Carol came up from Phoenix today for a beginning workshop and then tomorrow will be the advanced one. I apologize to those in the Denver area for not mentioning it sooner but you can still come tomorrow, no matter what level you are at with CI. I think it’ll be worth it. Last year we […]
There is no such thing as early speech output of the Berlitz variety, where the teacher gets the speakers focused on how the language is produced. The mind should be allowed to do that infinitely complex work by itself. Indeed, the mind – the deeper mind and not the conscious mind – is the ONLY
Sharon sent me some questions about when kids are absent. Please add comments as you see fit: First question: We’ve been back to school for two weeks, and I have not given one quiz! Two things I’m wondering about… first, how do you quiz the new vocabulary presented in a given class? If you have
Chris departs Thursday and returns next Thursday on a field trip with his kids. He has this question for the group: So my exploratory kids will have me in my class for two days and then four days with a sub who is a retired Spanish teacher. Real bubbly personality, great person. Doesn’t know much about TPRS
Dear Ben, I have been feeling very “down” lately regarding my foray into TPRS/CI. I feel like I’m under a microscope and have to turn the kids over having “learned” a TON of Spanish. The semester is now at an end, finals are next week, review (of grammar to be sure they’re ready for the
Administrator: We always need to teach to all learning modalities of the children. The lesson should move around in a lively way between the different modalities – it keeps the kids interested. Me: Bullshit. It has been pretty much agreed upon over the past thirty years, based on the best research available, that in language classes
In 2010 I was working with a videographer whom I had contacted about making a serious film about TPRS, a documentary. We sneaked her into East High School where she was going to get as much footage as she could from within our ten member WL department. I’ll never forget that first session, walking down
It’s interesting that anger seems to be a lot more directed at us than from us. We just want to left to our own devices to study what Krashen and Blaine have offered, and I don’t know of any TPRS teachers who have “gone after” traditional teachers. Some, like me, have gotten angry at being
James is new to all of this and has sent in some video footage for us at: http://jameshosler.blogspot.com/2013/01/sample-latin-3-pqa-january-15-2013.html He explains: I was hoping for three things with this video: 1) to get some feedback from fellow teachers; 2) to show my “beginning of class routine” and the transition to and practice of PQA; and 3)
Bob Patrick writes on sentence frames. I have been barely able to fit in any stories lately because I too have become a big fan of this great idea from Robert Harrell which combines writing with auditory input. We may be talking about what they did over the holidays until June! I LOVE the Discovery Mall set
Chris is reaping the benefits of his unrelenting focus on comprehension based instruction in Ohio. Here is the kind of report from the field that, as we continue to fight, we will see more and more of from our members. Congratulations, Chris! Ben, I have some exciting news. I’ve been nominated by one of my
This was previously entitled Help Needed by Monday, Please. It has grown into a weatlth of comments from lots of group members and so will be placed in the category Presenting to Colleagues on the Method. Jen writes: Ben, Holy crud! I have news. On Thursday, I’m going to an articulation meeting with the other
