A repost:
Language is by nature chaotic. It is big and bad and random. Just about any word can follow the one in front of it, creating real or phantasmagorical images, and limitless possibilities of combinations of words.
I remember when I didn’t respect that fact. I used to teach with a plan to tame language, presenting certain things about the language, and not others, because I thought that my students’ minds could grasp it in that way. How tiresome, how very tiresome, was all that controlling behavior, all that sucky lesson planning.
Krashen came along and shot that theory all to pieces. I began to respect language’s infinite variation. I began to respect, also, the power of the mind to grasp “random” language if I just let it alone and put it in comprehensible situations, not worrying so much about controlling each little detail.
I knew something was right as I began to to enjoy interacting with the kids in the language, something I could never figure out before, just letting things emerge, and all of that good stuff we see in storytelling classes. Now, I only worry about one thing – is my teaching comprehensible to my students?
I don’t even care all that much if it’s all that interesting. That’s up to them. I can’t put that on myself. It has become a very simple workday for me. I ask questions. I try to listen and encourage them to give cute answers. But I don’t let sad children who have never been instructed in the art of conversation mess me up. I am not an entertainer. I just make it comprehensible and I just stay in the language.