We always seem to be in some kind of discussion about how the 1950’s style teachers in our buildings exhibit some kind of enmity to our current initiatives with comprehensible input. And yet, students are starting to say some remarkable things on our behalf. This brief report from Robert Harrell says it all. It is most certainly not something that one might hear from a student talking about his experience in a traditional classroom these days:
Robert reports:
Hi Ben,
A former student, not a superstar, posted the following on Facebook today:
…that awesome moment when a guy jokingly starts talking to you in German and you understand every word he says. Thanks Herr Harrell!!!…
4 thoughts on “Report from the Field – Robert Harrell”
Hurrah for Herr.
That reminds me of a wonderful difference between CI instruction and “traditional” teaching. As “traditional” teachers we may have used culture-related projects (often in L1) because we get student comments about how memorable those were (compared to explicit grammar instruction). How much more rewarding to a language teacher to get comments like this for enjoying the language itself.
Like!
The best kind of encouragement!
Interesting that the student said “jokingly” as a way in which Herr Herrell started talking with them. I’m sure the conversation was fresh and fun and, may I dare say, personal.