So this isn’t theoretical, really, or supported by a sample size of more than one (me). But I found it an interesting realization. I’ve been trying to learn/acquire (mostly what’s available is geared toward learning, not acquisition) a certain Native American language for some time now. Like most traditional students of language, my efforts were […]
Archive for January, 2015
“Acquisition” vs “progress”
Posted by Terry Waltz on January 22nd, 2015
On a teaching email list, someone recently posted expressing pleasure at how well someone was “acquiring” TPRS. Except that you don’t “acquire” TPRS. Why does that matter? Why does it make a difference whether we throw the word “acquire” around for the pleasure of using a word that, to us, is the center of our […]
Tonally Orthographic Pinyin system infographic
Posted by Terry Waltz on January 21st, 2015
After not realizing for a long time that there wasn’t any information about the Tonally Orthographic Pinyin system of triple-marked tones for teaching Mandarin up on my web site, I finally got my act together and made an attempt at summarizing the rules and some of the benefits of the system in an infographic. It […]
Posted in Chinese-specific, Reading 
Tags: Pinyin, Romanization, TOP 
Comments Off on Tonally Orthographic Pinyin system infographicLife Experience and Authentic Tasks in the Language Classroom
Posted by Terry Waltz on January 8th, 2015
There was recently a discussion about other things on a mailing list, and a teacher gave some examples of types of assessment being used. One thing stuck out in my mind: a task that required students to make a “phone call” (to an online service) and inquire about renting an apartment in a city in […]
Posted in Assessment, General Tags: authentic tasks, experience, Output Comments Off on Life Experience and Authentic Tasks in the Language ClassroomTPRS for Adult Post-Beginners
Posted by Terry Waltz on January 2nd, 2015
A teacher recently asked for suggestions for how to modify TPRS to suit the needs of an adult “post-beginner” class, which would be taught for 2 hours a day. The goals of the class, which is for ESL, would be to equip the learners with the language to be able to rent housing, shop, and […]