Taking Pictures
There has been some interesting conversation, sparked by Krashen's research, about how strictly we should direct the language that we use with our students and in our lesson plans. There is a fear that if we don't all operate on the same checklist that students will not be able to progress, or to shift from one class/teacher/program to another.
In reality, the more rigid the program, the less likely the student is to be successful outside of it.
If our focus is Repeated, Interesting, Comprehensible, Heart-Connected Input of high-frequency structures, students will be exposed to the same structures, and develop comprehension, production, deduction and synthesis skills.
Language is created by living creatures. It may be systemic by function, (which is why linguists can break it down) but it is organic by nature. It is so organic that each human being acquires it at his/her own rate and according to his/her own unique cognitive, emotional, and situational connections. It naturally differentiates by acquisition, even if we don't differentiate our instruction.
Despite the fact that nearly all humans use language, millions share a language, regions craft dialects and families create their own idioms, language is still individually acquired.
No wonder a tightly-structured, time-bound manner of instruction often fails many students. I choose to organize my lessons around a focus, but to leave myself open to options so that I can follow where the language leads us that day. If the activities I choose from are all interactive (student/teacher, student/language, student/student, focused, full of comprehensible input and allow me to constantly assess and adjust input to keep it RICH, then they will be successful.
If you want a good photograph of people you can pose them a hundred different ways and take a hundred different shots, and if you are lucky, one or two will be very good, even beautiful.
If you want a great photograph of people, follow them as they do the things they love with people they love. Place yourself in a position to see their reactions clearly and naturally as you snap pictures. Each picture will have its own beauty.
That's the difference between rigidly scripting a class (TPRS or no..) and choosing a focus and letting the class interaction develop organically.
It's out there I know. I've been accused of that before. But it's something to think about.
with love,
Laurie
In reality, the more rigid the program, the less likely the student is to be successful outside of it.
If our focus is Repeated, Interesting, Comprehensible, Heart-Connected Input of high-frequency structures, students will be exposed to the same structures, and develop comprehension, production, deduction and synthesis skills.
Language is created by living creatures. It may be systemic by function, (which is why linguists can break it down) but it is organic by nature. It is so organic that each human being acquires it at his/her own rate and according to his/her own unique cognitive, emotional, and situational connections. It naturally differentiates by acquisition, even if we don't differentiate our instruction.
Despite the fact that nearly all humans use language, millions share a language, regions craft dialects and families create their own idioms, language is still individually acquired.
No wonder a tightly-structured, time-bound manner of instruction often fails many students. I choose to organize my lessons around a focus, but to leave myself open to options so that I can follow where the language leads us that day. If the activities I choose from are all interactive (student/teacher, student/language, student/student, focused, full of comprehensible input and allow me to constantly assess and adjust input to keep it RICH, then they will be successful.
If you want a good photograph of people you can pose them a hundred different ways and take a hundred different shots, and if you are lucky, one or two will be very good, even beautiful.
If you want a great photograph of people, follow them as they do the things they love with people they love. Place yourself in a position to see their reactions clearly and naturally as you snap pictures. Each picture will have its own beauty.
That's the difference between rigidly scripting a class (TPRS or no..) and choosing a focus and letting the class interaction develop organically.
It's out there I know. I've been accused of that before. But it's something to think about.
with love,
Laurie
I love this analogy! I once went around my home town taking pictures of the places I loved so I could send them to my new friends in a foreign country. There was so much love in those pictures, that people who saw them who lived in town were amazed (to see our every day places captured with so much love) and one person (who had seen other pictures of mine) insisted that I didn't take them...
There's so much difference between with love and without love...
I appreciate everyone in the TPRS world who represents, embodies, packages, analyzes this classroom love to share with those of us who might never have figured it out on our own (might never have even seen the need). thank you!
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