Group member James Hosler has given me permission to share this email with the group. It warms the heart to read stuff like this:
Ben, I have noticed a lot of anxiety on our end lately about administrators and snotty kids. But it’s always good to get reminders of how good TPRS and CI really are, even if done badly (that is, by me).
I have a girl in Latin 3 whose brother is with me in Latin 1. The girl has had the unfortunate pleasure of grammar-translation methods for the past two years, and is now in the unenviable position of Latin 3 via independent study. And this is not the good kind of independent study, mind you; it’s definitely lots of bookwork assigned by and eventually discussed with and checked by me, the teacher, who is too busy this year getting started with TPRS in his other classes to worry about integrating her more fully with TPRS. I can work her in every once and a while, but blah blah blah, no where near often enough.
The girl recently asked if Latin 4 next year was going to be like this year and her last two years, or if it would be more like what her brother talks about. Apparently they have Latin conversations over dinner, so as to confuse their parents. There is only one problem: She says that her brother (again, only in Latin 1) knows more Latin than her! Imagine that! My Latin 1 student, after one semester of TPRS and CI, is able to engage in conversation more capably than my Latin 3 student who has had 2 and a half years of traditional methods. Honestly, that made my week, almost as much as the look of relief on her face when I said that Latin 4 would, indeed, be like what her brother is now experiencing.