How do we get from a fact that we learn about a kid during PQA into a full blown story? This will be discussed in greater detail here in a series of connected articles over the next few days. We can’t wait until the summer (some of us can’t get to a workshop.) We have to use the classes we have […]

Below is the article by Sandy Cutshall that we networked over to Robert (through Michele and others) that is now in the current issue of The Language Educator, the monthly publication of ACTFL. David sent it to me. When I communicated with Sandy about this, I got the strong impression that she just considered it a kind of chore to write about

  We could say a lot about the move in support of ACTFL’s Three Modes of Communication by the College Board AP Exams. We have actually already done so, in a far reaching discussion that has lasted since May, 2011 when Robert first brought it up. The intensity of the discussion over the ensuing months

This and the next few posts are follow-ups/rewrites/recollecting of previously published posts on the topic of the new AP exam format. I just wanted to revisit and update them. The blog queue is really jammed right now, but I have decided not to put too much up here at a time. There is Robert’s Chapter 4 waiting, and

Here is a comment I better put here as a post to keep it within reach, as it were, in case anyone does a search on PQA. It’s on trusting PQA. It might be best to read this other article first: https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/08/02/choosing-structures-is-important/ The background on this is that Chris wrote: I think “receives a package” and “is afraid

The Spring 2012 Edition of the online International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching includes articles by a few of our group members:   Articles include: Overcoming Fear of Reading in English: The Astonishing Impact of a Short SSR Experience by Kyung-Sook Cho A Comparison of TPRS and Traditional Instruction, both with SSR. by Joseph Dziedzic. Developing

Here is Kate’s lesson plan as per the two previous posts: Kate Marquez 3rd Grade FLES Independence Charter School Lesson Plans: Week of March 5, 2012 Unit: Family and Home Unit Objective: By  end of unit (late March 2012) teacher will invite Spanish-speaking family members to visit each class. Students will be able to ask

Here is a concrete suggestion for Kate as to how to plan this thing out to make sure things go well. It is especially useful in this kind of situation, when you know you are going to be observed but you don’t know when: Sometime during the week before you know that the observors will be

I got this from Kate in Philadelphia: Hi Ben – I just found out that  my supervisor has arranged for evaluators from ACTFL to visit next week. We are getting interviewed as well as observed but we have no idea which class they will show up to. I am super nervous about making sure that

I haven’t forgotten about RT and a template. Yesterday in a reading class I decided to just try a little very basic RT, to get over my nervousness about the whole thing, because, when you see Jason do RT, you get intimidated by the power and scope of what he does.  The text was about a couple of

Stephen Krashen here suggests a way that we can share a great idea with others that my, if enough people emrace it, put a dent in the Achievement Gap. In the process, we might learn to read for the fun of it again. It’s not too late! The Bookmooch plan: An easy way to help close

Here is an example of basic PQA. It’s always good to keep our fundamentals sound and revisit them from time to time.  If the structure is: lazy then first you write both the word and its translation into L1 on the board and you tell the class what it means: …class, paresseux means lazy…. Then