The script He Talks Too Much (Matava) is different because no one has to imagine anything. Hernan really does talk too much in class. The resulting PQA and story create more direct involvement of students in what is going on than any other story I know. This real discussion about something that really is happening right there in our classroom brings more immediate truth, a more increased level of believability (vraisemblance), and that fact is huge in whether a story works. The next step is to take any script and make it reflect the kids in the room. When we make it more believable, the better it will be.
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
4 thoughts on “He Talks Too Much”
Okay, pronunciation guide, please? Vraisemlance? Maybe I’m alone on this one 🙂 Cool word. Thanks!
Actually you say the “b”. I think I have a link to “French pronunciation” on this site, on the posters or “Useful Information” page. Not sure. If I could do anything, it would be to go to Paris and watch every one of Molière’s plays. That would be heaven. I’d have to watch each play twice, though. The first time just to focus on the costumes, then the play itself the second time. I can’t do both at the same time. Some of Matava’s scripts have a Molièresque kind of quality. Molière would focus in each comedy on a single human foible. It’s like He Talks Too Much. There is a similar feel. John correct me, if you read this, but I remember a term applied in classical French theatre that would be good for us to remember when we choose story scripts if we really want to get our kids’ attention: (I aplogize for spelling and accuracy of translation – it’s been over 30 years) castigat ridendo mores and I think it means elle corrige les moeurs en riant/we correct behaviors through laughter. That’s what Molière does and what a good story should do as well to get the buy-in on an emotional level that alone brings freedom from focusing on the language and puts the mind where it should be on the meaning. Oh my, just thinking of the 17th c. in France makes me half crazy. You know, it doesn’t come up much, but the culture of a country, the finest things it has ever produced to lift mankind up to the stars, is just so wonderful. We shouldn’t forget, when we teach a language, what we are really doing. When I think of what it must have been like to be able to watch those plays in the 17th century, it makes my almost cry. When I think of how Kate and the Sauks are working towards keeping their cultures from going to sleep forever, that makes me want to cry too. Well, I guess I’ll go watch TV.
I would love to get my hands on Anne Matava’s “Story Scripts”. I tried to look it up and Wikipedia said it was available on this blog? Where and how can I buy a copy? I must not be looking in the right place, because I don’t even see where I could get copies of Ben’s books, which I already have in multiple copies so I can loan them to colleagues.
Look on Ben’s main page (www.benslavic.com). On the right-hand side is a column of “featured products”. Volume 1 is toward the bottom and Volume 2 is further up. There are lots of other products available. The blog is a completely separate entity now, with a link from the main page to the sign-in page.