One of my students has about 60 pairs of ears. That’s 60 on each side. Strangely, he is not as distracting as other students with just the one basic set of ears. Why? Because he listens so well. Isn’t that what we want? To be listened to because we know that input in aural form […]
Doug sent this update on how things have been unfolding this year. His new coaching group in Orange County is, in my opinion, an example of how we need to proceed. Obviously, coaching groups at the building level are not going to happen with most of us: Hey Ben, I’ve been avoiding taking in new information the past
Jim Baird send this: Hey Ben, I would like to tell you about one of my adult ESLstudents, 36 year old Juan Lopez. In 1995 Juan immigrated from rural Guatemala to California. Reportedly, his English speaking skills were zip. He went to work in a resin factory in Modesto, but stayed only a
I am about to embark, for the rest of the year, on using much more reading and songs to generate CI. I think that the focus on stories may have kept us from innovating more than we have into these two vital areas – vital because they are more interesting to teenagers who may not
Connected to the discussion on technology is its effect on classroom discipline. Doing the hard work of having to follow rules that demand that a child show up beyond the level of a robot in class is hard for kids with no experience in that area. A colleague recently heard the words “This is boring!” during
Jim said: I’m curious to know what you all think is most hurting kids in our buildings (I can think of many things), or shall I say where we should focus in order to help nurture a capable generation of young adults into our society. The food? The grades? The compulsive nature of school? Class
Just to reiterate. I see technology really helping, serving beautifully, my students, outside of the classroom. It helps them process so many things that are interesting to them, from songs, sometimes even in communication with kids from other countries, and so technology is a wonderful and beautiful thing for learning languages. It has its place.
About a year ago Michele/Alaska started thinking in terms of student focused CI classes, with Jim and others throwing out new ideas from time to time about how to get the kids to be sources of CI – hence greater personalization. Student generated stories, with the kids writing the scripts quickly in abbreviated form over
Check the tone of this email I got from a second year teacher. If this is any indication of the new breed of teachers who just “ain’t gonna do it” the old way, then it is very heartening indeed: “I will continue to read your blog for incredible insight to the CI process…I have grown
Well, good things are certainly worth waiting for. For those who kept up with the other 28 blog entries from K from last year (none this year until now), we can finally get an update on how French 2 is going for her. For the other ones from last year, just search “A Blow To His
I got this from Kelly (North High School/DPS) who observed last week. I like it. It makes me feel like I can connect with my colleagues, which is not always the case: Ben, thank you so much for opening your classroom to me. There have been few times in my life when I’ve butted against
Here is a cool example of an embedded reading from Toni Kellen. I like its simplicity and clarity: Day 1: Tell story Target Vocab: – meets Joe meets a girl. Joe thinks that the girl he meets is very pretty. Joe thinks that she is pretty because she has white hair and Joe likes girls
