I had asked Deena for more frequent reports from the field because she is new and describes the process of being new really well. Here is her third report and thank you Deena: Wow…I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve checked in…Last week was pretty great, as far as teaching weeks go.  Kids […]

It’s not about us worrying anymore. That part is over. There is no method. There are no skills to learn – we already know how to speak slowly, to listen to those we speak with, to check for understanding because we are the adults, to point and pause at new things, to stay in bounds.

Hi PLC Members, Here is some quick information that Ben wanted me to share with you on how “posting comments” in the PLC should function.  Here’s how to do it… When Ben posts an article, any comments/questions at the bottom of that article should be a discussion about that specific article. The Forum is your

When we read a novel, breaks are needed. So every few chapters, or every few days, whenever the kids don’t want to do R & D or cRD any more, I put up a painting of some French artist. I don’t go with the YouTube option – I need a static image because it allows

As some of us know Dr. Robert Patrick teaches a graduate course in education at the University of Georgia (LLED 7045 Comprehensible Input and Second Language Acquisition). He recently forwarded to me an interesting exchange with a student: Ben, I am copying below, with her permission but without her name, an email dialogue with one

Hi Ben, So like all other teachers in New York City, and New York state, I got observed under the Danielson rubric. And, it went well! I wasn’t worried about the classroom environment sections because that’s all about procedures and having a pleasant classroom. But I was worried about instruction. Well, my principal loved my

This is from a November 3, 2011 article on the website of Cambridge University. It reflects exactly what we all need to keep in mind when thinking about how we teach languages: Unconscious learning could be the secret to speeding up learning a second language. When linguists talk about unconscious or implicit language learning, they

1. The Primer hard link is now up. 2. An Acronyms hard link is now up. 3. The Forum now has two parts, one for general discussion and one for specific questions. I am happy that we finally have a place where our newer members can go to get a specific question answered that same

1. We will have our Primer hard link for administrators up and running in the next few days. If you are just hearing about this, the Primer is a document that we all agree we have needed for some time, a short document that can be quickly printed and handed to any administrator wanting a

Thank you for the bios. They along with the normal flow of articles from the queue will start to appear once we are through this current stoppage for the redesign, the addition of the forum, and the verification of group members’ accounts. Please do the following: 1. Visit this link: https://benslavic.com/blog/alphabetized-list-of-current-plc-members/ to confirm accuracy of

Hi PLC Members, The Forum is ready! You will have to do a one time registration to use the forum.  But don’t worry, I’ve made it simple for you with a new tutorial. Click the link below. How To Register For The Forum In the navigation menu at the top, you will see I’ve added

I have received good primer material. Thank you. In discussion with Robert and Carol we have decided to base the primer on Robert’s ten points. We should all agree that it is the final document we want before we actually post it as a category and as a hard link, of course. The ten point