Here is an article from Mary Beth about Finnish schools. She said, “I loved the line a few paragraphs in, stating that there’s less homework, they engage the children in creative play, and no standardized tests …hmmm …sounds a little like what we are trying to do our CI-based classrooms!” http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/#.TwIURsoUctY.facebook

I have started to call roll about 2/3 of the way through the class period. It is so fast to do it that way because I know, since I have been teaching to the eyes for a half an hour up to that point, exactly who is absent. I just tell the kids we are going to

I have started to hang lists of verbs up so that I don’t have a Verb Wall per se, which takes up too much space, I place each poster of verbs (10 verbs on one laminated sheet) on a hook on which the verb sheet hangs. When the kids know them, can sign them and instantly identify them,

If something is wrong in a school building, if the vibe around you feels off, makes you feel somehow paranoid, or if the energy feels dark in some way, it is likely that there IS something wrong in the building. For years, I concluded from that vibe that there was somehow something wrong with me.

We can provide perfectly fine CI instruction without PQA and stories. We can even make CI work without personalization. It’s not so interesting to the kids, but it works. How? Just read a ton and spin minimally, using a kind of modified R and D. How far to go into the D part of R

I am going to sticky this post at the top of the blog posts until we get a bunch of text bites as discussed in the comments below in pink bold. We need to do this. We only have until January 6th on this. They take the link down on Friday. Another thing we need

It’s that time of year – the time to make lists. I have been wondering what our group members would call the single most difficult aspect of our work with CI/TPRS. So, in addition to any New Year’s resolutions you might send in, also send in what you consider to be the hardest part of our

What are you going to start with this week and why? That is another question I have for the group. For example, on the kids’ first day back, I intend to play Fact or Crap with them in English. It’s a game where someone reads out something written on a card that the listener has to

I was up at Eldora Ski Resort today. There was an instructor coaching a kid down a run. He was so positive! And there wasn’t a shred of false praise in his words – I listened carefully. He was really interested in every detail of his student’s skiing. It was amazing, really. As I listened,

Any New Year’s Resolutions? How about if each person who wants to sends in a resolution they have for their teaching this year? Then we can publish them here in the next few weeks and see if there is a common thread, a winner, if you will. That ought to give us some idea of what

[Note, this post is about starting out with new kids, but note that it also morphed into a very productive discussion about PQA, started by Chris, way down below in some of the comments.] This short series of blog posts is for teachers who may have brand new kids for the second semester. The focus of the first

I suppose we should put our attention to next week. Lesson plans and all that. What we want to spend time on for the rest of the year. I know that most of us who teach levels one and two will pretty much continue to hammer the listening and reading CI in the form of