I thought our Eastern Knight was over the worst, but apparently not. Yesterday our Western Knight John Piazza (not to be confused with the Chevalier de l’Ouest Robert Harrell) alerted me to the fact that another particularly ugly chapter (is it even possible?) was happening with our gallant John Bracey. If anyone doubts the old […]

Angie suggested a story about Little Stephen. This one needs work but here is a preliminary test script: smelled smoke Help! caught Little Stephen‘s mom was cooking dinner in the kitchen. Suddenly she smelled smoke. She yelled, “Help!” She went upstairs to get Little Stephen. Little Stephen‘s grandma was sleeping in the basement. Suddenly she

We have a number of story ideas, etc. around Halloween. Here is the link to that category: https://benslavic.com/blog/?s=halloween

I just got this from jen. Maybe someone can identify the people. I see Mary Beth in green, Eric in blue and Laurie in blue and black in the middle and to her left skip in red and black.  Can anyone identify others? What fine people!

I received some cool questions about chanting: Is the chant a part of the script? Where does it originate – with a student or the teacher? What is its purpose – to reinforce a grammatical structure? Do you have an example of a story with a chant? I said: I know that if I speak

The interface between ESL and TPRS is found in the word “compelling”. Stories bring the highest levels of compelling instruction. Therefore, all the ESL folks need to do with their students is some stories while dropping all that other stuff they do that makes their instruction so dry. If ESL instructors were to make up a story with their students,

What is the point of interface between ESL and TPRS? It is the point where students are allowed to express themselves in human ways about human things. The point of interface is compelling personalization. The extent to which an ESL student is personally involved in developing the curriculum of an ESL class will determine the

Stephen Cook and I were having lunch a few months ago in the Staff Canteen of the American Embassy School here in New Delhi. We were just settling into our new jobs and feeling pretty good about everything. During our conversation, Stephen seemed to want to find some common link between TPRS instruction as we

Claire wrote: “My class artist draws on my Surface and it projects for the whole class (this would work with ipad – but I think my pen works better). She’s super fast at drawing and very skilled. Students give her directions in French real-time as she’s drawing it. “With my ELLs, we do this routinely

(Warning – long post with rant qualities in it, although not a full on rant.) Lance wrote: …is One Word Image under a “TPRS umbrella” if we create a compelling scene, and then leave it without developing a plot, or dramatizing it? Sounds like CI only to me…. Here’s some background on that. People can draw their

One of Anne’s best is also the story that has not been cracked into by English in my classes all week, not once. The fact that I am experiencing no blurting this week for the first time in my career is certainly partially due to this story. It has been the centerpiece of my week of extreme

We were pretty cavalier in the old days around 2000-2001 when this stuff was starting to get some attention. Teachers would tell students to act like lions under a tree, for example, and there would be laughter and theatre with very literal actual CI and respect for the Three Steps. Much of what we did