I have an “advanced” 8th grade (that means they have done grammar worksheets since 6th grade) class where the range of abilities is so wide that the class slowly split over the course of the year. I tried taking the ones who were fluent or nearly fluent aned putting them into a side room to […]
This is from Michele Whaley in Alaska with my response in a comment field below: Hi Ben, I’m on the Rez! (Sorry for shouting. I have one more day here, and the language is dying.) I can’t talk on [my] blog about some of the roadblocks here (take a look at the curriculum and you’ll
If I were me, knowing what I know now, I would try to get a job in an international school and stay on that lucrative and tax free circuit (there is a circuit) and stay there for my entire career. The economy and all the cuts in funding make it so, practically speaking, only teaching
Here are the links to the video clips of the now completed Kandy the Korn series. The class is a beginning group of 6th graders. I used Angie’s idea of loading directly from the iPad up to YouTube in the clips that my videographer was able to keep under 15′. (He forgot on a few
I know it’s a bit early to start thinking about posters for next year, which should be very limited, but I wanted to share a poster that I have had up outside my classroom all year right next to the door. Linda has one just like it outside of her classroom as well. When acquiring a
Hi Ben, I want to say that I have gotten so much from your TPRS IN A YEAR. It is such a great resource. I think one of the most important things I took from it was the idea of a barometer student. It is such an obvious idea, but somehow I had never approached
The cultures of the language we teach are so rich! When by teaching in the old way we convey to our students the message that they can’t learn the culture’s language, we effectively distance the culture from the child for life. The relationship of the child with the culture is no longer even neutral after sitting
There never was a Step 1 in TPRS. There was just a story and a reading. Therefore, I do not advocate getting rid of establishing meaning, gesturing and PQA, just changing where we put it. In my previous article on this topic I wasn’t clear about that – I wasn’t saying to dump it, just
At iFLT in Chattanooga and hopefully in Agen as well, there will be a teacher of Cherokee language from Oklahoma. His name is Wade Blevins. I bring him up so that people know that they can learn some Cherokee this summer, but that’s not the only reason I bring his name up. Wade is a
From Angie – Hi Ben, I want to put out a plea for collaboration, and wonder if you would make it a blog post: I have a time-sensitive need to gain proficiency in using Textivate. I’m going to set aside some time in the next two weekends to work on this, and wonder if anyone
From Diana Noonan: Denver Public Schools has posted 15 Spanish positions for the 2016-17 school year. They range from elementary to high school. We are a TCI district with lots of training, collaboration and an exceptional learning community of teachers. Please send me a message at diana_noonan@dpsk12.org if you are interested. Thus far, there are
My TPRS world is like a house. The foundation/basement is the research. Once we know how solid it is, there is no need to build more. It does the job and I don’t want to go down there and rummage around, going through dusty old boxes, because I don’t have the time. The main floor
