Lance Video Series

3 thoughts on “Lance Video Series”

1. Ben Slavic

   January 20, 2016 at 1:46 am

   On Video 02:

   1:10 – 2:10 – Marvelous, slow, easy-to-understand “There was a girl”. Clinically perfect TPRS.

   2:10 – 2:35 – Because the class has had no management, Lance goes to great lengths to make sure that all the kids understand what is expected of them. He does this with kindness. When I saw the first video (01) I thought that he was over explaining everything. Now I see how with a group that is damaged (that’s an understatement) like this one, I see that Lance HAS to stop and redirect using more English than one typically would on the first day of a new group. Pacing in L2 and redirecting in L1 are both first rate, good for us all to see how to do it.

   2:35 – end – Once he has their interest, in my opinion less English is called for, but I don’t know because I can’t see the students. (By the way, if you are not getting releases from parents – it’s basically an impossible task so let’s just admit that – then just film yourself like Lance is doing here. It’s all we need. No more excuses!) Something I have worked on for years is my determination to stay in French during a story and I am happy to say that I have finally found the discipline to achieve this lofty goal of L2 only. Lance’s situation here is very difficult – he has to get a story going with a class that has no discipline. As I see it, what will happen is that he will use English to redirect, but less and less as the kids figure out how to play the game and gain that greatest of treasures for a student – confidence. Wait until their first story and then their first reading. Man! What confidence when they see that they, those kids who were in a study hall for a month and probably drove the first teacher out of the building, can not only create a story but read it and all pass a test on it! This is what I am talking about. People like Lance who just look like regular teachers but they are really heroes in my view because they are giving kids something rare these days – a feeling that they CAN DO SOMETHING. When he had suggested that the girl wants sushi, he had that group about to take off and the next thing that happened was that he had to redirect some more and then at the end of the video there was a conversation with Evan in English about how he could come to make up points or something after school. So that is going to happen but less and less. This was so me! So many years of that! Now I have learned to redirect quickly and keep 95% or more of my instruction focused on the creation of the story. Of course, this year I have privileged kids and so it is so much easier. Lance gets a medal for his efforts in a hostile situation here. I have survived MANY years of classes like that, BUT I don’t remember how hard it is (I feel it in a vestigial way but I have blocked it from my memory bc it was so darned painful emotionally). Fact: Lance is changing the culture of this class very rapidly. Can’t wait to see the rest of the videos. Expect lots of comments from the group. Thank you in advance!

   Throughout the video – excellent use of images (maps, etc.) to help the kids understand the questions. If the goal is comprehensible input, this input in this second video is comprehensible. A great job of taking a train wreck of a class and turning it around via one hairy class (01) and then moving it fast into what he expects from them. How does he do it? SLOW, clear, gestures, images, and using his own – we all have our own unique – style.

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2. Diane N.

   January 20, 2016 at 1:08 pm

   I just watch video 2. Here are some thoughts:

   – I needed all the slow and clarification b/c I have a hard time with Spanish. The English was breaking the flow, but I understand that in fact you were reacting to disruptions, not initiating them. And the video was edited down so I missed some intervening content which would’ve helped me understand.
   – It was, though, a huge improvement from video 1 in terms of kids being with you. A student said, “Cool!” about getting to suggest ideas for stories. The actors! They were silent and attentive! It seems to me that this is likely to turn into a class that gets it & will thrive. They had a bad set of circumstances, but it doesn’t seem to me like oppositional behavior here, just bad habits and “normal” testing of the adult.
   – I’ve heard what you said about it being your story, and that they should guess. As an alternative, I like saying we’re imagining something together. If I get unsatisfying responses, sometimes I directly say I don’t know, and point to the word “imagine” on the wall to get them to make up more ideas. I do sometimes make the decision between ideas, but I also really like referring the decision to a quiet, attentive student. Did that today, in fact.

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3. Steven Ordiano

   January 22, 2016 at 9:18 am

   Yes. One per week. I’m not slammed with work I’m just self-caring and spending more time with the family and the baby. 🙂

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