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14 thoughts on “Diane on VP”

  1. Ben,

    I think I’ll have to point out that the VP has a weekly radio show that is pretty much a commercial for tprs and CI instruction.

    He has been very deliberate with his admiration and the credit to Krashen and comprehensible input for the work that he does in SLA. I agree that before his radio show it did not seem that he often credited Krashen. That is not the case anymore.

    He very open about that.

    1. Mike speaks the truth! He’s been very open on these points on the show, in a way that surprises me.

      I was thinking about the book “Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen” in my comment. A lot of the ideas seem unworkable with students younger than university, in my opinion, unless adjusted and adapted significantly (but then it would be more planning and prep than I prefer). I found them too structured or too reliant on cooperation from the students. But, the early chapters on the role of the teacher-student were awesome.

      I have seen some university language methods instructors online in the iFLT/NTPRS/CI teaching Facebook group, as in 3 or 4 people identifying themselves that way. Grant is working with a professor at a school in the Minneapolis area, too.

    2. What really floored me was his advice (Tea w/ BVP, #2) for those who wanted to find out about how to do CI. He had two suggestions:

      1) Google “comprehensible input.” Who’d thought of that one? I think that the Rip Van Winkles in the audience probably did not understand what he meant. For the rest of the crew, I guess it is like troubleshooting, first, check to make sure your gadget is plugged in. The next point was less patently obvious.

      2) Find out how to do TPRS :“you can go to their workshops and learn a lot of tools for using input in the classroom and making your classroom more communicative via that particular method…teach very specific skills and very specific techniques.” He is suggesting the revolution that was birthed at the HS level and 25 years later is stronger than ever.

  2. We aren’t alone. Dr. Clara Lee Brown at the University of Tennessee has organized several TPRS workshops geared towards ESL & EFL educators. I first heard about TPRS when I co-presented in Busan, Korea on SIOP (yes, it’s another CI method-don’t’ knock it till you try it) and she had arranged a presentation on TPRS. I sat in on the demonstration and was amazed. Love at first sight. Then, Dr. Brown organized a special (free!) TNTESOL mini-conference in Knoxville, TN and I really got to know the ropes. She has co-written several articles with Krashen and is a firm advocate for CI methods including TPRS, CALLA, and SIOP. I will be sending her some cookies this Valentines Day.

    1. The mini-conference was on using TPRS in an ESL classroom–sorry I didn’t add that.
      I’m attaching a note with my cookies to ask if we can’t revive the TPRS conference, because that was in 2009… and Knoxville’s overdue for another.

  3. In the last week, there has been a lot of chaos on social media about TPRS teachers clashing with mainstream teachers. I realize there is history behind these issues. I was at actfl this year, with my own two eyes I witness CI methods being embraced by hundreds of teachers.

    At this time, it is more important than ever to publicly be kind and cooperative with others that may not exactly share ALL of our opinions about SLA. Grant Boulanger wrote a very good blog post about this. He is in the heat of this battle as a nominated TOY.

    Check it out!

    1. Michael, thank you for sharing this blog. I’m in love with the “Honey or Vinegar” post (I think that’s the one you are referring to). He makes the point that TCI is not a “silver bullet and there is no finish line” -it’s about striving to improve as professionals, wherever that “journey” takes us. What an amazing diplomat. Grant Boulanger for President!

  4. A couple notes on Van Patten – We all know he’ll be at iFLT this summer. He’ll also be keynoting the MN Fall Conference from MCTLC on October 28! So, upper midwest folks should look into that too!

    Personally, I agree that he may be very focused on university. I think a lot of folks at that level just write off the secondary language experience. I think he’ll be blown away by what he sees this summer. I’m expecting it to make a big impression on him.

    At ACTFL I remember hearing Walter, his co-host, admit to going to a Berty Segal TPR training once… Once!?

    1. “I think a lot of folks at that level just write off the secondary language experience. ”

      Maybe in the same way that secondary schools write off elementary school language experience? We have so much to learn from each other, whatever the level we teach.

      I’m glad I’ve had experience teaching younger kids (even though high school suits me better). Teaching adults is fun, too, outside of any school-like setting, in part because you can really get in a flow. There is almost no classroom management to do. Actually I mostly had that with a super-motivated student I tutored for 2 years. That was fun.

    2. …I remember hearing Walter, his co-host, admit to going to a Berty Segal TPR training once… Once!?….

      This is a very good question. Bertie started the entire thing about asking questions of students, which forms the key concept in our work with CI. Anyone claiming to know about comprehensible input theory would not report that they “once went to a Bertie Segal workshop”. They would know a lot more than that. They would know that without Bertie we may not have TPRS. Walter’s comment rubs me the wrong way.

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