What a gift to be able to watch my colleagues present last weekend!!!!!!!!!!  I could rave on and on about how fun, intelligent,gifted, creative and powerful they are, but I think that they would protest.  J 

What I would like to do is share the insights that they gave me through their presentations.     Not only ideas and information, but also techniques and personal touches that affected me.

• There is no such thing as too slow or too repetitive in a beginning level language class. Ever.

I don’t know Hawaiian and I don’t know Czech and I NEEDED the extremely slow and repeated process.     Even then,   I frequently felt “lost”…..and believe me, they couldn’t have gone much slower!!!!!!!

• A student needs the speaker to pause in order to have “processing time.”   I don’t need it for my second language, Spanish, unless I am in a conversation with native speakers whose speed blisters my brain.   I still need it for French,  and I have had hours of French instruction.

   It isn’t that I just need a slow pace in the delivery of the language….I needed a pause between chunks of the language so that my brain could make the leap from “yes I know that” to “yes I know what that MEANS.”   

 During the Hawaiian and Czech demos that pause saved me completely.

• Susie’s  encouragement to “Teach To The Eyes” is probably the most important thing that a teacher can take from a CI/TPRS® workshop.     

• There is always a better way to do everything.     Gary and Michelle Kindt’s  template for circling was amazing and helpful and a true TOOL for teachers.  

• Teachers need differentiation too.    As wonderful as that template was, there were still teachers that needed a script rather than a template in order to begin the circling process.

• Facial expression  and vocal variety are the difference between  an interesting interaction and a compelling interaction.   Much of what makes this group of presenters stellar is their ability to reach outside of their “personal” box and step up onto their “teacher” box.   Up there on that box,  a smile, a wink, raised eyebrows, a dropped jaw  add drama and passion to the endless repetitions.    

• Varying which words in a sentence receive the stress is an easy way to add variety.

                         “I”  know  which one is right.

                         I  “know”  which one is right.

                         I know  “which”  one is right.

                        I know which  “one”   is right.

                        I know which one  “is”  right.

                         I know which one is  “right.”

• Students can sense our level of peace, tranquility, patience…I saw that over and over again….and so I assume that they  can probably sense our lack of those things as well.

• No one is perfect….and in those moments when we misspeak, or forget something…we become totally human, totally real….and a role model for our students.

• Each time the teacher used a complete sentence in the target language, and I understood it, I felt like Einstein.    (and thank you Rochelle for showing us how to refer to our students as Einstein #1,  Einstein #2 etc…that was priceless!!)

• Training students to use the “I don’t understand” signal is AMAZINGLY AMAZINGLY AMAZINGLY POWERFUL.

• ANYTHING can be the topic of conversation or lead us to a story.  Even a necktie like Gary’s.  J

• It’s never too early to introduce characters in literature or the stories from literature, even if the literature itself is still out of reach.

• Some things must be experienced to be believed.    Practice before standing up in front of kids is so important.

• Checking for understanding is like breathing…..we must do it often to stay alive in the classroom.  (Gary and Michelle added it to the Circling Template!!!! Positive, Either/Or,  Negative, Question Word, Check for Understanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Brilliant!!)

• Getting to know the culture of our students is priceless.   How can we know what they need if we don’t understand what they already have and where they get it from?   Not only can it help us to make input compelling, it can give us the knowledge to act as mentors and role models and to avoid being duped or manipulated by any students. 

• Character Ed can be an integral part of a CI classroom.

• The students in the class are THE most interesting main characters in a story.

Sigh….and that is only a glimpse of the wonderful things I was blessed enough to see last weekend….Thanks to you all!

With love,

Laurie