Meagan is my colleague at East High here in Denver. Last week she told me about how a kid came into her classroom and asked, “Is it true that four year olds can learn a langauge faster than us?” I loved Meagan’s response: “No, it’s not true. That myth exists because of the way languages […]
This is a recent comment by Jim that I am making into a blog so that I can add it to a new category on the right of this page called “Beginning the Year”. There is a lot that could go in there, but those posts are just too hard to access now. One good
Michele and I were talking about what to do next year and here are some of her resolutions with my responses italicized. I think that there are more in another email she sent me and Michele you can add them as a comment if you find them. I think it is good for us to know what we intend
We’re not just talking about a teaching method here, folks. We are talking about employment in a crumbling economy. Those of us who chose to go into the profession did so thinking that we could earn a living from it. But, if the method we use fails us, and our enrollments keep dwindling, and no
Hi Ben, I had an amazing experience today. Our school is doing professional learning communities, starting classes late twice a week so we can work in groups. Patty, Rachel and I had to present this morning on our work in the foreign language department. We told them a little bit about CI-based instruction and I
There are days when we wish we could go into our classrooms and be mindless and not worry about anything at all, following a set of automatic steps that still hold our students’ attention for the entire class period. Below is a 90 minute lesson plan that does that for me. I use it
We can get lots of reps and lots of additional input with the personalized readings we do the day after our story. But not only can we do this in the class that the story was created, but we can (and should) also share these stories with other classes. Not only are kids interested in
K, my former student who has written so beautifully and with such great courage about her experience promoting stories in her IB school this year, and the unexpected support she got from her wonderfully open teacher, now shares her thoughts on how next year is setting up for her. The blog is very direct and
Having just watched the movie Outrage, I am so moved by how some gay activists must just feel so tired from fighting the discrimination and ignorance perpetrated by those who would oppose or attack them for whatever political or personal reason. I wouldn’t dare compare the intellectual snobbery and ignorance from Krashen’s colleagues’ on his work to that
Dr. Beniko Mason is a professor at Shitennoji University in Osaka, Japan. She has known and worked with Dr. Krashen for over fifteen years and fully embraces his Comprehensible Input Hypothesis. I was honored that she visited my classroom last week. Here is a short email she sent back to me, which is then followed
Ray Bauer asked: Quick question. What is your opinion on teaching the alphabet to elementary school students grades K-6? I am personally totally against it. I prefer to pound the CI. Other teachers in my district want to do units on the alphabet and I feel like our time could be spent better. What is
I would like to thank whomever it was who originally suggested that guest bloggers contribute to this site, to help me with the overall time investment on this site. Who was that? Just last week, Grant suggested the idea again, and it looks like it may work. I got seven responses and thought of calling that
