Comprehensible input
A talk about talking: TeacherTalks
Recently, I had the pleasure of contributing some ideas to the “International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching.” ijlft.org It was an interesting experience because I was challenged with the obstacle of describing something I do “better than anyone else in the classroom.” I wouldn’t want to say I do anything better than anyone else. However, I do attempt to create an immersion-like setting for my students in a sometimes intense way. Since I do this with a grammar and vocabulary based curriculum I must remind myself that…
“Tenses are not acquired as “units” and the brain doesn’t store grammar as a textbook-stated rule (Van Patten).”
The TeacherTalks, as I call them in the article, are an effort to expose students to all the grammar and vocabulary found in their curriculum in a way that is understandable and interesting while allowing the unconscious mind to go to work. I feel there is a great balance in doing these Talks combined with building literacy in the TL. My hope was to help categorize for other teachers ways to create immersion speaking topics.
It is no easy task creating language immersion for 50 minutes day for 180 days per school year in a way that develops fluency. In this area, I believe, teachers can learn from each other sharing best practices in order to build generations of American students that (learn) acquire another language.
Here is the article link.
http://www.ijflt.org/images/ijflt/IJFLT-Dec2014/Coxen-Successful-Reading2.pdf
Dr. Stephen Krashen
Quote Posted on Updated on
Warning: Name Dropping in effect!
In 2013, Stephen Krashen invited me to lunch during a workshop (China Buffet if you must know). He is the expert, guru, master, founding father, and advocate for doing what makes sense in education. I love reading is work and trying to be a better language learner and teacher through his life’s work and research. There is great information on his blog for example…
http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/08/comprensible-input-based-methods-vs.html
“Language is acquired through comprehensible input. It is an unconscious process that happens when the learner is focused on the message, rather than the language itself.”
-Stephen Krashen
Optimizing Immersion 