Here is an insight into why we want these bios. We have read a lot from Dave since he joined us recently, but now we get to know where he is and stuff like that:
I suppose I am one of those new, unknown, faces on here who has been posting without first introducing myself to the group. I am a Spanish and Latin teacher at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. It is a 1500 student pre-k to 12 private school, where I am lucky enough to have about 15-20 students per class. Stepping back, I am a language nerd. A geek who loves to take language apart, gaze at it from a million different angles and share that knowledge with poor unsuspecting students. I studied 4 years of Latin in high school – thriving in the old-school grammar-translation model enough to major in it in college at Williams. I also studied Spanish in high school but learned next to nothing, and certainly couldn’t speak or remember anything once I left. For 8 years I taught Latin, moving gradually from pure grammar-translation towards the “reading approach”. I suppose once or twice I used TPR in elementary level classes, but I certainly never imagined that I could or would be speaking Latin in the classroom.
Burned out of teaching Latin here in the states, I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to experience more of the world and, nominally, to teach English while there. When I moved there, I spoke no Spanish. I learned a lot about communicative style instruction in the foreign language classroom while doing a CELTA there and also through my teaching. My Spanish improved by constant exposure, weekly classes, and a daily habit of reading the most interesting parts of the paper Clarin. I ended up spending 3 years teaching in Medellín, Colombia – marrying my wife there, and at the end of it all speaking quite good Spanish.
Since I have come back to the States I have been trying to find the best way to reach students while throwing the grammar book out the window. Absolute immersion didn`t work so well last year, so after buying and reading Asher’s original TPR book, some works of Krashen, Blaine’s green bible, and TPRS in a Year!, I tried throwing in some TPRS last spring to mixed results. The summer workshop I took in Philadelphia really helped push me even farther into TPRS. I had no intention of actually trying to do full-on TPRS style instruction in Latin, yet that is where I find myself two weeks into the school year.
Thanks to everyone for creating the vibrant community which I am entering!
Dave