Another thing that has been working is to take a class that is reticent to speak, like my level fours (who still think that learning French means constructing it in written form and correcting spelling), and asking them to write a little story for the first ten minutes of each class, then collect it, make […]
I have been playing around with presenting the structures for a story embedded in a short dictation. I start the class with an easy and loosely constructed, roughly three sentence dictation with the target structures in them. It seems to bring a bit more focus to the presenting of the structures than just listing them, maybe
So many of the characters in stories and PQA are right off the walls. For example, in Picasso’s painting The Old Guitarist, of which I have a copy hanging in the room, the skinny white-haired guy is called ‘Jesus Stefanopolis’ by one of my classes. Just the other day he proposed to one of my
This week I have been cleaning, really really cleaning, out my house in preparation for a move. It’s not the kind of change we often volunteer for because we know how much needs to be done. Change is not for the faint of heart. In order to get to a new place, I have had
Today we begin the Pleiades guest blogging group. The line-up: Sunday – Matava Monday – Laurie Clarcq Tuesday – Jim Tripp Wednesday – Thomas Young Thursday – Michele Whaley Friday – Bryce Hedstrom Saturday – Jody Noble Grant Boulanger and others and I will rogue blogue, so on any given day you may
I recently asked K for an update on what is happening in her French class. This is the first response I received since that request. It actually comes from her teacher, the person who has allowed this unfoldment of input based methods in her classroom, and who has actively encouraged K’s work with same in the
Ray Bauer asked: Quick question. What is your opinion on teaching the alphabet to elementary school students grades K-6? I am personally totally against it. I prefer to pound the CI. Other teachers in my district want to do units on the alphabet and I feel like our time could be spent better. What is
There is a saying – I think it may be from Laurie Clarcq – that Jim Baird down in Georgia riffed on. Here is the original version: Tell me a fact and I will learn. Tell me the truth and I will believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my
Jennifer/Profe Loca’s brilliant comparison between TPRS and Pacing Guides was posted here a few days ago, but Robert put it into a nice format and has posted it on his site (see list of TPRS bloggers on the right side of this page). The reason I am making Robert’s instructions into a blog here is to keep this
Put an X mark through the black square once you have done the step: Write these three expressions (any three can be used – perhaps one from a story script you plan to use soon) on the board in L2 and then in L1 so that the students (in this case the teacher who is doing the
Grab 5 Lesson By Ben Slavic – A Suggestion About Starting Off An Input Based Class Read More »
Isn’t it true that we spend more time talking about storytelling than actually doing it? Instead of being mystified by all the talk, maybe we should just practice doing it more in our buildings, so that we can understand it better. It’s time to walk the walk on Krashen. The time for all the talk is
Byron sent this good link: http://jasonbkohl.com/archives/2010/is-it-a-story-or-a-situation/
