In recent years, the focus here on the PLC has been not only on CI but also on how we can use CI for better mental health. How can we plan less, rest more, have more time for loved ones, and teach easier with better results? As soon as the pandemic hit, however, the focus […]
I just made about twenty TikTok videos that all focus on one thing – that we learn languages by focusing on the message and not on the form of the language via worksheets and other clever activities that purport to “teach” the language to our students. Why did I make twenty and not just one?
Certainly, 2020 needed to go. The big world was a disaster, and our small world of language teaching took a major hit as well, with most of the damage being done by the new online Zoom settings, for which we were not prepared and for which we are still not prepared, with not a lot
Of the many questions Robert asks of the textbook companies in this series of articles, this is my favorite: How does the textbook align with the current emphasis by Advanced Placement (College Board), ACTFL and many State Standards on the Three Modes of Communication (Interpersonal, Interpretive and Presentational)? Note that the Advanced Placement test no
Robert continues with his questions for textbook companies. It would be nice if they would answer. But they won’t. Their involvement in education is not spurred by the same interests that prompt these questions from Robert: How does the textbook take the universally recognized Silent Period into account? How does the textbook support the ACTFL
Robert continues to adress Sarah’s original questions with some questions of his own: How do the textbook’s scope and sequence align with the Natural Order of Acquisition? Since language acquisition researchers (e.g. Noam Chomsky, Daniel Pink, Alice Omaggio Hadley, James Asher, Stephen Krashen, Bill Van Patten, Wynne Wong), while disagreeing on many things, all agree
The Zoom training on Book 1 of the Ultimate CI series begins this coming Monday, for those interested. Go to benslavic.com and click on “training courses”. If you want to really access what is in these new books, the Zoom training is important. If money is a concern due to the pandemic hitting everybody hard,
In this third article in this series, Robert begins a series of responses to Sarah’s questions. Sarah had said: …the Department Chair has told us we are going to use Realidades. I used that book 5 years ago when I first started teaching and it hasn’t changed a bit. When I asked the sales rep
One of the most severe things we can do to ourselves as teachers is to collect so much information, so many different strategies and activities, that we can’t manage all of it. This is actually a form of self-harm. When we lack a simple formula in a simple and doable WL curriculum, when we end
A teacher wrote to me in an email this week: Q. Ben I am thinking of joining your PLC, but what would you say is the real goal of it so I can make my decision and see if I want to join? A. What a great question! If we all step back from the
Next Wednesday night (Dec. 19th) I am doing a webinar for Teacher’s Discovery on why reading is so important in a CI language program. All are welcome. It will be a 45-minute session on their website beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. I’ll put the link up when I get it from Teacher’s Discovery.
