Administrator: We always need to teach to all learning modalities of the children. The lesson should move around in a lively way between the different modalities – it keeps the kids interested.
Me: Bullshit. It has been pretty much agreed upon over the past thirty years, based on the best research available, that in language classes students can only learn after they hear and read the language for a few years first, well before they start doing other activities like writing and speaking. It’s a developmental thing about which skills in languages develop first.
Administrator: Bullshit. The kids need lots of different activities. The kids need to write and speak a lot too. When do you do that? A student should practice writing and speaking in the language right away!
Me: Bullshit. You want me to focus on my students writing and speaking before they are ready. I can’t fill my classes with activities that I know don’t work and destroy confidence because the kids can’t do them. Output activities should not be done until many hundreds of hours of input have occurred. That’s what the best research we have says.
Administrator: Bullshit. We always need to teach to all learning modalities of the children to keep them interested and to keep the lesson moving, in little segments. I will be looking for lots of activities when I come into your class next week.
Me: Bullshit. I am not going to put on a show for you just to get some boxes checked on my professional evaluation form.
Administrator: Bullshit. We always need to teach to ALL of the learning modalities of the children to keep them interested and to keep the lesson lively.
Me: Bullshit.