Gretchen has a question: I’ve also found my teaching to be totally transformed from this PLC and learning from Ben & Tina. I do have a question, although I’m not sure about the best place

I just received this email in support of the work Tina and I are doing and would like to share it with our group here. This teacher is in South Carolina. What I would like

Does anyone know about teaching languages in Florida or know anyone? I’m asking for someone considering to relocate to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. Email me at benslavic@yahoo.com if you have any information and thanks. I

Here is something I enjoyed reading on Jim Tripp’s site: http://www.trippsscripts.com/single-post/2016/08/21/Chomsky-1975-on-the-Unconscious-Nature-of-Language-Acquisition

Tina and I learned a lot from each other this summer in our workshops, and classroom management was at the top of the things that we worked on. We have five or six “plans” now

Meg asks the group: I have a class that used to be super chatty and is still a bit on that side/disrespectful. But with new seating today, NOBODY raised hands with suggestions for our OWI.

We all will get challenged on the topic of rigor in what we do. It’s just a question of when. So when it happens to you, be ready with this post from Robert some years

Connected to the entire Invisibles year long approach is the wonderful idea that in the spring we don’t actually work, but rather just enjoy walking around the room supervising seven teams of students who are

Ky just joined our group. She reports: Over Christmas break I read A Natural Approach to Stories and the Bite Size Book of Classroom Management. I went to school yesterday, after not lesson planning one

In some school populations, the character’s name is enough to assume the person’s gender.  If it is named Bill, it is a boy, and if it is named Sally, it is a girl.  However, the

Tina and I just finished our new Bite Size Book on Classroom Management. I am offering it (only here) at no charge so just follow this link if you want it. (Please keep the link

Just got this from Alisa. It is such a big part of Classroom Management: Ben, This is fascinating on power poses and very relevant for teachers like us. Best in 2018, Alisa

In a comment here today, Greg wrote: “When asked, a major TPRS trainer said earlier this year in a presentation that they only do oral TPRS stories until November, then they start on novels. “So

It’s time to rest and sleep. After all, we all know what’s coming in just a few short weeks. New readers here are invited to read back through the ten years of articles and comments,

Our gradebooks must reflect the following truth: All students can succeed, as long as they are being evaluated according to their own internal timeline. We must reward growth, focus, and interaction with the language. We

Everyone can effortlessly achieve proficiency in their second language just as they did in their first. But to fully absorb that truth, teachers must finally begin to look at their work with their students through

Those familiar with the Invisibles Star Sequence may be interested to read how Tina and I introduce it in our new book. It gives an example of what we are trying to share with teachers

Got this from brother Brian. It’s a repost from years and years ago: Hey Ben, I’ll get right to the question: What are your thoughts on the student sense of boredom?  In their world, it

There are only variations on what we do and there are no experts. All each of us has to do is tap into a human way of teaching and so it doesn’t at all surprise

I had an insight about our work this morning. I think that 90% of what young people need when they are growing up is to learn social skills. And yet most of what they are

Greg asked: Ben, what’s your view on “CAN” – “Confidence, Accuracy, No Hesitation”? It’s the Blaine Ray idea that we should not go on in a story or in our instruction until actors or students

A rant in support of fudging grades: I would like to see some administrator who is aware of the truth of the research, the sobering truth that we can only learn a language by focusing

From Alisa: Hi, Ben, I got this letter from a 1st grader today. If you can’t read 1st graderese, it says: “From Camilo You teach me different language so I can speak with more people.”

Udo clarifies: “I’m sure that creating flow is essential, but on the other hand I believe students can be in their conscious minds when they are trying to comprehend. For me it’s more a matter

We all know about this phenomenon of “helicopter parents”. In a recent email exchange between Alisa and me, she made some points worth sharing. (By the way, anything I share here from private email correspondence

If anyone wants some good simple stories to read in French, Meg has provided a link and thank you Meg: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MORNMH9OfnQWWjbADpxb5R1gn9guLFF4

Since FVR is not voluntary, Tina and I have espoused the term Free Choice Reading to describe how we start our classes. But that’s not the purpose of this post, rather to just let everyone

From Dana: Hi guys, I have a question for you. How can we expect the kids to only speak in the TL if they’ve only had 1,2 or 3 “years” of it? I just finished

In our desire to plan this, plan that, get control of our stories, have a lot of charts on the wall (most of which only serve to confuse students), and then the next day do

This passage is from Herbert Kohl’s “The Open Classroom”: “Lesson plans are supposed to spell out what the teacher is going to do in his classroom day to day, week to week, and even month

This is to inform the group that we have a colleague, fellow group member in Senegal so maybe if everyone knows Rachel is there we can keep her on our radar to help in any

Sleep deprivation in the U.S. is a true thing. It is bad when teachers can’t sleep and then have to be all bright eyed and bushytailed in the morning, especially since our work with stories

Hi guys, Yesterday, I started my advanced class off with FCR like I always do and that was great. Then I started to chat about the weekend and the calendar like I always do and

I just wanted to share that Sean Lawler has joined our group. It’s a big deal and it makes me very happy and I will tell you why: Sean goes back in this group at

Here is a question for the group: I have been using the “Ben Slavic Classroom Rules” for about 8 years. BUT. They do not address things that I need to address in this school that

Dana Miller Kitch, from Canada, replaced me at the American Embassy School in India this year (2017-2018) and it was very good to know that a CI teacher was going to be there for those

Greg promised a Power Point Presentation we can all use and here it is with many thanks to Greg: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Jk0yDZyZS_7RuTS11lybO8hR2awwuc9D1woCaFd98DM/edit#slide=id.p Another link:

It would be nice to get some group responses on this from Meg: Hi Ben, On Friday I talked to my administration and my classroom management issues came up (it is my 2nd year). Admin

We wish Greg good luck in his Edcamp initiative today. Greg reports: “This Saturday 12/9/17 will be Edcamp Lake County in Mundelein, Illinois (I am one of two organizers), within Edcamp we will be having

There are fettered and unfettered responses to discipline problems. A fettered response would take into consideration all sorts of factors like who said it, the tone of voice, the history of the kid’s involvement in

I got this from Alisa: Hi Ben, I searched ‘Bitchy Edge’ on the PLC and got the thread from 2010 with Susie Gross where you are clarifying what is and isn’t an ‘Eclectic Teacher.’  I

For upper level kids as a fun break. Not intended for input gains, just some fun for kids who have a couple of years of language and who want a change in activities: 1. One

We are collecting semester exam samples if anybody wants to send theirs in. Here is Greg’s: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11mSxjaeU94M5Qb4k3suft-WELd6lE0Y0PMwQRxg14rg/edit?usp=sharing Another one from Greg: Here is my actual multiple choice final for Spanish 1 UCP this semester. https://docs.google.com/document/d/12G_fPWfdSBUMJLRYBO0LL1cxCZJ6IrJesz6f6M969gw/edit?usp=sharing

A note on gender:  In some school populations, the character’s name is enough to assume the person’s gender.  If it is named Bill, it is a boy, and if it is named Sally, it is

I was admiring the crisp New England weather last month when visiting Connecticut and Keri Biron told me that the winters could be pretty bone-chilling. So I do appreciate the nice 60 degrees with sun

To do a Movie Talk, you do not have to do much planning.  Simply find an engaging movie clip.  Engagement drives the bus, so you can use any clip that you think your students will

To keep your kids honest, always have your quiz writer write up a  short (usually five point) quiz of the Movie Talk while it is happening. This keeps the students accountable. Double the five point

Tina and I have noticed that many CI teachers use Movie Talk a lot. We have five reasons why we don’t  use it too much: Technology already plays such a huge role in students’ lives

There is only one way to teach greetings that I have seen that works: We make their answer visible – on a chart in front of the room which they can look at when you

If you are smart, you have not spent too much time so far this year laboriously teaching greetings each day, which gives new meaning to the term “boring”, but rather have sprinkled in the greetings