Time to Bail Out on the Balls? #2
I thought of something else for when the Circling with Balls loses energy. Go from the facts you are talking about to the topic of love! That will wake them up. Here is a very simple example: Class, Jenna likes to watch
Role of Circling in PQA
There is a false impression about Circling in the minds of many who practice TPRS. They think that Circling is about following a pattern in order to get repetitions on a word/structure so that the student can, by hearing the
John Piazza
I got this from John: Ben, I was hoping we could develop and/or refine previous discussions about arming ourselves with a description of the underlying theory about comprehensible and even compelling input for our colleagues, administrators and parents. With Krashen and CI, I
Circling is Useless
Circling is useless without SLOW, but SLOW can be quite effective without Circling. Point and Pause can be used to do the job that Circling does if the SLOW is slow enough.* Even if we are masters of all of the
Four Ways to Deliver Comprehensible Input
Comprehensible input takes four forms in my classroom: 1. PQA - this means that we use Circing to talk with the kids. There are no key structures (guideposts), as there are with stories. The target structures come randomly from the information
The Compelling (not just interesting) Input Hypothesis
Dr. Krashen just sent me this today: The Compelling (not just interesting) Input Hypothesis Stephen Krashen The English Connection (KOTESOL) in press It is by now well-established that input must be comprehensible to have an effect on language acquisition and literacy development. To make
Use of L1 in an L2 or ESL Classroom
The blog posts are too long. I will do my best to cut them down a bit. Let's all try to edit what we want to say, especially if you send it to me for publication as a post vs. a
Love it or Leave it
The wrapping around the gift that Krashen gave us is opaque. It’s hard to see what is inside unless you unwrap it. That takes no small amount of dedication and hard work. Krashen's work is much easier to dismiss than embrace. Imagine my surprise
Happy Birthday Song
Susan Gross invented over 200 games and countless other activities that, now in her workshops, she says had no real value because they didn't deliver the key ingredient of language acquisition: comprehensible input. I have seen teachers bristle at her workshops when
Highlights of the Year
My two highlights this year were: - Staying positive with a girl who has experienced abuse all her life at the hands of her mother. She fought tooth and nail not to be included, for about five months, until, as per John's