I got this comment from a colleague:
Ben –
It was a huge revelation to read your book (The Big CI Book) and finally see it all brought together. I always knew I hated the textbook language study model but I didn’t really know what to do. Your book explains it. It explains the philosophy. It explains the practicalities. Over and over it explains the only really way for students to acquire a language. And how simple it is. You have to talk to them in a way that they will understand. All the time. With many many repetitions. It seems so simple but unless it is explicitly explained a teacher cannot teach this way.
It’s a big failing of Blaine Ray’s work. I read his books, went to a great training with a Russian teacher. But no one ever said “comprehensible input.” You hear all about stories and circling and structures, etc. But it’s not explained why. The process is not explained. There is not the needed emphasis on circling and staying in bounds and going slow. I don’t think there would have been backlash to his work if he had thought to put it all in context and tell teachers why they were doing stories and circling, etc. He taught methods but without the umbrella explanation. You and others figured this out.
