A repost: Four kinds of teachers give forced/required class homework: Those who are mean. Those who are afraid. Those who need approval. Those who can’t get the job done in the time they have. I

With non-targeted CI we deliver the ocean and they get it. I used to deliver cups of water and make them drink. Now, it’s the ocean! How could an ocean ever fit into a cup

This idea can get the students working in the three skills of reading, writing and listening all at once. It eats up minutes if you ever need that to happen. Level 1 kids obviously can’t do it

Julie asks: Hi Ben! Not sure if I’ll get a response before next Tuesday when here, in Canada, we have our first day of school.  I’m really excited to get going in TPRS. One question

The big fight about non-targeted vs. targeted input is a red herring. The fact is that it’s all CI. The only difference Tina and I are suggesting (Jan. of 2016) is, instead of working from

Hello, I am your grade book and I wanted to congratulate you on another year in service to me. Oh, I know, I know. You thought you were working on behalf of the kids. Hah,

This one is from a parent of one of Steven’s students: Hi Ben, During the summer, I was emailed by a supportive parent. They attached a picture I took with my superstar student in the

Q. What do you do with dictées? Do you mark them? I’m looking at their translations right now and how carefully they copy them. Would you ever use them as summarize marks? A. I put

Q. Just a quick question. What’s the difference between the archivist and the curator? I thought that I had it clear but now that I’m coming closes to bringing in the jobs, I’m not sure.

A report from Dana who is working with the very same 8th grade students who as 6th graders two years ago are the very students who invented the Invsibles concept: Hi Ben, I just have

Does anyone know of any YouTube videos that are good for audio learning French?

Someone on FB asked this truly important question: I need help! I have a VERY challenging group of Spanish 1 at the worst time of day. They are energetic but compulsively talk chatter and joke

How to reconcile the obvious disconnect between Krashen’s idea that learning a language should be an effortless process while at the same time being rigorous? It depends on how we interpret the word “rigorous”. Robert

Hey Ben, I’m really liking the beginning of the school year the way you shared with us this summer. Since my students are all so keen, I feel like they’re ready for more stuff. We’re

The passwords they give us are unwieldy. If you want to change it, just click on the tutorials hard link at the top of this page and follow the instructions.

After a long summer of traveling around, Tina and I got a wonderful statement of support from long time PLC member Laura Avila in Maine. I treasure it: ¡MIL GRACIAS! Tina and Ben. The work

We have a question from Nick about what the bathroom policy is in our classes and how we model and maintain it with our students. In the past I have struggled with setting a consistent

Teacher’s Discovery has recognized the value that Anne Matava’s story scripts hold for CI teachers. Their plan is to distribute all of Anne’s scripts, old and new, in one massive script book to be released

I love this idea from Bryan Whitney. Check it out: …another thing that I’m going to try as a job is having one or two “coaches”. The coaches write down when they see good contributions

In the Invisibles Star Cycle there is potential to work a lot less than we usually do over the course of a year. Here are 6 things you can do to work a lot less

Another way we can find out who the best artists are – the ones who will get the job all year long – is to simply look at their Card Talk cards. Steven Sebald here

A repost from 2011: It’s like a locomotive. We shovel the language coal – the input – into their minds in class, but, once the speed is up, the train is perfectly capable of using its

I was once giving a year end diagnostic speaking test to a quiet level 2 student who listens really well in class. I really didn’t know if he could say a word or a thousand

Here’s a good thing to watch at the beginning of any year: http://learninglanguages.celta.msu.edu/sla-vanpatten/

The best way to neutralize criticism in our buildings is to flood our critics with information that supports what we do, using email, stopping them in the hallway, etc.. The other primers can be used

A point for those doing the Invisibles: It is non-targeted if we work from an image. This does not mean that we have to go into a story using ONLY the image as the sole

I keep learning new things. In Maine I learned the value of adding new characters in Questioning Level 5. We usually have two characters in the story when we arrive there (QL is the creation of

We’re in Tuscon now. We just left Maine yesterday. What Alice Yates, a friend of Susan Gross, started there back in 2000, or even before, I think, is amazing. Those guys are badass up there.

Here is a post of a Matava story script from 2008 to show how some things never go out of style.  Those using Anne’s scripts this year will probably want to try this one:  The Smith

Name: Donna Oreja Job: To listen and hear everything Likes/Dislikes: soft music/loud music Fear: not being able to hear anymore Problem: has an ear infection Secret: is getting pierced

This 1983 video is interesting to watch. It is such a fine support of what we very often forget that language acquisition is completely in the domain of the unconscious mind. (It even talks about my heartthrob language learning

Alisa sent this: https://qz.com/957043/learning-a-second-language-isnt-just-good-for-your-brain-its-good-for-democracy-too/?utm_source=atlfb

This one has a great problem and is an excellent choice for a story because it is so simple in its overall concept: Name: Earth Job: Home protector Likes/Dislikes: water/plastic Fear: Might disappear Problem: Shakes

The biggest deal in working with the Invisibles and especially with the individually drawn characters is that the teacher RESONATE with the character. Why do a story with a boring character that you don’t care

Philip Smith in Ireland shared some great stories he had created with his class using one word images last spring. Here is another one from his files, for those planning on using the Invisibles this

Here is a little star that we made a story out of in Ann Arbor, MI. I used it because I was drawn to the star’s secret but as the story developed it went in

I would not use this one because in spite of the great artwork the back-of-the-page information is not cohesive, doesn’t gel to make an interesting character: Name: Lavon Job: Teacher Likes/Dislikes: Buttermilk Fear: of flying

If I were standing in front of my class with a stack of these individually created characters, it would be hard for me not to pick this one. I would make the story out of

This is another example of a character that would be easy to do a story about. Generally with these images my mind and heart “glom” onto one aspect of the character, in this case its

Clyde the Cloud shows us how the best characters are usually the simplest. I am immediately drawn to Clyde’s problem: Name: Clyde the Cloud Job: Shader Likes/Dislikes: Wind Fear: Sun Problem: When he cries people

Dana Miller-Kitch is the person taking the position I had in New Delhi at the American Embassy School this year. Tina and I got to spend some quality time with her in Philadelphia chez Dick Detwiler this

Here is a character whose problem and secret are plenty enough to get a good story going: Name: Gus the Peach Job: Shoe Salesman Likes/Dislikes: Smell of new shoes/fungus Fear: corn Problem: is hairier than

Here is another strong individually created character that is cohesive. When going through all the drawings, standing in front of class, discussing each one in English, pointing out the good things I like about each

This is an example of a cohesive character that would make a good story. It has great colors and an interesting face, and her back-of-the-page information is cohesive and therefore interesting. I would base the story on her

We require that the individually created drawings that the kids submit to us for consideration in an Invisibles story have a name, job, likes/dislikes, fear, problem, and secret. This information is put on the back

Here is our team pic from Chicago that included PLC stalwarts Alisa Shapiro-Rosenberg (not pictured) and Sean Lawler (yellow shirt):