The mythical “wall”

by | Nov 12, 2012 | Methods, Outside Forces

Speaking English in class is bad. USING English in class is very good practice indeed. There’s an enormous difference. Recently, a teacher wrote on a well-known e-mail list for foreign language teachers: Why are the students writing English in Spanish class?...

Immersion and the Older Beginner

by | Mar 20, 2012 | Methods

What exactly is Comprehensible Input? Does it mean “just getting the student to understand pretty much what’s going on, enough to get the point of what’s being said”? That is not the type of CI that is most effective in language acquisition...

Immersion Looks Better, Though

by | Jul 13, 2011 | Methods, Outside Forces

Let’s not forget: immersion means being underwater. And novice language learners don’t have gills. An observer of a TPRS-based Chinese class recently commented (using words to this effect): This is a great program. But you should use less English. You use...