I have to say that the simplicity thing is getting better and better. There are two areas I am working on, of course, as any teacher must: 1. in class stuff 2. out of class stuff The out of class stuff is really easy and doesn’t trouble me. My team at ALHS meets every day […]

Yesterday one of my classes got squirrely with the English interruptions. My reaction was to feed that fire with my own English interruptions of their English interruptions. In trying to quell the fire, I fed it. Bonehead move. I’ve got to work on that. Better to deal with this most difficult situation, maybe the most

I would like to ask everybody to get their bios in and if possible to get avatars in as well. Also, even if your bio is already in, please send in your school and city (email that to me and I will update your bio under the Group Members category). Videos as always are optional.

Here is the rubric Robert is using, followed by some comments. How to use it? Personally, I am going to be talking to administrators about these two new suns we have found in our grading galaxy: Robert’s Interpersonal Communication Mode, which to me means how are my students doing at interacting with me in my classroom? The Interpretive Mode, which I

Most stories are fairly flat in the first ten minutes. It takes time to build interest. When the right cute answers appear, things get more interesting. I like to use this time as an exercise in trust. The mantra occuring every few minutes in my deeper mind is: “It doesn’t have to always be funny;

Since last May, Robert has nurtured a thread on this site about the Three Modes of Communication (ACTFL). Vastly simplified, what I am hearing him say in this thread is that we are moving into a time, an unavoidable time, when what kids do in our class in terms of showing up as human beings

About ten years ago, I was observing Blaine Ray as he taught storytelling classes on a snowy winter day at East High School in Denver. A group of teachers had come from around Colorado to follow Blaine around from room to room. In the corner of each room I kept noticing a big guy with

I teach Spanish 1 at Front Range Christian School in Littleton, Colorado.  I am thrilled to be teaching TPRS this year (and maybe even a little obsessed!).  This is my fifth year teaching, but my first really using TPRS and CI exclusively in my classroom.  I taught at Cresthill Middle School in Highlands Ranch for

Kevin asks this question. I’d attempt an answer, but I don’t have a clue on this: Hi Ben, Wondering if you could put this question in the blog queue: So here’s a question on which I’d love to get some input.  I teach in a private school that, to its credit (and unlike many private

Kevin sends this really nicely written bio: My name is Kevin Taylor.  I currently teach high school Spanish 2, 3, and 4 at Front Range Christian School in Littleton, CO.  Like some other Spanish teachers, I was a 4%er who did quite well in secondary and tertiary-level language courses, even though my ability to communicate

Here is a bio post from Leigh Anne Munoz, Chino Hills High School, Chino Hills, CA. I like the way she told us her school and city and state. If you want to do that, just send that information to me – it’s really a good idea for us – and I will add it

In October of 2009 Krashen started writing about a term he called “Transparency”. Is the feeling of effortless communication in L2 – flying – that we sometimes experience with our classes anything like this term from Krashen? I am just going to cut and paste from a few of Krashen’s emails from that period in