Ben, Since we talked last weekend I have been taking up your and Diana Noonan’s (DPS World Languages Coordinator) challenge/mandate of using less English in the classroom. It seemed like an odd idea, after all, I LOVE speaking in Spanish with my students! There is such a sweet smell that fills the class when we […]
Josh sends his information for anyone in Oklahoma or anywhere else for that matter to further the growing theme of communication between TPRS and native languages: Chokma, hachinchokma anhili (Hope y’all are well) – Joshua D Hinson the Chickasaw Nation Director Department of Chickasaw Language Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program Division of History and Culture 580-436-2603
The following is a synopsis of a proposal to revamp foreign language instruction in Colorado secondary schools. The original text was written by the Coordinator of World Languages in Denver Public Schools, Diana Noonan. It is now expected that students in secondary programs throughout Colorado align with the specific levels of proficiency ranging from novice
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a role, however small, in saving native languages? If anyone can offer something to this unfolding tragedy, we can. Here is a related post from Michele: Dear Ben, This http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:jMnA8n4GWkIJ:www.gov.nu.ca/education/eng/css/curr/resources/ILITAU~Eng.pdf+%22Ilitaunnikuliriniq+Student+Assessment+in+Nunavut+Schools%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a is a very long article, but if you scroll down just far enough to read the elders’ stories,
Here is a blog from a week ago but with some additional insights from the writer below in italics. This is chill’s mentor and a career professional of 38 years who is just now finding out about TPRS: If I were still teaching, I would feel all re-inspired and energized from all your ideas. I watched
I’m listening to Carla Bruni’s L’Amoureuse right now. I had a shock. I thought about what a terrible loss that sometimes kids get turned off to stuff like this in the name of grammar study. This song, French songs, French film, French poetry, French novels are uplifting me and Paul and Diana in a way
I must remember that not all kids, nor teachers for that matter, are cut out for conversing in L2. Many have not learned the art of conversation in English yet. I can’t fault the kids. Teachers? That is another matter altogether. Their JOB is to converse in L2 with their kids. There was somebody who
It is an incredible thing to hear, just before class as the students are quieting down, their genius, fun, humor in the form of their discussion, which all kind of fades out and disappears when the lesson for that day is one of mere analysis of the language. However, when we start a story, when
What if we can do PQA, but we don’t feel comfortable getting a story going? That’s easy. All we have to do is start circling the first sentence of our script (see the sample stories in TPRS in a Year! for how to do that), establish the problem, and get the actor up and going
I’ve pulled together this list of other TPRS bloggers. If you have a TPRS blog send it and we will add it. This list is also on Thomas’ site: Laurie Clarq: blog.heartsforteaching.com Jennifer B: www.profesoraloca.blogspot.com Bess Hayles: mmehayles.blogspot.com Robert Harrell: Michel Baker: mmbaker1.wordpress.com Stephen Valdés: matthewstephen.wordpress.com
Michele sent this from The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, pp 156-160: A thirteen-year-old girl is relating her day in French class. “What’s the point of grammar?” asked Achille . . . “You ought to know by know,” replied Madame Never-mind-that-I-am-paid-to-teach-you. .. ”The point is to make us speak and write well.” I
Tolstoy had that quote about how his school days were filled with endless mindless tasks and drudgery. I wish I could find that quote. But, when we genuinely like our kids, the sense of play is there and, with it, the foundation for real learning. The following email from Michele in Alaska illustrates the joy that kids
