Old timers here will know that searching the terms “Beginning the Year” as well as “Starting the Year” would bring forth lots of articles from years past that may be germane to our own individual experiences as we get ready to crank up the new academic year. Of course, many of those articles are possibly […]

Jonathan Marye, commenting here this morning on the Candy – 1 post (Aug. 5th) about how NT is different from collecting big bags of TPRS candy, has shared an image-rich, very tasty meal with us today. Bon appétit tout le monde and thank you for the delicious imagery, Jonathan! – So, in essence, we are

Beth’s second email, dated July 28: I wish that I had come across these new ideas I’m now embracing sooner — yours and Tina’s work, in particular.  I talked with one of my wonderful mentor teachers this afternoon, Dr. Kim Pate, and I shared with her how deeply that regret runs.  I regret the missed opportunity for my kids who “got” what

Some teachers go to conferences and collect new activities like candy. They have big bags of activities that they lug around, with candy spilling all over the place. After ten years, the bags are too full to even pick up. It’s not about collecting activities. It’s about having a system – a process – for

Are there any other super important aspects of our work than the mental health/pedagogy tandem? I can’t think of any. Because when we have the right pedagogy – for me it is nontargeted comprehensible input based on images that kids create – everything else falls into place. So it has dawned on my slowly –

My highest priority in this work is the mental health piece. Second, of course, is the pedagogy piece. But they are intertwined. We all know that on some level the WAY we teach determines our mental health. It makes me tip my hat to myself and all the other grammar based textbook teachers of the

Someone asked: Hi Ben, I remember you said in your workshop that it takes 10k hours to reach an advanced proficiency in a language. What is the source for this? I ask because some is asking me on Twitter after I posted an anti-homework post. My response: I went to trainings in the summer for

I hope Beth sends in a lot of reports from the field this year. The last one we got is here: https://benslavic.com/blog/report-from-the-field-beth-sims/ Follow ups will be important because she isn’t the only person who is going in “new” with the Natural Approach to Stories and Natural Approach to the Year way of teaching for the

Cute Idea #7 – Find the Key to Unlock the Individual On the first day of class this year, I asked my kids in one class why they chose French. Brooke said that she wanted to become a fashion designer and live and work in Paris. I started calling her Fille de Versace/Daughter of Versace

Q. I have read “A Natural Approach to the Year”, and am so excited to dive right into it with my Spanish level 1s. My dilemma is that I’m starting at a new school next year, teaching Spanish 1 AND 2. I would really love to do the same with my level 2s, but I’m

Cute Idea #6: What nationality? What language? This idea is one that is easy to throw in and for some reason always commands high interest, probably in part because it is easily understood. It affords the kids’ minds a break from the hard work of turning sound into meaning, and yet it does not interrupt the

Beth Sims (Alabama) sent a poignant report that I think represents the thinking of a lot of new people. It’s lengthy but worth the read in my opinion because it comes from a practicing professional of 19 years and from the heart: Dear Ben, I have to tell you again HOW MUCH I appreciate your email