The problem we face is one of intent. If our intention is to use stories to deliver instructional services, and thus please those who run the schools, then we will fail in our mission to teach the children the language. On the other hand, if we use stories to bring joy to children, joy that […]
Q How can I incorporate 100% CI into my classroom using: Invisibles/OWI/story listening while writing/incorporating a curriculum? If we stop having those weekly or monthly markers for certain words that are supposed to have been taught by a certain date, we have the luxury of not being tied down into small increments of time by
The Curriculum Should Align with the Instruction Read More »
Hi Ben – I’d like to know what you, or the group, would suggest for classes that just don’t work. By “don’t work” I mean they lack the interest, motivation or communication skills to do what a CI class should be able to do.Classes that will not abide by the 6 simple rules and that
When we ask students to produce writing or speech to align with some kind of desired outcome written in a document somewhere, in the form of either an observable skill or a measurable content task, it inevitably results in a portion of the students feeling not as good as others in the class, or better
Who has indicated interest in working with Julia on her NTCI project? (Texas A&M). We need email addresses. Pls. send to julia.lynch@tamu.edu
I was talking with a teacher this morning and she said that she never needs to worry about her classes because she always knows, and has taught her kids to always know, where she is on the Star Sequence at any given moment in class. Hearing this made me very happy. The idea of always
Robert on laughter: Humor and laughter are amazing supports for learning. Here are some research-based comments about that. An article from the American Psychological Association points out that “Laughter Aids Learning.” http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/learning.aspx Susan Weinschenk, PhD in Behavioral Science, writes: “There are many research studies that show that when children laugh, it enhances their attention, motivation,
I can see that my entire career as a teacher was devoted to trying to be able to find ways to teach that lift children up, to find some way to teach that brings light into their eyes, some way, any way, to find a way to chase away the darkness that characterized most of
Is it not true that our jobs are really about creating an environment for our students to become aware that they are beings who are capable when learning a language of experiencing joy, to be happy and secure and valued in the moments that they spend with us? Are those things not the real goal
I remember two occasions in Denver Public Schools hosting Dr. Krashen (in 2012) and Dr. Mason (in 2010) into my classroom to observe, Krashen for an afternoon and Mason for an entire day. Krashen said after visiting my classroom that my teaching was “terrific” and Beniko called me “Mr. Comprehensibe Input” after her visit. I
There is an interchange between the pilot/narrator and the Little Prince in Chapter 2 of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupéry. When he first meets the Little Prince, he says: Narrator: Mais…qu’est-ce que tu fais là?/What are you doing there? Narrator: Et il me répéta alors, tout doucement, comme une chose très sérieuse/And he repeated to me,
Q. I was looking at one of your books that talked about a daily quick quiz. Can you tell me what you do for absent students to make up the quiz that is easy to manage? A. Thanks for your question. The purpose of the quizzes is to see if the kid was listening that
