From Russ: Hey guys, Just wanted to let you know how things were going over here in Silverton. I just did my first one word image with students in 4th period today (level 1 class). We have been in school since last Wednesday, but because of weird schedules and procedural stuff, they only really had […]
In using One Word Images, Elena Overvold in Portland has found that imagination and reality – harsh, real reality – intersect. It only reinforces my belief that is growing ever-stronger that in using images that are generated by the imaginations of the people in the room, we open our classes up to more reality. Think
Here are two scenarios having to do with language learning: Scenario One Lazy little 13 year old Jean-Luc Baison, having never studied English, comes over from Lyon, France to live with his family in New York City. Jean-Luc’s dad’s company has sent him there for a year. Every time Jean-Luc hears words in New York, in whatever context, he gets
It makes my head spin sometimes how easy it is to just slip into old habits and all of a sudden you’ve spent a whole week losing the kids and allowing relationships to grow cold. Not intentionally. of course. You think you’re doing good work but at the end of the week I realize I’ve
We had a discussion about summative testing last week, but I don’t think it went very far in answering Dana’s original question about what to do when one is required to test at 80% of the grade summatively, against all reason. Below are some points that may spur a richer discussion for Dana. Maybe not.
Our work isn’t mechanical and cannot be taught to new teachers in a mechanical way. Once we accept how truly subjective the nature of this work is, we can begin to move towards an instructional approach that is more feeling toned, less predictable and less based on high frequency word lists or words that have
Tina wrote this for us: It is so good to switch places and the teacher to be a student. Two common weekend activities where I can lay down my teacher personality and just relish the student experience are church and yoga. In church, when it is really cooking, you are brought out of yourself into
Since many of us are just starting up stories right now, I thought I would share this. At NTPRS in St. Louis a few years ago I went to Linda Li’s sessions all week. Below is the story she did each day and how she did it. Characteristically, Linda went very slowly (SLOW-LI to use
Judy Dubois wrote: I think of [language acquisition as] a plant growing with roots deep in the soil. All we can do is water it. A lot of the water drains off, but some gets absorbed by the roots, carried up the trunk, becomes sap and through a mysterious process the plant grows and produces
Dear Ben! I came across your video on YouTube on “Circling with Balls” and I instantly wanted to know more about this technique. Yesterday I ordered “PQA in a Wink” and dove straight into the “PQA and the Oppositional Student” section. I am absolutely fascinated with your ideas and grateful for your sharing experience and
Today I heard yet again a common refrain in this work: non-targeted CI instruction works for some but it isn’t for everybody. The problem in that statement lies in the fact that it refers to teachers and not students. If non-targeted instruction is best for kids, if that seems to be the gorilla in the
This is a fairly significant report from Steven and fits in nicely with Dana’s question asked just a few hours ago. My thinking is that we don’t need to be doing ANY kind of summative assessment in our field, given the nature of how languages work. Steve’s report: Hi Ben, Today I initiated a chat
