Teenagers are trapped. They can’t go back to the joys of their younger days, which were squeezed out of them somewhere between 4th and 7th grade. They can’t go forward either. They’re stuck.
Oh, but what wouldn’t they give for a break in their day from the endless boring tasks that led Tolstoy to describe his own school days as filled with mindless drudgery and pointless tasks. I can’t find that quote and if anybody knows where it can be found I would love to know. It’s a zinger.
But wait! Isn’t that what we do with CI – give our students a break? Don’t we present our students with a right brain/whole brain experience instead of the more boring but typical of American schools these days left brain analytical stuff?
When our kids walk into our rooms, don’t we ask them to imagine movies of things magical, impossible, illogical, and wonderful? To use Jason’s term, don’t we “co-create” imaginary worlds with them every day, through stories and reading?
The by-product of this creation process is that, since it is done in another language, something the students are not even aware of if the teaching is properly done, they learn the language.
Krashen says that we learn languages unconsciously and I should devote a blog a day just to that one premise because we don’t get it, not really, at all. We don’t get that, we don’t remember it, and we don’t apply it.
If we did, we would assess in a completely different way, in a way that would reflect Robert’s currently posted ideas about assessing in terms of the three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational, none of which belong to the world of analysis and data collection but are part of a much larger, much more fluid, universe.
I take pride in offering to my students an option, a way out of, the hell of being in a tell and test environment. Even if my efforts reach just a few of the kids, embracing Krashen and Ray’s ideas has been well worth it. It was the best thing to do.
Here’s hoping that Robert’s recent post on assessment takes us further down the road that Krashen originally designed. I want to cut a hole in the corral that all those kids get herded into every day, where Promethean boards and the latest in data collection await them, ostensibly to help them but – in languages – no.