There is a big problem with applying research in language acquisition to schools. Said research has been designed by Krashen and others without any real consideration of the variables that must be accounted for when the very large part of learners is unmotivated. We need research that specifically looks at how language learners in schools learn, […]
Yes, Blaine has said that TPRS only works with motivated students. and we must not forget that on a Monday morning. It is accurate to state that most of our students are honestly not interested in learning the languages we are trying to teach them. It’s not their fault. The smart ones have a goal in college
Remember the find/replace feature in Word. If Kelly in your 2nd period class does something, but in 4th period the actress was Salma and on through the day, and the script was pretty much the same, then we hit “control-find-replace” and make all the Kelly/Salma/etc. replacements at once. That is, if the stories are similar enough. Of course,
If we think that our students are being overly shy or non-communicative, just think that it could be us sitting there – when we ourselves were the same age as our current students – in fear of being called upon to “show up” in class. I don’t know about you, but I was no more ready to sit up and square up
Teachers spend a lot of time talking about assessment, going to meetings and workshops, planning testing, gathering data on tests, etc. But it is arbitrary. I have been told by many teachers over the years that they “cook” their grades anyway at the end of the term, depending on if they like the kid and if the kid tries
A big fear is that I will delete a member due to name discrepencies on cards and memberships. If that happens to you please accept my apologies in advance and it is an easy fix if you just email me. Same thing with getting locked out, but that hasn’t happened much lately.
I am very heartened by the group decision to slow down. I haven’t known how. Yesterday in my classes, as I said, I had five very important suggestions for all of us. Ideas that could make us better at this because the devil is always in the details. But what the group has said in
Please note that free memberships will be terminated this weekend. I think of our group as a real PLC where we meet and some talk and some don’t but they don’t leave the room and walk around the halls, which is how I have come to view the free memberships. This PLC started with the
Ben, Our friend from the Ohio Dept. of Ed sent this out to the Ohio Foreign Language Association listserv. I put in bold the important thing I want you to see. Read Jody’s comment below the post to explore why I say there is neither shakin’ nor bakin’ going on in Ohio. Her use of the
In a recent comment here, in response to the “Dream Necklace” post, David Maust wrote this about his experience with a Latin 2 class this year: …another thing I noticed this year with a class I had last year that was really tough, is that this year they have blossomed beyond what I ever would
Got this from Brigitte today: Hi Ben, I was asked to teach a college level intro German course during the summer session, beginning at the end of May. It will be a very intensive course, jamming two semesters worth of beginner level German into a 6 week course that meets 4 times a week for
