Is circling a comprehension check?
Comprehension...it's one of those "trust but verify" things. On social media (where else?) some teachers recently got into a discussion about whether circling is a comprehension check. I thought that was an interesting question ("question"...see what I did there? LOL)...
read moreNo time-outs in this game?
Exhausted students need a break after completing a task In a recent Twitter thread, a teacher commented to the effect that a good tenet of classroom management is: Make sure kids understand they will be busy from the starting bell until class is dismissed....
read moreDemo dreams, part deux
It's good to acquire new languages. It is. And I'm always happy to hear that people are coming into contact with Chinese, often through demos, and discovering what a cool language it is. But doing a demo brings with it responsibility. Especially if the demo is being...
read moreAll you need are tones!
Really??? Again on the social media…I really have to just stop reading it…I get the following: Nail those tones and all is forgiven. We'll show you how to improve your tones in the HandyDandy TonesRUs NotItsRealName Masterclass... I really, really wish people would...
read moreShut up already about the Chinese!
On various social media outlets, I frequently get comments of this type: This is CI for [Spanish/French]. We share about comprehension-based techniques and methods that work in our [Spanish/French] classes. It doesn't matter whether these things work with...
read moreRight disease, wrong medication
I get all kinds of things popping up on my feed on a popular social media site. This one recently came up. Are you struggling with your accent in [language]? Or do you have a difficult time understanding native speakers? This course is for you! We'll start from the...
read moreTop Five Things CI is Not About
As we get ready to head back into the classroom for another year of acquisition through comprehended input, here's a handy list of the top five things to...just not worry about. 5. Icebreakers. If you are communicating with your students, a community will develop....
read moreThree ways to target all three modalities during reading
A reading group in the animal kingdom. On an online post, a teacher recently wrote: I would welcome suggestions of how to structure reading groups to target all three modes of communication. So you have a group of language students, and you have them in a group,...
read more“I was amazed…”
Photo by Mert Guller But will your students be? Teachers go to demos, and teachers loooooove to learn new languages. That's why we're language teachers. We get excited by the grammar patterns, the new sounds, even (let's face it!) the geekery -- everything. And...
read moreDon’t break the spell!
Keep the magic alive in your classroom! (Photo by Aron Visuals) The question was asked on social media recently: When y'all do special person interviews do you let the special person answer in L1? And like most things in life, the answer is "that depends". If the...
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