. I feel that it is important to share here because

If anyone wants to present on ANATS, Greg shared this with us awhile ago and thanks Greg: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Jk0yDZyZS_7RuTS11lybO8hR2awwuc9D1woCaFd98DM/edit#slide=id.g2a2aee8035_0_24

I just posted this a few months ago here but I am so passionate about the topic that I chose to post it again in case anyone missed it: Going. Going. Gone. The idea of

The thing about TPRS was that not only were there too many rules, but also it required a certain type of personality. Since there was no real road map, or system, only certain teachers could

A repost: So there are empty sandboxes and then there are sandboxes with (CI) sand in them, from which stories and all sorts of fun things emerge. How can this image be explored more deeply?

More ammunition (from Diane Neubauer) for talking with admins who need help in understanding CI: Stephen-Krashen-summary-2 Stephen-Krashen-summary-2

The thought form “they won’t learn it unless I teach it” is a falsity in language acquisition. It is not true. Languages cannot be taught anymore than dreams can be consciously controlled. You can’t think

When we think about our roles as language teachers, the most important aspect of our work is to love our children and give them hope in what they can do in life. In my opinion

Paul-Kirschling-on-Grammar-Teachers

Looks like the funding for this study may be there, and TAMU has just approved it, so I’m reposting this. Julia needs just one more volunteer to get this into action. We already have precious

This is from my ANATS book for Loly who is working with dictée in her classes this week: Dictée: This is a powerful metacognitive tool that helps students attempt to match up the sounds of

Alisa and I shared an interesting email thread today. She wrote: Hi Ben, The place where I’m consulting [ed. note: a Hebrew School in NYC] has a very intense testing culture.  As they become schooled in

Personally, I don’t like the pressure to create a great story in every class. There is the idea out there that the teacher has to walk into the classroom and create with her students a great

Those who, like me, think that the Star Sequence provides the truest overall curricular form to NTCI might enjoy this suggestion from Alisa: Here is an optional modification to The Star Sequence: Add a 6th

I just had an insight into the reason these things are on the ACTFL pages. I once worked, an eternity ago, with Vicki Galloway, who was the South Carolina Foreign Language Consultant and later a

Those six principles/”core practices” – I have to put them in quotes because I can’t take them seriously – that Alisa brought up won’t leave my mind, and hence me, alone, since I am what

Well, the weather just turned cold here in Colorado after five months of perfect mountain weather. It had to happen. I have been going through old files and I found four quotes that might help

I have been going through old Google docs and found 98 pages of old blog articles from before 2007. Some may want to peruse them. But keep in mind that they are very TPRS oriented

Greg wrote this cool power point on A Natural Approach to Stories, which I think in many ways is an even more important book than A Natural Approach to the Year: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12oBa_3fzgiJuxvPdmpzj8LRxyqGWmJMs8fAxLqXa6tc/edit#slide=id.g2a2aee8035_0_29