A Natural Approach to the Year (2017-18) is a sequel to A Natural Approach to Stories (2016). It is basically how I spent most of my time over the past year and a half. After six previous books over the past twelve years, these two books represent my best efforts and deepest thinking. They reflect what […]
I am starting to see that teaching French was only a vehicle to carry me into the battle ground of schools where I would end up fighting as hard as I could each day for 40 years. The newest book Tina and I have written is providing me with that precious insight. That book is
I just can’t see making reading competitive and that is largely what class novels/readers/chapter books do. How can the slower reading kids enjoy their learning experience when they can be seen, perceived, there is a feeling in the room, that (as usual) they are not as good as the frontrunners? This is very much about
"Everybody Shut Up – I've Got To Get My French On!" Read More »
Hi Ben, In an effort to streamline assessments, I have started an interview process for all of my 2nd year students. I do this as a personalized one-on-one NT CI. It’s kinda a farewell gift. Anyway, I have had the best French 2 class ever and some have agreed to get recorded. This is spontaneous
Q. Can you give me a student friendly explanation of the following ruleplease? Do your 50%. A. Tell them that languages are about communication, not memorization, so that in your class they are expected to show up and to try to hold up their half of the communication, since they are half of the conversation.
Tina and I see a lack of availability of high quality, short, simple and inexpensive readers in our community. We therefore are putting out a call for a new kind of reader that fits the above descriptors that provides lessons in culture besides just good stories. We want to promote a new genre of reader,
Someone asked me how I am different from TPRS. Here is what I wrote back: It’s a messy business, but I know that since I made the shift away from TPRS, I am much happier in my work. This is not true for everyone, but it is true for me. In January of 2016 I
Julia reports on how her kids did with the storybook project: Hi Ben – Thought I’d send you an example final product. I’m super proud of the kids! There are mistakes in here of course, but I don’t say anything. They’ll stop making those mistakes when they do. Thank you so much for a positive
The quote below appeared on the iFLT FB page a few days ago. It reveals a lot. What is the main thing that it reveals? To me, it reveals that Blaine never intended TPRS to go in the targeted direction it did since about 1998. That was done by acolytes and no small amount of
On April 7 of 2016 – the time when I was running at full speed away from TPRS (see Hit List category on this page) – I had asked Blaine a seemingly innocuous question in an email but it seems more important now in light of recent developments: Me: “Blaine, in the 1990’s did you target
I posted this here a week ago. I feel like reposting it here every week for the next year until we all knock some sense into our heads. When are we going to get how damaging reading class novels is for our students, for our esprit de corps, for our sense of community and for
This is a repost – with ensuing discussion – from 2012 on the topic of whether or not instruction using comprehensible input can even work in our schools: Especially in my school, students move around the building with impunity, with tardies being out of control, absences being off the chart, and statements to teachers very
Can Comprehension Methods Succeed In Schools? – 1 Read More »
