Here is a biography from Diane, a Mandarin Chinese teacher in Chicagoland: Hi Ben, I grew up in Ohio and majored in East Asian Studies in college (Wittenberg University, 1995) and had a few jobs and other studies after college. I lived in Yunnan Province, China from 2001-2004. While in China, I took one-on-one classes […]

Dori shared with Karen something we should all be aware of as a technique to use at parent conferences: I thought I’d share something that worked for me last year–maybe it will work for you, maybe not. But I thought I’d share. At parent-teacher conferences a rather weak student came with his parents who weren’t

We’ll see if this idea works – I am going to create a new category here for novels that are currently available. Kind of a book review section. We’ll arrange it by beginning (1 and 2) and intermediate (3 and 4) levels. If you want to suggest a novel that you think is worthy of

I just added a few sentences to what a 2 is. Feel free to use or reject. It’s in blue below: I’m really fired up about how jGR has changed my entire classroom energy this year. It is a strong classroom discipline tool – the strongest one possible because of its message to all kids about

It is more than reasonable to offer newer teachers, who naturally need practice with the basic TPRS/CI skills of Circling and SLOW, etc., some options to stories that work with kids and give them that needed practice before they even try a story. The activities described on the Resource page of this site on the

Here is a bio from Charlotte: Hi Group, I am Charlotte Rempel Kroeker and I am now entering my 29th year of teaching German as a second language in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I helped pioneer the German Bilingual Program in Winnipeg at the Kindergarten level in 1984 and then progressed through teaching Grades 1, 2

I would like to nominate Karen for Teacher of the Week in our group, because she just so much tells it like it is here, in a comment made last week: …I’m willing to have a somewhat rough year and figure it’s a little like being a first-year teacher again. The goal is worth it:

Karen said this: ….[What] is up with these bratty egotistical kids that think they know how to teach a language better than a language teacher?… The obvious answers are parents and TV shows – the kids often grow up with those kinds of images of what a teacher is. But, as per the prayer of our

The text below is from the Teacher’s Discovery website. Never in my career would I have dreamed that such a wonderful opportunity would have come my way. The text in bold is the great part. We are indeed lucky to be teaching at a time when we can get this kind of support from corporations:

Chris continues: Ben, Remember that video I set to you about the newest, most awesome thing in the world of Spanish education?  Remember?  Remember that awesome digital textbook Voces?  If not, I will resend you the email.  If you do remember, keep on reading.  Below is an email I”m forwarding to you from Teacher’s Discovery,

Got this from Chris: Ben, If you want to see something truly pathetic, that epitomizes the mentality of so many FL teachers here in the 21st century, look no further.  I present to you “Voces”, the newest product that Teacher’s Discovery is peddling to the FL teaching community.  Not only is it pathetic, it’s dangerous. 

Something thing that really bugs me is how some of us are trying to do too much. We’re loading up our plates at the salad bar and trying everything. Why should we do that? It just leads to confusion. I am not overeating. I do PQA on Monday, stories on Tuesday which carry over to Wednesday if needed,