Dr. Krashen has stated that when we focus on writing we do not become better writers. Annick Chen has shown that to be true at Lincoln High School in Denver.  When we write more we do not become better writers. Somewhere in Robert’s recent series on Scope and Sequence, Robert Harrell mentions that no serious […]

When I first started doing CWB I was teaching stories in a middle school about ten years ago. The balls had the sole purpose of neutralizing the excessive physical energy of one nervous 13 year old boy whose identity lay out on the football field – such is the way we train boys in our

Ben, I wanted to share with you how two fellow Spanish teachers of mine have greatly improved the level of interest in TPRS / CI thanks to their collaboration with members of this blog. First there is the case of a teacher named Elizabeth Oxandale who formerly taught in my district and then went to

Robert’s Scope and Sequence post #18 wandered off and I found it and published it where it should be, about four articles back. So if you are following this thread you can go back and find it now. Apologies.    

I have been knocking around the idea of adding another skill to to Circling and SLOW and Staying in Bounds and vCU and repeating the key target in every single sentence we say and the others. It would be that we must train ourselves when we speak to our students to never use a word

Martin continues: We were heartily welcomed in the rooms of the Centre Culturel d’Agen on Tuesday morning, received our handouts and the schedule for the week. We dived into it and had a Dutch lesson (the first out of three) with Alike, one of the presenters. It didn’t seem very difficult to us three Germans,

For those working with Circling with Balls in their classrooms this week, this is a pep talk in which I compare CWB with doing a sport. When we do Circling with Balls (CWB – see category), it is like learning to snowboard or ride a bike. All we are trying to do is not fall. It is

So, yesterday, Bob Patrick taught the first class ever at the University of Georgia on comprehensible input. The course is called “CI and Second Language Acquisition” and Bob’s syllabus was presented in a previous post here last week: Robert Patrick Syllabus LLED 7045 Bob reported before class yesterday: Three weeks ago, there was one student

Martin has sent a report from Europe and we very much thank him for writing this up for us. Here is his email to me and also the first installment (of two) of his report: Dear Ben, I hope you are still enjoying your summer break. In Northern Germany, we are already in the second week

I just got this question this morning from a teacher who is new to CI and getting ready to start her year with CWB: Hi Ben – I just bought many balls to begin my year with Circling with Balls.  I’m so looking forward to it.  Your video with your son was precious and since

Diane made a comment today that sparkles: …I stopped using questionnaires because I couldn’t figure a way to use them naturally. Perhaps if I were writing a reading for them…. Like Diane, I find it difficult to use the questionnaires naturally (the perfect word to describe what happens) and also Leigh Anne indicated that we

Here is something else on the subject of seating, this one from Chris Roberts: Ben, I’m getting ready to set up my new classroom this week and I want to run an idea by you that, for some, would seem wild. This classroom doesn’t have desks, it has tables with chairs.  The tables look like they