It is my opinion that the word “planning” is just embarrassingly overused in our profession. Why, if we all gained fluency in our first language without a shred of planning, have we bought into the Big Lie of our profession? Why does everybody think that we need to plan so much? There is something f—ed up about that.
Planning crushes the joy of it all. And we need all the joy we can get right now in America. No more Big Lies. Just truthful teaching, aligned with the profound truths of the standard and the research.
Noam Chomsky has said this:
“Grammar [is] acquired by virtually everyone, effortlessly, rapidly, in a uniform manner, merely by living in a community under minimal conditions of interaction, exposure, and care.”
And let’s make sure that when Chomsky says “grammar” we understand it to mean properly spoken and written language, not the freakish thing that it has become under the index finger of the textbook companies.
Humans learn languages not by studying them (a conscious process) but simply by absorbing the message (an unconscious process). When that occurs, all our students should really have to do for real proficiency is absorb the message.
But for that to happen, we have to teach in a way that allows them to focus on the message and not the form of the language.
So it’s all on us.
When we plan, our instruction starts to slightly stink. When we plan for an entire year, our instruction starts to smell pretty bad. When we make a career out of planning our language instruction, our instruction reeks of stench. How can we enjoy our jobs if there is a worksheet stench hovering over us? The kids see (and smell) stuff like that!
Also:
- The Interpersonal Mode of Communication is defined by ACTFL as “active oral or written communication in which the participants negotiate meaning to make sure that their message is understood.” Put in the simplest of terms, you just hang out with your teacher in the language and you acquire it.
- The Interpretive Mode of Communication is defined by ACTFL as “the ability to listen to or read a text and interpret the meaning.” Again, you just listen and after a while you have the ability to listen to or read something in the target language and you can do it and you don’t even have to know how it happened.
If you are a textbook industry boss, you probably don’t want to hear about this. You know it’s accurate, but you don’t want to hear about it.
TEXTBOOKS LACK JOY. BUT CI CAN BE SO JOYFUL AND WE SHOULD BE YEARNING AND STRIVING AND PRAYING AND BEGGING FOR THE EMERGENCE OF JOY IN OUR WORK AS LANGUAGE TEACHERS. THE TEXTBOOK IS NOW OFFICIALLY HEADED TO THE DUST BIN OF TIME.
Joy is no longer hiding in the nooks and crannies of our society. It is waiting to emerge. IT IS EMERGING RIGHT NOW, AND MANY OF US READING THIS, LIVING THE CI LIFE RIGHT NOW, HAVE THE SCARS TO PROVE IT. BLESS US!
I will add one more thing, directed at those using the new Star Sequence Curriculum from my latest books:
The Star is the plan. No other plan is needed.
That’s all I have to say on the topic of planning.