When we use the StarChart™, we do not require kids to memorize anything, the students are not bored , and yet we are able to collect grades, which we can’t avoid doing since we work in schools.   When the Star is used, the students know that they can get a good grade in the […]

In any field, if the curriculum* conflicts with the research, then which one should change? *By this term I mean both the textbook curriculum and the new half-baked CI curriculums out there that rely too heavily on readers.

Victoria and the kids are safe, but they didn’t make it to Poland: Hello! Still in Kremenchuk. Roads to the border  got very dangerous and even blocked, there’s thousands of people and cars on the border trying to go. We’re packed and just waiting. It seems like Ukrainians and Russians will talk on Monday and

There are three kinds of people who will read my new book, the Ultimate CI Book 1: Those who, hiking in the mountains of change in our field of language education, come across a stream and see a big gold nugget in the water, but fail to pick it up. Those who pick it up

We are now finally connecting the dots between our work in language education and the 229 Black people who have been killed by police since George Floyd: 1. Tony McDade aka Natosha McDade, 38, Tallahassee, FL 2. Modesto “Marrero Desto” Reyes, 35, Marrero, LA 3. Ruben Smith III, 35, North Little Rock, AK 4. Jarvis

Victoria and the three little ones are heading for Lviv tomorrow with kids and stuff to apply for an emergency passport and then cross the border into Poland. That’s the plan. Godspeed to them!

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Belonging. Belonging!  In case you haven’t noticed, we are in a new time.  We can’t teach grammar anymore. It’s just ridiculous that we’ve gotten away with it for this long.  If you don’t feel the urgent need in your students to belong to something in their school buildings, and if choose not

The four Hub D students are a tech team. See the attached Seating Chart for an Ultimate CI classroom.  Hub D is not a physical hub like the other three hubs. Sometimes its members sit together but not always – they could be sitting anywhere in the blue area on the Seating Chart (see attachment).

The language curriculum you use has a deep impact on kids. If you use the textbook and worksheets, you bore them. However, if you choose something that is truly student-centered, you can get them truly engaged. It’s your choice. Before you make your decision, if you haven’t yet done so, consider this: In a recent

Here is an update from Victoria: There is a lot of negativity and grumpiness in the country, and in Ukrainians, even those who have left Ukraine. I don’t think they will give me the US passport for Alegría, since the embassy in Kiev stopped working. Now they are asking if I can go reapply in

Someone objected to me today how “easy” the Ultimate CI quizzes are. Whenever I hear that objection, I refute it.  We must ask ourselves what we are doing as teachers. Is it our purpose to confuse half the class so that the other half can establish its dominance over those who process language more slowly,

Victoria, whom many in the group know from working with her in trainings over the summer, moved from Maryland to Ukraine in the fall of last year. Her husband is now in Portugal. Victoria is stuck with her three young children  in Central Ukraine because the baby doesn’t have a passport yet. I’ll keep the