Here’s Catharina’s bio:
By fear of getting kicked out…here goes my bio.
I am a lurker. I read just about every thread on this blog and on many others as well. But rarely comment.
A few years ago I wrote a harsh criticism on FLTeach and Nandu only to receive a TON of hate mail. I was torn to shreds, and decided never to stick my neck out again. It got so bad, my husband suggested I wear a t-shirt “I am not THAT Catharina” at conferences for fear of getting mobbed. They’re actually nuts on those other listservs. Nuts!!!
I am in my 6th year teaching French in a small private school in northern New Jersey, 30 minutes outside of New York City. I am the lower school Madame (preK to 3rd grade). I have put so many hours and so much energy into trying to figure this stuff out, that my sister in law in Brussels is convinced I’ve joined a sect. Any conversation with me will inevitably lead to TPRS.
I was born in Finland, but raised in Brussels by somewhat progressive parents who believed that being multilingual in an emerging Europe (1960) was going to secure our future. We spoke Swedish to our parents, Finnish to the house keeper, German in elementary school, French in middle-high school-college, Dutch with the kids on the block, and had an alarm clock hooked up to a magneto phone waking us up to my father’s voice in English: “Lesson 1:This is your father speaking. It is time to get up!” No grammar, no conjugation, learning by CI, tons of repetition, and comics in every language. May Dr. Krashen be right, no Alzheimer’s for me.
At 19 I spent a month in the US as a mother’s helper, at what time I met a nice American kid, who 8 years later was to become my husband. We did not stay in touch for all those years, and it was a fluke we met again, and actually liked each other. We now have 4 kids together, out of college, in college or on their way, 3 girls, 1 boy.
5 years ago I had a unique opportunity to stop with the endless dusting. Although I had never taught before, I was able to convince a head of school that I could teach 6 year olds French. “A piece of cake” (!). From that very day I signed my contract, I have tried just about every method, game, and gadget you can imagine. I compulsively turned over every stone, until I found the TPRS rock.
Like so many of you I am determined to get better at teaching. I cannot fail my students. I actually had to choose between a TPRS workshop or getting my American citizenship. You know what I chose right? Jason Fritze told me that that was pushing it…. At times I feel like I am putting together this mega size puzzle. At some workshops I’ve gotten those important corners. Other times, just little pieces. Thanks to this blog my puzzle is moving along beautifully. The elementary school thread that Ben posted with all those “units” …unbelievable…it gave me chunks and chunks of puzzle pieces. And we may even get the games that go along….! Incroyable!
One last thing. One late night at NTPRS in St Louis with the help of a lovely teacher from Southern California, I was able to coach Kate, a native American teacher of Creek . The 2 hours we spent working together gave me the biggest chunk of puzzle pieces yet. Kate was teaching us Creek, and we were guiding her through the dense TPRS forest. I always think of Kate and the language of Creek when I write up my lesson plan. And it was thanks to Ben once again, for setting that up.
I thought of sharing the challenges and what I think has worked so far in elementary school, but this post got a lot longer than planned. Please Ben do not kick us out even if we don’t always post comments. Some of us are quiet, but really, really focused. We’re just trying to find the puzzle pieces to see the whole picture, before we can contribute in a meaningful way. We will though. Just give us time.
Best,
Catharina
[ed, note: if making the threat to kick people out results in this kind of reading, I’ll keep doing it. But you know what I mean. No need to participate at all, but just knowing who each other is via the bios is in my view very important to the integrity of the group so thank you, Catharina. Remind me about the games thing. We have like four outstanding elementary TPRS teachers and human beings in the district who have been walking the walk for some time now.]