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Job Opening

Anticipated (highly likely) job opening in Bucksport, Maine! Spanish teacher for next year and beyond. Small classes, super supportive administraton and colleagues, TCI-friendly department (of two!) This is one sweet gig. 30 minutes to Belfast, one hour to Acadia National Park. FMI please email Anne at annematavaci@gmail.com.  

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Question

We’ve been answering this recurring question for at least ten years now. It’s so common! My responses are in italics below. Hi Ben – Q. I am in a grammar-centric department and am required to give all the same tests and quizzes (dictated and provided by the department head for level 2) as the other

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The Artists – 9

This article completes the series on the student artists: Besides putting art on the back wall in the form of class galleries, another effective way to coax classes into performing at a higher level is to post lists of the names of all the characters that each class has produced up to that point in

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Story Scripts

For those of us who use Anne scripts, these are the official “best” ones, whatever that means. I think it means that Anne and I agree that over the almost 20 years now since we started using these scripts, these are the ones we feel get the most consistent results and do the best job

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The Artists – 8

The growing displays of artwork by individual classes take the form of “galleries.” Each class gets a section of the back wall in the classroom. Any other classes not yet doing stories of their own beg to get their own creative process going, and it is when the first gallery is posted that the interclass

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The Artists – 7

When drawing a One Word Image, the artists should fill the entire large page of chart paper or butcher paper with the image. As discussed earlier, beginning classes draw two panels above and below a black line dividing the chart paper in half. Second year classes draw four panels, third year classes six panels, and

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Write the Article – 3

Who writes? It should be the ones who want to write, because they feel so moved. That is why I keep writing. That is why Greg and other PLC members are writing and sharing and presenting, It’s time for that now. The strong pushback we have experienced over the past 25 years has really almost

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Write the Article – 2

Yesterday I found an article that wasn’t about CI, because it was written on the general topic of education and not on world language teaching. But it spoke to me because I saw discussed in it the same vital elements that will bring about the change in WL education – compassion and inclusion.  The heart

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New Workshop Format

I have decided on a new way of doing trainings. Feedback from the group is requested. I have been leaning in this direction for some time. Schools with whom Ben works are asked to do the following: 1)    The entire group being trained must be on board with CI, united in a common goal.  2) The

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Write the Article – 1

Those of us who feel so inclined should write more with the purpose of educating people about comprehensible input language instruction. It’s obvious that it’s the way to go, after about 30 years of sliding around on the ice. Our movement has traction now, and what that means is that people are willing to listen.

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The Artists – 6

Classrooms which in the past may have been filled with a low-level discomfort or outright hostility between the people in the room immediately change with the student jobs. People all over the classroom form a team, working together towards a common goal. That is real reform in education.  There is nothing quite like seeing a

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Use of Novels in Level 1

I strongly recommend that teachers of level 1 WL classes not use the novels, even though they are labeled as level 1 chapter books. I think level 1 novels should be started in level 2. The reason is that it divides the classroom community. The kids who are readers quickly wrestle away the classroom process

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