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Present/Past Question
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10 thoughts on “Present/Past Question”
…speaking to my actors in present and my class in the past….
This refers to Blaine and Von’s a.m. session at NTPRS, for those who were there. I was not thrilled by the complexity of the idea. I think that when we do PQA in the present and stories in the past and readings (and the important spin-off discussions that arise from them) in the present, then we are doing a sufficient job of teaching the present and past forms. I don’t know how others reacted to that session. I think it is unneeded complexity for the teacher. My two cents. Of course, Guy, if you flow with it, it’s wonderful. I just couldn’t even get to where I could even try it, with all the other stuff we have to keep in mind.
Ben,
I am sure you are not aware of it, but in Las Vegas in that Thursday session when you did the Matava story you used present and past interchangeably ( not the whole time, but when the past tense would be needed). You probably didn’t realize it because language came out flowing. I think we can’t help it sometimes to go from present to past because we can’t control the language we speak naturally. Whatever tense it has to come out in, it will come out in, unconscious process… It is nice to read the blog and refreshing , just what I need as I am so overworked right now and stressed with all the new requirements from my district ( weekly lesson plans, unit plans which I will not follow anyway, common assessment, I feel like a robot). I just want to teach and do not want to do this busy work but I have no choice. Does anyone know of a CI friendly district in the Chicago/Chicago suburb area?
I can send you my first weekly lesson plan but we have to follow a stupid non user-friendly template . Let me know if you are interested and I’ ll email it to you and you can decide if you want to post it or not. My syllabus will be done tomorrow and I will send that too.
OK back to busy work, wish me luck, I’ll be up most of the night.
Hi Guy! I’ve read about Blaine and Von’s new technique, but I was not at NTPRS to hear it live. What I don’t understand is how the present and past fit in it authentically–that is, does he still live in Vegas (or wherever) or did he live there?
However, your idea sounds authentic, and it will bring up real conversation–the formal and informal you, I, we….
I’d love to hear how it goes…
dori v. in CO
So this “new technique” is simply tell stories in the past, and ask actors the verifying questions in present? And what do you all think about the forced input that is encouraged by Blaine when asking these verifying questions to actors? Seems like he expects students on day one to answer in complete sentences “Yes, I am a boy”, “Yes I want a cat”.
And, in an email, Blaine said there’s a new, 6th edition of Fluency. I can’t find it anywhere online. Has anybody seen it?
I bought a copy at Nat’l but I don’t see one online either. I’ll send an email to Contee Seely and see what he has to say!
with love,
Laurie
How is it? Is there a lot of new stuff in comparison to the 2008 5th edition?
I like what Sabrina says about natural unfoldment of tenses. And the thing is that we have worked so hard on trusting the CI to unfold in the natural direction, into the FLOW of the thing, that in my view it means not really trying to set up anything. Just staying close to the script and listening to the kids and not forcing output as per Chris’ point. I’m just confused on this right now and asking for help from those who were there and who might be able to explain it. Guy is putting himself out there right now with his students. I’m putting up the yellow caution flag.
I wasn’t at NTPRS š but my impression of the difference is this:
– Blaine and Von are talking about an analytical “technique”, one more thing for the teacher to have to think about (class = past; actors = present)
– Sabrina is talking about seeing organic and natural use of the language without conscious thought. “OK, I’m interviewing the actors”: if the information needed is about what is happening now, the question is naturally formulated in the present tense (“Are you happy or sad about this?”); if the information needed is about what happened in the past, the question is naturally formulated in the past (“Did you go to Target or Elephants R Us?”).
Of course, that’s just my impression.
Robert,
You are right. I was in Von and Blaine’s session in Las Vegas and to me , it is just another tool in the toolkit for the teacher to get more reps in both past and present. However, when you apply those “tricks” over and over again, the kids catch on and they fatigue ( I’m not sure it s a real english verb). In my humble opinion, it s a great tool to have but not to overuse because of what I just described.
they fatigue ( Iām not sure it s a real english verb)
It is, you’re fine. š
Thanks for the comment.