Tina’s admins want to see more speech output in beginners. They misunderstand. If it takes a child up to five years or more to be able to speak, how then might seventh graders speak after twenty or thirty hours? Over the years we have had some nice posts on this topic. This one is from […]

Here is a suggested way to respond to being called into the principal’s office for a “discussion” about how you are teaching: 1. Say as little as possible. 2. Nod your head and get out of there. 3. If the principal demands that you say something, explain that for years you have been putting your

Generally when an administrator hears from a parent or some other teacher that we are doing it wrong, they call us in for a meeting and say something like: “Hi! I have some insights for you. If you reflect on them, they may help you move forward in your instruction.“ This is really code for:

Anyone under pressure in their buildings to focus on output (“show what they know”) may want to visit the arsenal of articles collected here over the years and offer some of them to those fool-hearted administrators who have nothing else to do but challenge their teachers when they don’t fall into line with other teachers

Here is the link to Robert’s blog, which is a gold mine: Laughter is a Best Practice

In 2011 I got an email from a person I don’t know. I read it from time to time to remind me of how far we’ve come, because there was a day when people like this ruled the world, back in the Jurassic period of language instruction. Here is is: From: steve leggiero <sleggierous@yahoo.com> To: benslavic@yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday,

For those who must still hand in lesson plans (an insult to us as professional educators), Tina offers this that can be modified for anyone’s use: 10-20-2016 Tina Hargaden French One Novice Mid level of proficiency Lesson:  Creating a story:  Boo… le fantôme Objectives: SWBAT comprehend spoken French used to narrate a story that the

Here are more details about the nuts and bolts aspect of Alisa’s project. Let get this thing networked. It’s time.  Dear Friends, This summer, I embarked on a new project that I want to share with you.  In a nutshell, I am reimagining Modern Hebrew language instruction.  I believe my vision is timely, and doable with

I got this from a teacher who is new to our PLC: Dear Ben, I am a second-year French teacher. I teach in a public middle school, and I struggle a lot with management. Most of my management issues arise when doing TPRS, PQA, and CI (lots of talking to each other in English, shouting out,

Alisa shares a new project with us:  Ben, After teaching elementary Spanish w/CI for a few years, I could no longer tolerate the legacy modern Hebrew instruction my and other kids were getting at our local supplementary (temple-based) schools, so I embarked on a “re-imagining Modern Hebrew Instruction” project.  I wrote a grant with the

Beth Smith is new to our group and up in Westchester County. Is the NYC group still meeting periodically? Carly or Brigitte or anyone email me and I will put you guys in contact with her.  

I have a question for the group re: special ed kids. I have been able to successfully include them in stories, but not always. Sometimes it doesn’t work. Anyone with experience or insight into this topic is asked to comment on it below. Merci d’avance!