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Three Common Errors
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9 thoughts on “Three Common Errors”
Once again, you do a good job of simplifying this method to its core pillars for success. I remember the overwhelming feeling as I first started and saw a bazillion techniques listed in Ray’s “Fluency through TPR Storytelling” and a bunch of skills listed in your book “TPRS in a Year.” Now, I don’t think about all those skills. Many are not essentials and just add a little spice/novelty to the class.
1) I would like to add that I am seeing how important it is to do #1 when you do step 3 reading. I had my best reading day EVER with my 6th graders last week. What I think made it successful was that I limited my story to ONLY the target structures, which were defined and viewable at the top of the page when we read. The choral translation was louder than ever. I witnessed the power of understanding 98%+ of what is read. If I wanted to present more structures/vocab, then I could have gone to a 2nd level embedded reading, but I wouldn’t have had time for that in the same class period. Even at the end of the period, I think my students were only producing 2 of the 3 structures with ease.
2) Related to going slow is to have a calm demeanor. I think we see TPRS experts at conferences that are bouncing off the walls with energy (cough Carol Gaab cough, haha) and wonder if we could ever do that. At first, I thought that was how this method was to be delivered. What a quick way to burn out. It wasn’t until I watched a Ben Slavic video online that I realized the teacher didn’t have to be the entertainer. Now, I keep my voice level down, I often sit with the kids, and I deliver CI and discipline with a calm and cool voice. I am editing a TPR demo I did last week and it wasn’t until I’d observed myself did I realize I was doing this.
3) I think that even if we aren’t specifically talking about a student and his/her life in our story, the details and answers we get from the kids makes the story relevant to them and gives them ownership = Customization = what Susie Gross has said she means when she uses the word “personalization.”
SUPER IMPORTANT:
“Related to going slow is to have a calm demeanor. I think we see TPRS experts at conferences that are bouncing off the walls with energy (cough Carol Gaab cough, haha) and wonder if we could ever do that. ”
Eric, you are a master at this. That is what struck me most about you at the coaching session in Maine: your calm unruffled vibe and pure openness. You are a joyful teacher without having to shout “I am joyful!!!!” You simply embody joy. It would be cool if you presented at a conference to show that this is not a “theatrical high energy acting job.” I keep getting the “I don’t have the personality for that type of teaching” rebuttal to CI. Like we always say it is not about the teacher being a clown or even a performer. The teacher’s job is to hold space in whatever way he/ she does that in authenticity. But you are absolutely right, the presenters at conferences are often very high energy so it can seem like “that is how you have to be. ” We need to be ourselves, honor ourselves, honor and connect with our children so that they can feel the power of being themselves.
Last week one of our best CI teachers in Denver, Mark Mullany, a young master of CI really, held a learning lab for visiting teachers. One of the assistant principals, in the post-class discussion, pointed out that what he just saw was clearly a way of teaching that was impressive and “wouldn’t it be nice if storytelling fit the personalities of ALL language teachers?”
Diana Noonan rebutted the AP’s point with, “Well, of course it does! I don’t know why you would think it would only work if you have Mark’s personality!” She went on (paraphrasing here): “Teaching in this way, we have found, can be as varied as the different personalities of all teachers who try it. Some teachers are very histrionic, but most, in fact, are not. Even the quietest teacher can have wonderful L2-filled classes that result in great gains for their students as they stay and stay in the TL. In fact, we have found that the personality of the teacher has absolutely nothing to do with the success of the method.” (ital. mine)
I am proud of Diana for saying those things. In fact the administrator is wrong. As you so rightly say above, jen: The teacher’s job is to hold space in whatever way he/ she does that in authenticity.”
Michelle Metcalfe is like this…she can “turn it on” to wacky but also functions perfectly well in class being “normal.” Something I gotta work on. CI is like a roadbike…you need to shift gears or you’re off the back.
I think sometimes ppl get the wrong impression from Blaine. In those workshops he ups the “funny” factor but if you see his class videos he’s also totally chill.
Thanks Jen 🙂
I can also do the high-energy CI-jive, but only when I’ve had enough coffee, haha.
I bet many teachers leave conferences feeling the “not my personality rebuttal,” that they can’t be the entertainer or that they aren’t creative enough. They ought to see our reading days, which I am generalizing are probably pretty low-key for most of us.
Like what you said, Jen, in an earlier comment, parents don’t teach their babies the language, they just interact and love them in a whole body kind of way. That is our job as teachers of a FL. And there are many ways to do that, not just being “the entertainer.” TCI/TPRS has heart! At the core of the method is love. We are the love messengers! 😉
About word associations: kids are definitely clever with these, but you’re right that it isn’t acquisition. But these mnemonic tricks (the gestures, word associations, visuals, etc.) are some of the best LEARNING devices. Therefore, the devices work to keep the structures in the [working] memory for longer periods of time while we hammer the reps into the unconscious. Maybe these devices allow us to keep the structures in the students’ conscious mind, until they’ve received enough reps in the unconscious realm. I think the larger memory of an older student is what allows the older student to acquire faster, i.e. more structures can be remembered at any one time so we can deliver wider input (wider net) that is still comprehensible to an older student and thus more structures can be worked into the unconscious.
Re speaking slowly:
Suzanne Perez Tobias of the Wichita Eagle published an article in 2008 (August 22) about the research done by Ray Hull, an audiologist at the University of Wichita. He says that most adults speak too quickly for children to process in their native language.
The basic facts:
Average 5-to-7 year olds process their native language at about 120 words per minute.
Average high school students process native language at about 140-145 words per minute.
Average adults speak at 170 words per minute.
Fred Rogers (“Mister Rogers”) trained himself to speak at a rate of 124 words per minute – and kept children spellbound.
Hull says, “Anybody who works with children will save a great deal of time if they will simply speak at a rate children can comprehend.”
He gives an example from school: “So when an algebra teacher is speaking at 160 or 180 words per minute and is introducing a new math concept … that is a problem.”
Now consider that our students are processing a foreign language.
I’m still trying to slow down enough.
Here’s a link to comments on the original article:
http://www.dyslexia.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/help-students-hear-your-words-speak-slower-says-audiology-professor/
A friend of mine was working with Portuguese speakers a few years ago. One day they were speaking to one another in Portuguese. My friend, Chris, not knowing Portuguese felt left out, and said, “I wish I knew another language so I could talk and you would not know what I was saying.” One of his Portuguese-speaking coworkers replied, “You do. Just speak English fast and we have no idea what you are saying.”
A few thoughts:
1. Speed turns familiar language into foreign language. My Spanish students may as well be in the Mandarin class if they are not able to process what I am saying in Spanish. (In Spanish we say “Es chino para mí” i.e., It’s all Chinese to me.)
2. Speed builds walls, slow builds bridges.
3. Speed excludes; slow includes.
4. Speed impresses (think Olympics), slow connects.
5. Speed is a good test of output/acquisition (speedwrites). Slow is a good measure of input/
6. If it is not comprehended, is it really input, or is just noise? Is it possible that input is by definition comprehensible?
I am going to save this…..this entire thread is full of great stuff!!!
with love,
Laurie
who is even more enamored of Fred Rogers…
I will too Laurie. I loved these thoughts that Nathaniel gave us. I keep struggling in my mind that I am not giving my students enough. But they are still struggling to comprehend. The problem is that I am not giving it to them slowly enough. I need to relax and build SLOWLY from where they are. No one is grading them or me (except me of course).
Here’s to giving myself permission to converse joyfully and at a pace that allows us to communicate comprehensibly.