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,

Many articles you have sent me by private email have been shoved back into the queue by time. My intent is to always get them in the queue for eventual publication. But now, for the first time, I can see that some are not going to ever be published simply due to the volume of everything. I

So we have readings based on/connected to stories, and we have the novels, and there is another cool way to read. If you are looking for block filler-uppers, this is the ticket, along with dictation. So you set up the LCD or however you do that and you just sit on a stool next to

Most of us have been doing a lot less reading than auditory input in the form of PQA, Extended PQA and stories. It’s just that way at the beginning of the year. Especially if it’s a level 1 course, right? WhY? Because the kids need to have heard the language a bit before they can begin

Mary Beth mentioned this tonight in a comment and we really need to know it. I think John mentioned it a few months ago. We just really need to know how this thing is just moving faster and faster into our laps every day. I would really like to see how a traditional book/computer based language

As the years have gone by, I have noticed more and more kids connecting with computers in classes. I walk by the room and I hear it happening. I hear something else. There is less and less actual teaching going on. On the other hand, I feel as if I am actually teaching. I am

Dave Talone sent this, and I repost it from the moretprs list in case anyone missed it. Very badass indeed. Very supportive of what we do: Ben I just saw this over at moretprs and wanted to share it with you in case it slipped off your radar.  It is amazing! Diane Volzer posted: Reading

Jody sent this as a follow up to the post about why kids cheat: http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2012/09/26/better-pedagogy-less-cheating-three-ideas/ And one line from this article that stands out and that we all can identify with and applaud since we know we do it, is this one: …the easiest ways to impede cheating turn on the delivery of distinctive, personalized

This is the first time we’ve done this in awhile – add a reading into the Readings Based on Stories category. It’s one from Jim on Anne’s story that we mentioned earlier tonight: Stop Talking! Courtney habla demasiado. Habla en portugués silenciosamente. Siempre habla de una enemiga que se llama Becky. Becky se sienta al

This story by Anne Matava is a great one: He Talks Too Much talks stop it! the whole time, all the time Troy talks too much.  He talks all the time.  (At this point you can find out what he talks about, in what language, etc.)  He goes to the movies and talks the whole

I have noticed that there are stages within the Three Steps where we see energy build through stages: Stage 1 – this is the establishing meaning part – one minute – when we just tell them what the three structures (the only thing written in the top middle portion of the board at this point