To attempt to teach listening and reading using activities that are essentially of the conscious mind is folly. Reading activities that keep the reader in the conscious mind fail to put the mind’s focus on the message. It is the very nature of the conscious mind to want to keep everything in its domain of […]

Language Activity Facilitators 3 Jim’s statement: …or do we redefine ourselves from language teacher to language activity facilitator….. can be discussed in terms of reading. When students read, we want them to read as if they are seeing a movie in their minds. This most complex organizing process can only be done by a supercomputer. I

Jim, in a different comment than the one mentioned above, posted the following blockbuster comment here yesterday morning: …after about 3 weeks of [spending class time occasionally doing grammar], I got the impression from them that it was not helping them. My brightest student said to me “I can’t write and speak as fluently because I’m

In a recent comment here, Jim Tripp said: …or do we redefine ourselves from language teacher to language activity facilitator….. Then he said: …personally, I’d rather let them facilitate their own language activities (at school OR at home), and save my efforts for the real L2 acquisition work of delivering quality CI…. Then Nathan gave

I organized the recently suggested weekly schedule into one text for our Denver Public Schools TCI group. I share it here for anyone who might like to have that information – edited down a bit – in one place. One thing to add, for those who have seen this document before (I use it as a handout in

A bio from Cheryl: I have been teaching for nearly 20 years now, and only “found” TPRS/CI about four years ago.  Anne asked, “You know how kids can do anything you want, and do it really well, and still not get the language?  I found the answer.”  So I started with a visit to her

I have known Dori for at least seven years. She’s in Parker in SE Denver and came to visit me when I was teaching in middle school in Jefferson County. She seemed so appreciative of what I thought were some pretty mediocre classes. That tells me that Dori has a lot of heart. And she was up in Breckenridge

Here is part of a recent email exchange I shared with Anne Matava. In it, Anne expresses how she has dealt with the February/March burnout – when the kids actually need a break from all the comprehensible input: Anne:  I am moving away from CI for a while.  Me:  This is normal. Anne:  The kids are

I got this from Reuben Vyn about how he handles kids who bug us for cuss words in the TL: Whenever my students (usually the ‘cool’ ones that could lose interest and potentially not continue into the upper level classes) ask me how to say inappropriate things in French, I always laugh it off and

Obviously, Monday’s Quiz #4 is difficult and gives the instructor a grade that keeps grades from getting inflated. The participation grade keeps the kids socially honest in class, while the (following Monday) reading grade  – with its 30% new words – makes it by far the hardest grade of the week and thus keeps the kids honest in

Quiz #3 – that is, the participation grade, reflects so much and is such a key factor in this entire grading approach. Some on this site have taken the position that grades should only reflect intellectual achievement, not participation. I seriously disagree. The nature of what we do is that when the kids are consciously making an

I completely avoid the use of any “big tests”, which are disruptive, waste class time, usually require memorization, alienate students, give the control of the grade over to the teacher, require time to assess that I do not have in my new vision of myself as a relaxed teacher, and are generally inaccurate anyway. As