Formative

3 thoughts on “Formative”

1. Ben Slavic

   April 29, 2016 at 11:38 pm

   No longer do I perceive my work as a language teacher to teach as much language as I can so that I am perceived by those around me as cool. Now I see my role as a CI teacher to be 100% into making children feel happy in my classroom.

   I want my students to want to come to my classroom just to have fun, just because they want to, and not so much to learn French as much as to feel welcome somewhere in the world, somewhere in the world, to feel that there is a place, a place, where what they do and think counts more than a test score or a grade.

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2. Ben Slavic

   April 29, 2016 at 11:39 pm

   https://benslavic.com/blog/my-view-on-curriculum-documents/

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3. Ben Slavic

   April 30, 2016 at 2:18 am

   I once went to a play in Montreal back when I was in graduate school in New York. The actors did a great job. I am not an expert on Québecois culture, but I got as many as the subtleties presented as I could, given that I was still new to French. It was fun. Live theatre is the best!

   Imagine my surprise upon exiting the venue, in the lobby, at being descended upon by the owner of the theatre, who was surrounded by press and other people. They seemed very nervous. The director started to quiz me on all aspects of the play. I didn’t know all the answers.

   I asked him why all the questions? He said that he needed to go backstage with the actors right after our interview, with all the data collected from me by those around him, and share everything I had said with the actors so that they could improve their performance next time.

   I explained that I was tired that night, that their performance was just fine, that really I liked it, and that if I couldn’t answer all the questions it may have been because something was going on in my personal life at the time that was bothering me, that my French wasn’t perfect, and also that I hadn’t eaten breakfast that day, so not to blame the actors.

   I also explained that where I was sitting in the theatre kept me from hearing everything. I told the owner that if I didn’t get all the answers right that he asked me out there in the lobby, it was probably more my fault than that of the actors.

   He just turned and walked past me, followed by the phalanx of reporters and people with computers and all the other people who were there taking notes on the interview, as they all rushed back into the theatre to tell those actors what I said and that they could have done a better job.

   I went out into the snow.

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