Jason Fritze tells us how we can just open to a page in one of those super sized children’s books and just start talking about it. Totally stress free teaching. The words are so easy to get into the discussion – the visual input sparks discussion like nothing else. We talk about the power of […]
Warning: this is one long ass blog that I wrote, really to myself, in an attempt to pull out of a downward mid-winter spiral. I’m trying to get a focused high CI week going, because English has worked its way into my classroom more than I want it too lately. Anyone with ideas to add
What I Will Do This Week In An Attempt To Get Out Of A Funk Read More »
I got this great news from Martin Anders in Germany: Ben, The first version of my TPRS website for Germany is now online. It is: http://tprs-for-germany.com All the very best, Martin
I got an email about German books and am posting it below because it could help other German teachers. I know there are Michael Miller’s books, which are fantastic, and I will ask Robert, Anne and Mike to weigh in on this too, since they know a whole bunch on this topic: Ben – I’ve taken the
A colleague wrote: I always come back from workshops thinking, “I’m at least that good! I can organize lessons like these!” And then when I get home to my own classroom, I find that I’m not that good. I react badly to classroom management issues, or I miss some vital sign from one of my
Jennifer wrote this: I had some truly amazing students last year. Amazing intellect, amazing creativity, amazing personality. Truly, I was blessed as a teacher to have some of these kids. One boy borrowed a grammar workbook to study at home. He came back to me a few weeks later to report that “I’m not quite sure
K responds to my comment here yesterday. I like the term she coined to describe real (CI, speech based) grammar – “language acquisition grammar” – that’s the opposite of the plastic/rules based grammar and a creative term. Still, we see in her update below the dominant role of the teacher and the poisonous idea that
There is a phrase in TPRS that was made famous by the master himself, Blaine. Thomas Young recently asked me and Bryce about it in an email: Hey guys, I have been thinking about the “tprs game” lately. How do you get your students to “play the game”? Any ideas are much appreciated! Thomas I
Hey Mr. Slavic, I have epiphanies in weird places. I know that that is a weird introduction, but it’s true. Last week at lunch, a few kids asked if there were grammar activities in TPRS that would help them remember grammar. They are tactile learners, so grammar can be a bit difficult to learn because
Here is a question from Anne. I guess the output thing never got a fork stuck in it (will it ever?): We have learned that lots of input is necessary before students can begin to produce output. It is also commonly accepted that some students will be ready before others to produce output . We
An update from K – sorry about the delay here – the queue has been very full lately: Today was really cool for 2 reasons: 1. In addition to my teacher and the other French teacher, the special ed teacher was there [ed. note: I assume this is at that lunch French story table thing they
My first two classes with Karen Rowan observing (yikes!) stank. But good kinds of stinkers, because I learned from them. I was trying to be too cool, too adept at a way of teaching I am still learning. I was pushing things. I wasn’t entirely listening to my students, I was thinking about demonstrating skills
