This is the third in this series of videos made last year that we are kind of in the middle of. The first two series (clips 1-6 can be found by searching “Video of the Three Steps 1” and “Video of the Three Steps 2”, but really all six of them were about PQA leading up to […]

The traditional teachers who don’t get comprehensible input have been waging a kind of battle for more than a decade now in Denver Public Schools, where ten years ago only a few voices aligned with Diana Noonan and Krashen but, as Diana persevered and as new standards were written and as Krashen’s research became more known, things turned.

I got this from Melanie and I hope a lot of people comment on this, especially those who, unlike me, have TPRS experience with fourth year kids. Dear Ben, I have a problem with my 4th year students at one school.  They are tired of me and my routines, which we have been doing the

Hello. I’m new here and just wanted to add a few things to the discussion. First, I should introduce myself. I’m a 3rd year Spanish teacher at a small school in NJ. This is my first year trying TPRS (or even knowing about it, for that matter). I’ve been researching since Summer’s end about TPRS.

I got this from John. It reminds of that post from Anne (https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/07/15/anne-matava-9/) Ben, Bob Patrick recently mentioned on our Latin Best Practices list that a few of his former students who have decided to  continue with Latin/Classics at college, later decide to drop the major. They have made this decision because their classes are

Hey Ben, I just received an email from ACTFL announcing their board of directors election. I am a new member, and don’t know much about the organization and its current board, but I was wondering if you or other members of the blog have any suggestions for voting in a way that would further our

Anne  sends us this bio: This is my 27th year of teaching language, 20th year of teaching high school, mostly German.  I teach in a small rural high school in Maine and have 6 sections of German, it’s pretty sweet.  This will be my 6th year of using TPRS/CI.  So far every year has looked

The LEAP initiative in Colorado is being paid for by millions of dollars supplied by the Gates Foundation to major metro areas across the country. These sweeping new state legislated programs are being designed to force compliance with state standards in schools. The position of this document and its enforcement is unique – it is

This bio is from Annemarie in Maine. The more of these I read – and thank you for personalizing the blog so fast in response to my request – the more I feel like we can really build a comfortable community where trust is paramount and these bios are a key piece of that vision

In terms of getting better at the our comprehensible input instruction, I see four areas that need support and therefore should be the primary focus of this blog: 1. Emotional support (perhaps the most important, because of the incredible system pushback we all experience). 2. Support in classroom technique (how to do PQA, stories, etc. – the

In the continued interest of our collective mental health, I have decided to say that I no longer wish to feel as if I am doing something wrong as a teacher just because school buildings are set up that way. I mean, buildings are set up to have a kind of element of shame directed at

I am totally getting into reading these bios. I feel so much trust in them, and lots of honesty. Here is another gem of honesty, this one from Louisa: Hi Ben, First of all, I want to thank you for all of the time and energy you have put into making the blog a truly