Reading Option A [Note: When preparing this reading class from the story, embed about 10%-15% new vocabulary. The text thus generating becomes a gold mine for the spin off actvitites listed below. There are too many to do, so pick and choose. The process called ROA is a complex taxonomy that can lead to massive […]

I just wanted to write out the activities I am doing the most this year, to share, but also just to have a list for myself, to refer to before a class, when I’m deciding what I want to do in that class. No, I never plan lessons, and yes, in CI, that’s a good

Having private meetings after class when a kid misbehaves (blurts, can’t focus, etc.) does no good. Those meetings do no good. They just alienate the kid. Telling parents doesn’t do much good either – too negative. Maybe it’s better to not talk to the kid and just talk about the kid. It’s the attention they

John Piazza (CA) and John Bracey (MA) not only share the same first name. They also are at the forefront of change in the Latin world in the U.S. We all know Bracey’s riveting story of being an oak in a storm in his building (understatement) over recent years, but Piazza’s is pretty much the same.

Just a caution from Brigitte about the number of words we choose for OWATS. It’s well timed and thank you Brigitte because tomorrow I was going to hand out 20 words to read a chapter of Le Petit Prince and what you wrote here makes me realize that it is too many: …I just did

In my experience, the biggest value of novels is not in the reading of the novel itself but in the awesome spinouts possible at any given unplanned moment. Today I was working with the chapter in Brandon Brown (Quebec) where he didn’t want to get up. His mom walks into the room and says, “Brandon

Two big roadblocks to success in our CI classrooms are: There are severe time limits. So much time is needed to show real gains – far more time than we have. We teach students who for the most part can only think in terms of what is on a test. I won’t even mention administrators and

I just started free writes in my beginning classes, after months of stories. The kids love to write them. They love to count their words. One student, over the past three free writes (over a 2 week period) improved from 44 to 55 to 66 words. That will make a nice bar graph to show

A short report from India: I was walking to work today past the British School and overheard some Hindi language – a guy was asking directions. I noticed that he packed about fifteen syllabus into about one second. It is the fastest and most packed language I have ever heard. He must have studied hard

The energy which is expended in mere thinking, talking or writing is like the steam which escapes through the whistle of the railway engine. The whistle makes a noise, and is even interesting, but it cannot drive the engine. No amount of whistling can move the engine forward. The steam has to be harnessed and

This question from Brian Peck merits vigorous discussion: Hey all, Ben, thanks for this post…it definitely grounds me. My struggle is on a long term basis, how can I create a structure in which the type of TPRS you describe in its must pure form can happen? I have bought in to the backwards planning

If anyone wants to watch Krashen and Carol Gaab’s session at ACTFL, they will find them here: http://fluencymatters.com/video/krashen-gaab-actfl2015-part-1 http://fluencymatters.com/video/krashen-gaab-actfl2015-part-2 http://fluencymatters.com/video/krashen-gaab-actfl2015-part-3