An Insidious System
Students who come from privilege – in language classrooms and in all American classrooms – continue to be trained in schools for their roles as
Play and Speech Output
It takes approximately 400 repetitions for our brains to make a new connection, unless it's done through play, in which case it only takes 10
Drawn by an Echo?
This was written and posted here in 2016: Are Sauk, Latin, Myskoke, Chickasaw languages asleep or is there something more going on? It's easy to say
On Testing
Assessment instruments like common assessments and formative tests that require memorization destroy our students' sense of self-confidence in the language. Who says that they have to
Narcissism
A person with whom I used to work - until I cut her off in 2018 - tried to use me as her intellectual supply
Using the StarChart™ With Younger Children
Not too many teachers have tried to use the Ultimate CI™ approach (UCI™) with very small children. I guess the assumption is that it’s a
Happy Ones
When we teach according to the standard of Communication and the research that says that Comprehensible Input is the way human beings acquire languages, we
Out of the Doldrums
When children come to us to learn the languages that we teach them, they come to us in trust. But we do not always honor that
Ultimate CI Book 3 on Classroom Management – 2
Here are the beginning paragraphs of the new book:
Heritage Speakers Write the Story in the TL
Very often we have kids who only speak the language plopped down into our classrooms and we don't know what to do with them and
Sublingual Repetitions
Sublingual Output is a term I made up because I don't know the proper research term. It's when the kids seem to be repeating stuff
Q and A – The Ultimate CI Book 4
I'm writing a book to offer questions and answers about my new UCI books. Here are some examples: Q. In the videos, you used a different
Call for Curriculum Documents
I got this important question: Hi Ben, I was wondering what you do if a student or parent wants a syllabus for the year. Thanks! Tanya My response: I recommend teaching the
Ultimate CI Book 3 on Classroom Management – 1
I'm writing a new book about the state of our profession after Covid-19, which is not very attractive right now. The name of the book
New Book Q and A
My new book which will be out next summer is Book 4 of the Ultimate CI series. It will include lots of questions I typically
Foreign Language Education – The Easy Way
Many of us never think much about the high number of kids that we end up confusing more than helping. The result of that confusion
Sean Lawler on Heritage Speakers
Sean reports: Mike Peto is a great source on teaching heritage students. He helped create a Facebook page called Teacher of Spanish Heritage Speakers. It’s a
Technicolor
Human beings are different in that we can create anything we want to create. So think of what we can do in our language classes
Another Letter from Laura
I love the deep thinking that Laura expresses below: Hi Ben, Yes, the forces of darkness (lying, cheating, bullying, etc.) are dominating our times in this swing
Goat or Dinosaur?
One of our group members here on the PLC has had a very bad year. No one in her school wants to see anything good
Nice Letter
Every once in a while I catch up with one of the great Spanish teachers in this world - Laura Avila. She teaches in Maine,
There Can Be No CI “Syllabus”
Q. We have to submit a syllabus for each class. What do you suggest as a possible syllabus using your approach? A. One answer and perhaps the best
That’s a Problem!
There is conflict in our buildings about what language pedagogy even is. The conflict is there between language department members, but it is always either
The Most Critical Point about Making Stories
Below is a series of practical steps that allow you to move from tableaux into stories. Remember that tableaux are merely stepping stones to stories. Tableaux
Reviews
Here are some recent reviews of the Ultimate CI training course starting next weekend: Rated 5 out of 5 Marko MAY 18, 2021 “Ben Slavic’s STAR Is The Modern Foreign