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Seeking the future of world language learning at the intersection of comprehensible input, project-based learning, global education, and love.
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Best of 2014 #2: Where I depart from classic TPRS

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell December 26, 2014 3 Comments
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I hope you had a great, worship-filled Christmas Day!  2015 is almost here!

I think it’s kind of unfortunate the #2 post of the year is the one I titled “What I hate about TPRS.”
Sometimes I word things very strongly on the blog because I want to make a point, and my point with this post was that there are many fantastic strategies from many buzz-word teaching methods and philosophies, but no one way is the right way with all the answers for your classroom. So before you read (or read again) my post about where I depart from the classic (think Slavic, Ray) TPRS practices, please read what I love about TPRS (and then you can read Carol Gaab’s rebuttal) whose tenets revolutionized my teaching and turned me into a storytelling (though not a TPRS) teacher.

What I hate about TPRS

The post I started about what I love and hate about TPRS grew to be so long I decided to split it in half.  My husband says people use the word “hate” too freely for things they don’t actually “hate,” and okay, that’s true here.  So, let’s turn to the things that, as my preschooler would say, “crack me nuts” about some of what the most black-and-white TPRS adherents say.

Too black-and-white

TPRS is just too simplistic.  The field of Second Language Acquisition research has long been divided on the question of whether people acquire their second language by the same process by which they acquire their first.  As I wrote in my “what I love” post, Stephen Krashen lands in the “yes” camp.  He thinks that the process the second time around is much the same.  Therefore, if you can reproduce the L1 process you’ll be successful in L2 acquisition.  Personally, I think he’s probably more right than wrong.  That is, I think the process would be the same if we could reproduce the factors involved.  The problem is,we can’t.  There’s no maybe here.  We absolutely can never reproduce the L1 acquisition environment.

Mark Ahlness

All the problems with TPRS stem from this one.  It thinks it can reproduce L1 learning and it just can’t.  And then it figures out it can’t and tries to make up for it in ways that don’t work and don’t make sense.  Learners know what language is supposed to look like.  They have a structure in place in their heads.  They know how to think about language.  And there’s not enough time.  My daughter still says taughten and she’s heard English every day since she was born.  She still says yo tieno and she’s heard Spanish from her primary caregiver every day since she was born.  The fact is that children do not attain an adult grammar of their first language until they are about 8 years old.  EIGHT YEARS it takes.  Even if we could reproduce the L1 process, we simply don’t have the time.

Not enough patterning

When people acquire their first language, there’s not a lot of pattern to it – that is, no one sits and decides to teach their 2-year-old present tense regular verbs.  How to pluralize words.  Objective and nominative case.  So, if it happens the same way the second time, why not just do it randomly?  Ben Slavic, one of the biggest names in TPRS training, advocates this random approach.  I am on a completely different road from Ben here.

Ben:

I do not spend a lot of time attempting to “integrate” certain words into some kind of pre-arranged list of vocabulary from week to week, but you can if you want. I find that doing so stilts the quality of the stories.

Me: I make fun stories that contain patterned target features I want my students to master (e.g. using quiero and demonstrative adjectives to express which thing they want from a selection of things).  I want them to extract the pattern so they can apply it to other words.

Ben:

It is easy to see why some of the best TPRS teachers just prefer doing PQA [the practice of asking students highly repetitive questions about themselves] the entire class period, just talking to the kids instead of doing stories.

Me: I cannot convince myself that NOT having a goal other than my communicating language to students is the most effective way to improve my students’  proficiency.  And click the link above and see the example that inspired this comment.  It’s not easy to see.  This would drive my students nuts after 8.5 minutes. (The typical TPRS hardliner response to this is, you’re just not doing it right; if you were doing it right, your students would be wildly engaged 100% of the time.)

Ben:

Notice that I try to keep the PQA hooked to the original phrases, but that is certainly not at all necessary in PQA. If the discussion strays from the structures, it doesn’t matter. You are interacting with the kids in the target language, which is the entire point.

Me: Hmm. Maybe it’s his entire point.  It’s not mine.  That is perhaps my most important point in the novice classroom, but I have a lot more points than that.

I could go on.  But I won’t.  Summary: I choose patterning over randomness because this isn’t first language acquisition. And there isn’t enough time.

Ignoring metacognitive awareness

Learning language the second time around has one huge difference that has to impact how students approach the learning: metacognitive awareness.  That is, they know how to think about their language.  They can think, wait, I did that wrong, what was that again? why was that word there?

Students know what a subject is (even if they can’t label it-I don’t mean grammatical labels here). They know what a verb is.  They know what order words are in in English.  You can’t pretend they don’t.  Well, you can, but they’re going to transfer this awareness anyway, so you really ought to find a way to take advantage of it.  Why?  You guessed it, there’s not enough time to discount it.

Amy Kearns

Translation

Here’s TPRS’s first major departure from the first language acquisition process.  TPRS relies heavily on English translation.  You’re supposed to translate your target features for your students right off the bat.  But this doesn’t mesh with the way research has theorized vocabulary is arranged in our brains.  If researchers are right and vocabulary is more entrenched in the right kind of memory when it’s tied to the concept instead of the English word, why are we using so much translation in the classroom?

Ben:

I want to buy a butterfly, class!

Butterfly is a new word, so I write butterfly down and give the English. This sentence may lead to a discussion lasting one minute or the entire class period.

Wow, really? Butterfly?  I can understand translating something like take advantage of into English because it takes too much time to get it across another way, but how long does it take to draw a butterfly?

They’re trying to make up for the time problem in the wrong way.  And even as they try to make up for the time problem, TPRS is just…

Too slow

This is absolutely TPRS’s biggest departure from first language acquisition.  The method teaches that input has to be 90% comprehensible, a way to make up for the time problem, I’m assuming.  To do that, TPRS says go slow. Like really, really slow.  One TPRS presenter told me we should imagine every word out of our mouths is a coin dropping into a well, and maybe then we’ll be speaking slowly enough.

The problem is that students constantly fed this type of language do not typically understand authentic language – because this type of language is far from authentic in any natural context at all.  No one talks to children that way. No one talks to anyone that way.  And they know it – I’ve been told and told I shouldn’t be using authentic resources with my novice students simply because they can’t understand 90% of it (and because I’m supposedly overestimating how much students can be engaged by Starbucks Mexico instead of being asked the same question 30 different ways in one class period).  And don’t waste your time telling me about this one student such-and-such TPRS teacher taught who passed the AP exam in the ninth grade (from Ben Slavic’s bio, for example), because I don’t want to hear what one motivated, high-aptitude kid did.  I watch my “advanced” students struggle and fight to understand an authentic speaker tell their age because they never had to listen to authentic language before Spanish 3.

Proficiency standards?

TPRS teachers know that their students cannot be aligned with the ACTFL proficiency standards, claiming that they “skip” the novice level (really, they skip around capable of benchmarks from lots of levels and miss others), and so, according to some, the standards are faulty and should be ignored.  But the ACTFL proficiency standards are not a fly-by-night set of descriptions put together by a bunch of people who don’t know anything about language acquisition.  They acknowledge that language capability is anything but random.  Language learners, especially in the limited time we see them, and the age at which we see them, need to be able to accomplish certain things beginning with survival language and moving up to more advanced tasks, tasks based on communicating meaning.

Though they can be a measure for anyone, the purpose of proficiency standards is not to describe L1 acquisition; they describe L2 learning.  The L2 process may somewhat (or largely) mirror the L1 process but -you guessed it- there isn’t enough time, so it benefits our students more to help them move through a sequence of being able to accomplish necessary tasks in the L2.  So what’s the result for TPRS?  If the teacher ignores proficiency tasks, students end up with large holes in proficiency; they can describe an object, but can’t make plans to attend an event, for example.

Negating the role of output

I’m going to try hard to be professional here.  I’ve had the professionalism practically beaten out of me the past few weeks in discussions on this particular point, but I’m working at it.  Bear with me, please.

I’m guessing few TPRS teachers would agree with the advocate who recently told me that output in the language classroom is irrelevant, but it is a core tenet of TPRS that “forcing output is not only not helpful, but can actually be harmful for students.”  One teacher who recently asked my opinion on TPRS was baffled by this:

I personally love to ‘force output’ and have seen the fruits of those efforts so this seems a little too idealistic to me.  I am all for CI and ‘lowering’ the affective filter, but what I love is pushing students to do things they thought they could not do.  I know that I did not start really speaking Spanish until I started teaching and that was because the circumstances ‘forced my output.’  Therefore I love to recreate that ‘forcing of output’ environment.

See, the thing about babies is that they aren’t talking because they actually can’t.  My toddler doesn’t say “My head hurts. Can I have some Tylenol?” because she is actually not capable of it.  Physically she doesn’t know how to make her mouth make the sounds.  This is not true with second language acquisition.  Students are capable of output of some kind from the very beginning, so the “silent period” concept is very muddy.  Very.  I agree that many teachers push their students too far too fast – you cannot reasonably expect students to manipulate past tenses accurately until they can consistently hit Advanced Low proficiency which cannot be achieved in 2 years except by the most motivated and gifted students – but I do not agree that we can’t push them at all.  One TPRS teacher’s argument was that output was just “motor memory.”

Me to self: Wait, she just said that as if the motor memory doesn’t matter.

Oh, it does.  You know it does.  You’ve watched your students ace an essay and then fought to understand their stilted spoken output because the motor memory really matters.

In trying to defend this point to me, Stephen Krashen argued his research.  What was his research?  He said, “There was this guy, he produced complex language without having produced output before.”  Do you know what kind of language?  Written language. Because he was disabled and physically incapable of speech.

Me: Okay, you’ve got this one guy who can’t talk.
Krashen: There’s this other case too.
Me: Okay, you’ve got two people who could never talk.  Do you have any research based on someone who could actually talk?
<crickets chirping>

Krashen is a good researcher.  But so are Lightbown and Spada.  So are Ellis, Swain, Gass, and Selinker, the most respected voices in causal output theory.  So is Curtain.  So are Doughty and Long.  And some tenets of TPRS completely ignore large bodies of research on interaction in the name of “Krashen said this, Ray does this, Slavic does that.”  Ignored on the sidelines are very smart people saying, “Wait a minute, perhaps it’s not quite so clear-cut as all that.”

Assuming students will output “when they’re ready”

The TPRS defense on the output issue is that no, they don’t force students to produce language (the way I do when, for example, I do a speaking assessment and require interaction on Edmodo in the first unit of Spanish 1).  But the TPRS students can, and do, when it comes naturally.  But – I know, I’m a broken record – if I don’t have to wait until they do (and research says I don’t), and there’s not enough time for them all, then why would I?

The widespread phenomena of passive bilingualism and third-generation shift pose interesting questions here.  In a nutshell, it’s the situation in which an immigrant’s child grows up hearing their parents’ native language and so they can understand it but they can’t speak it.  Then, of course, their children are not bilingual at all.  This is painfully real in my own life.  My preschooler has to be forced to speak Spanish unless she has a lexical gap in English, because she says that “Spanish is too hard” and “I don’t like it” and “I can’t do it” (sound familiar?).  Claim social and cultural factors in play all you want to, but the fact is your students live in the same society that Zoe does.

Spontaneous accurate output may happen in your classroom today with a few students.  Believe all you want to that in a few years students will suddenly blossom into proficient speakers; it’s simply not supported.

Don’t take it or leave it

As TPRS teacher/blogger “MJ” says,

I’m realizing that different parts of CI work in different situations, for different purposes, and with different sets of kids. I was trying to force Movie Talk and TPR and Scaffolding Literacy and TPRS stories and Embedded Reading into every lesson. The down side to pure TPRS is that it can’t work for everything, with every kid in every situation.

Anyone who used to think I’m smart is probably dumbfounded by how obvious that statement is, but I’m a slow learner. CI is king. TPRS was the tool by which I learned (and keep learning) to do CI. TPRS is magical at the beginning levels, but isn’t necessarily the only way to teach the beginning levels.

The main “con” for me is that “TPRS” puts off so many language teachers. I’m sad that people are offended before they even hear the rest of the story, or before asking questions about how TPRS teachers address reading, writing, speaking, or the biggest target, grammar…. people get offended just by the initials, then don’t hear that good TPRS teachers do include grammar (writing, reading, speaking) in their lessons, even if they don’t teach them to the same extent or in the same ways as teachers who use other methods.

Her concern isn’t unfounded.  In a conversation I saw recently on Edmodo, a teacher (“Mrs. Johnson”) asked*,

I have a dilemma.  In my Spanish class, I have a new student who comes to me from a TPRS Spanish class.  I use Avancemos and we are finishing the sports unit and I gave her a quiz to see what level she’s in, and on the test her level is not that of my class.  I don’t know what to do. Suggestions?

Naturally, someone wondered, well, is she “better” or “worse”?

Is it possible to move her to another class?  Should she be in level 1 or 3?

Turns out the girl wasn’t up to par for Mrs. Johnson’s class, but she wasn’t thrilled about moving the student to another class:

She’s in level 1, grr… I wouldn’t like to move her…

So “Mrs. Straub” weighs in, frustrated with how poorly TPRS students supposedly do in grammar:

You’d better move her even if it’s a bother.  In my experience the students who have studied with TPRS are dramatically lacking with verbs and grammar.  Besides, the difference between level 1 and 2 can be a lot. I’m sorry.

The sentiment was somewhat more moderately echoed by “Mr. Frink” who, like I recommend here, incorporates TPRS into a mix (although probably not the mix I would choose):

I agree with Mrs. Straub.  I use TPRS, but I also balance it with exercises with verbs and grammar.  Everything’s better in moderation.

Perhaps you have the idea that you can take TPRS or leave it.  I was told recently that if I’m not adhering to all the tenets of TPRS I cannot claim to use TPRS at all.  Fine.  I’ll just continue to call myself a storytelling teacher.

For what it’s worth, here’s the summary of my advice.

Don’t take TPRS.

Don’t leave TPRS.

Evaluate the practices of what TPRS preaches against what you know to be good language teaching principles, and against your situation, and against your personality, and take from TPRS what works for you, and leave the rest.  And despite what a “this is the only thing that works and you better use all of it or you’re a failure” hard-core TPRS teacher may tell you, finding the blend that works for you is not only okay, it’s the best way.

For more advice

If you’re really interested in how you can integrate the best of TPRS into your situation, you could ask me and I’ll help you all I can.  But honestly, you’ll probably get better help from some amazing teachers I count as friends and some of the best in the business.  I’m sure they’d love to engage in a conversation with you and be professional, helpful, and not at all condescending about it.

  • Carol Gaab
  • Mike Peto
  • Kristy Placido
  • Carrie Toth

 

*This conversation took place in Spanish; I’m translating here so anyone can benefit from the example.

TPRS
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Previous Book Club ’14: Stella Bain, Gemma Hardy, & a bittersweet hotel
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Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
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3 Comments

  1. My own position statement: the why & how of TL use | Musicuentos says:
    July 11, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    […] with your students.  It’s not and I know it’s not for one simple reason: there is not enough time.  It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of patterning input (far more than most CI […]

    Reply
  2. When the textbookless teacher’s creativity goes up in flames | Musicuentos says:
    December 6, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    […] I don’t do random.  And having a blow-off day?  I was totally for that when I saw my kids five days a week.  Now I see them a whopping 16 times per semester.  Watching Monsters Inc. in Spanish subtracts a significant percentage of the learning time I have with them. […]

    Reply
  3. The fundamental perspective that drives your approach to TCI | Musicuentos says:
    February 21, 2019 at 8:25 am

    […] I have perhaps a bit infamously blogged about where I depart from classic TPRS, including modifying translation as a way to establish meaning, where I land on the points of […]

    Reply

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      • Top post of the year: The 2015 updated rubric
      • Book Club 2015: Make It Stick
      • Best of 2015 #2: The five things I must have in my syllabus
      • Book Club 2015: All the etc. in one post
      • Best of 2015 #3: How important is task completion?
      • Semester 1 assessment: Elementary edition
      • Too much choice = a self-defeating tyranny?
      • Best of 2015 #4: My homework choices for very early novices
      • Best of 2015 #5: Using the song El perdón
      • Ending the year with Best of & Book Club
      • How about an elementary rubric?
    •  November (4)
      • Couch conversations from ACTFL: A conference in sound bytes
      • Teach me to say what I need to say: Overview of TBLT (Black Box)
      • See you at ACTFL '15?
      • A checklist: Adapt, Incorporate, or Ditch a textbook activity?
    •  October (7)
      • 7 Brain Breaks for World Language Teachers
      • Give & take #authres activities: Let's collaborate!
      • Collaborating via Google Drive step-by-step
      • Correcting all those errors? Step away from the red pen. (BlackBox)
      • Twitter Lingo for World Language Teachers
      • More resources for very early circumlocution
      • More TL in class is tough. Let's do it anyway. (BlackBox)
    •  September (6)
      • A conference in sound bytes: 6 quotes from KWLA '15
      • The Best Laid Plans (KWLA '15)
      • Cultura y Comunicación con Comerciales (KWLA '15)
      • Novice description with a deep cultural AP twist
      • See you this year? Conferences & Camp Musicuentos 2016
      • The taco/sushi talk - visualized!
    •  August (9)
      • These are a few of my favorite things
      • ANNOUNCING: The 2015 updated performance assessment rubric
      • Let me tell you about tacos... I mean crêpes!
      • You can't possibly teach it. But you can do this. (Black Box)
      • Homework choice for elementary students (and my syllabus)
      • BTS: The Taco Talk for Intermediates
      • Finally: My homework choices for very early novices
      • The five things I must have in my syllabus
      • If I learn it, can I use it? The interface debate (Black Box)
    •  July (6)
      • Back-to-school time! Upcoming posts, resources on sale
      • Starting my interactive notebook
      • I can do more with you than I can alone (Black Box)
      • This is design-based learning: A disaster relief team
      • No dog with my iced tea, please
      • All they need is accurate input... right? Wrong. (Black Box)
    •  June (4)
      • The new required school supply: Find your own audience
      • Grammar drills aren't all in your head... or in your head at all (BlackBox)
      • The one-word key to teaching culture
      • Why your method doesn't matter: Black Box videocast
    •  May (4)
      • Embedded listening
      • Rubrics: How important is task completion?
      • Add this to your Novice AND Intermediate HW choice options NOW
      • What a design-based WL program looks like
    •  April (6)
      • "Three Before Me" poster in German and French
      • Three before me
      • Why interpersonal isn't interpretive
      • How can a transition empower your class?
      • How can I help you put research to practice?
      • Forced to adopt a textbook: Now what?
    •  March (7)
      • New song: El perdón for two levels
      • En español, por favor: Fostering bilingualism in children
      • It's not about the I in IPA, or the vocab list
      • Armed for a world of incomprehensible input: Circumlocution training
      • Timely repost: the "I don't understand!" signal
      • Poll: what conference proposals?
      • Anatomy of a novice question
    •  February (7)
      • I see a... great chance to practice prepositions
      • Speaking of motivation: Guest interview on Paulino Brener's EPC Show
      • It's TIME! Open registration for Camp Musicuentos '15
      • The M that trumps your method, materials, & madness
      • Shake things up: Vary your seating - every day
      • #Teach2Teach 3: A coach who failed me, and a coach who didn't
      • Pronunciation gold: Forvo.com
    •  January (7)
      • It's a myth, #11: Assessing communication without communication
      • My favorite authentic resource combining culture & calendar
      • #Teach2Teach Question 1: The Great Balancing Act
      • All new resource: Battleship for es / está
      • 2015 Resolution #3, Expand your learning network: New blogs to watch
      • 2015 Resolutions #2: Act like we're on the same team
      • 2015 resolution #1: Stop being so hard on yourself
  •  2014 (96)
    •  December (22)
      • Book Club '14: George Müller & Bruchko
      • Best of 2014 #1: Every language teacher's biggest mistake
      • Best of 2014 #6: Carol Gaab's rebuttal to my TPRS critique
      • Book Club '14: Creating Innovators
      • Best of 2014 #2: Where I depart from classic TPRS
      • Book Club '14: Stella Bain, Gemma Hardy, & a bittersweet hotel
      • Best of 2014 #7: What I love about TPRS
      • Book Club '14: Monuments Men, With the Old Breed, In Pharaoh's Army
      • Book Club '14: The Kite Runner
      • Best of 2014 #3: Sample homework choice systems
      • Book Club '14: Crazy Busy
      • Book Club '14: The Hobbit & The Scarlet Pimpernel
      • Best of 2014 #5: How I use verb charts
      • Book Club 2014: Amazing Grace (Kozol)
      • Book Club '14: A Step of Faith & Walking on Water (The Walk series)
      • Best of 2014 #4 & #8: Curriculum planning outside the textbook
      • Book Club '14: Five Days at Memorial & Men We Reaped
      • Best of 2014 #9: Genius hour isn't a great idea for novice classes
      • Book Club '14: The Painted Veil & Life After Life
      • Best of 2014 #10: The new JCPS curriculum documents
      • Happy Cyber Week! Resource sale Dec. 1-3
      • Musicuentos Book Club 2014
    •  November (4)
      • Lessons from ACTFL '14: if they have all the answers, they're trying to sell you something
      • What's ahead: ACTFL, best of '14, and the book club
      • Linguacafé: The idea that rocked my interpersonal world
      • What we learned at IFLTA '14: Everyone struggles, Culture leads
    •  October (5)
      • Communicative teaching in the shadow of [grammar-focused] common assessment
      • More multi-tasking children's lit
      • Next on my PD list: New proficiency videos
      • What we learned at KWLA: share, think, respect
      • The game-changing authentic resource guide for Spanish 3+: it's here!
    •  September (4)
      • Three days and then...
      • The technology that's making us irrelevant...and more relevant
      • Thank you, reflective teachers
      • See you this year? Conferences & Camp Musicuentos
    •  August (6)
      • How I teach La ciudad de las bestias
      • Putting homework in their hands: Sample systems
      • The First Day Story: Empowering with CI
      • Keeping games communicative
      • Let's talk tacos: Informing parents & students on proficiency
      • Regreso a clases! Ciudad on sale
    •  July (2)
      • Oso de Mantequilla: A tribute
      • It's coming!
    •  June (7)
      • What we learned at Camp Musicuentos
      • Lesson plan: Indirect objects and celebrations (template too)
      • New Podcast: What kind of corrective feedback works?
      • New resource: Educating parents and students on proficiency
      • Another resource: JCPS new curriculum documents (K-12)
      • Introducing the past tenses together
      • Time for you to get feedback?
    •  May (9)
      • Upcoming workshop (IN): Proficiency-based lesson planning
      • Stop calling this easy & fast
      • Revisiting Photopeach for the AP Final
      • Stop stressing: It's wrong to do the best you can
      • Three tasks for crafting an effective message: Black Box Podcast episode 4
      • A Year in a Day: Camp Musicuentos 2014
      • Taking care of business: Summer collaboration for a successful year
      • 4 ways to tweak the exit ticket
      • Black Box Podcast episode 3: To Sell Is Human, part 1
    •  April (9)
      • Top 25 Spanish novels
      • Let's play
      • New activity resource: Tweetfest!
      • Black Box Podcast episode 2: Circumlocution
      • An impromptu "langcamp"
      • See you at ACTFL '14
      • 4 ways to keep curriculum relevant
      • Tutorial on the best free PD you'll find in your own home
      • The Musicuentos Black Box Podcast: IT'S HERE!
    •  March (11)
      • Authentic visual illustrations of proficiency (Spanish)
      • Curriculum planning outside the textbook, Part 2
      • A week or more of working with Vivir mi vida
      • Resource release: Complete verb pack
      • Curriculum planning outside the textbook: Part 1
      • Corrections to simple verb pack
      • Musicuentos is on Pinterest!
      • Is this the best we can do?
      • Writing a restaurant review: Activity from Bethanie Drew
      • Putting a number grade on proficiency-based assessment
      • Resource release: Simple verb pack
    •  February (7)
      • My favorite source for restaurant (and other) reviews
      • Guest post: A TPRS rebuttal by Carol Gaab
      • TPRS strategies I don't put in my toolbox
      • What I love about TPRS
      • Repost: Valentine's #authres from Twitter
      • How I use verb charts
      • Guest post: What students need- A leader (David Seibel)
    •  January (10)
      • Every language teacher's biggest mistake
      • My new favorite digital storytelling app
      • Why Genius Hour can't work in a novice classroom
      • Website review: Geoguessr
      • 2014 resolutions #5: Use more authentic sources.
      • 2014 Resolutions #4: Take a step outside the textbook
      • Reviewing 2013: Five blogs to watch
      • 2014 Resolutions #3: Survey your students.
      • 2014 Resolutions #2: Collaborate with someone
      • 2014 Resolutions #1: Read a book
  •  2013 (110)
    •  December (13)
      • The #1 Musicuentos post of 2013 (and the six years before that)
      • Best of 2013: #2 - Tips for the new AP
      • Best of 2013: #3 - Choice in homework, updated
      • Best of 2013: #4 - Novice song for Spanish Class Idol
      • Best of 2013: #5 - Can you control vocabulary?
      • Best of 2013: #6 - Is your lesson plan out of whack?
      • Best of 2013: #7 - Four habits that enrich vocabulary
      • AP Spanish final exam: Controversia navideña y Vacunas para niños
      • Best of 2013: #8 - Novice high vs. Intermediate low
      • Best of 2013: #9 - Using assessment to inform your teaching
      • Best of 2013: #10 - Spot-checking conversations
      • First-ever Musicuentos ebook: Reader's Guide to Ciudad de las bestias
      • Happy December!
    •  November (8)
      • AP Spanish essay - Obamacare
      • Vote: Musicuentos proposal for ACTFL '14
      • Setting goals
      • Don't go to ACTFL '13 without TELLing
      • Repost: A story for demonstratives
      • Listen to some Grammy music
      • Caring about the Really Big Deal
      • Calm before the excitement!
    •  October (4)
      • Using assessment to inform your teaching
      • Just some fluff: Makeup for busy mom teachers
      • Top 3 mistakes teachers of novices make
      • Book review: Teach Like A Pirate
    •  September (7)
      • Interacting with authentic materials: a guide
      • Using audio-lingua
      • Seven keys to a great story
      • Stations: Exploring music
      • It's a myth: Equipping students to communicate with... themselves
      • Turn a Novice Song into "Spanish Class Idol"
      • Is your lesson plan out of whack?
    •  August (12)
      • Children's literature for the world language class (Helena Curtain)
      • App review & Giveaway! High School Spanish
      • Choice in homework, updated
      • Back to school: Proficiency posts
      • App Review: Storykit (bonus - meet my family!)
      • Back to school: Evaluate traditions
      • Back to school: Blogs with great ideas
      • App review & giveaway: Word Magic dictionary and thesaurus
      • My authorized AP syllabus
      • Back to school: Musicuentos "first days" posts
      • Back to school: Give them signals
      • Going back to school with Musicuentos
    •  July (6)
      • Tips for the New AP
      • Don't be fooled! What the AP does and doesn't measure
      • Illustrating proficiency with a laugh
      • Snag some free apps while you can!
      • Stop asking for unnatural language
      • Fun video: Animals, present, feelings
    •  June (9)
      • Targeting problems with a pop quiz
      • Song, irregular present, part 4: Tengo tu love
      • It's my birthday - check out our presents!
      • A meaningful approach to grammar
      • Websites for creating online magazines
      • A world with no magazines
      • Guest post: Coaching with choice
      • Screencast: Photopeach
      • Communicative grading made easier
    •  May (10)
      • Health infographic: Novice - Intermediate Activity
      • A lesson in finding authentic sources easily
      • Tips and songs for past participles
      • Foster higher-level thinking from the beginning
      • Summer: Language for the fun of it
      • Novice high vs. intermediate low
      • E-magazines with learner appeal
      • Step outside the textbook: Tell a story
      • Repost: Novice description with Jengibre and Pin Pon
      • Interpersonal communication by choice
    •  April (11)
      • Novice speaking: Describing self with Sie7e
      • Can you control vocabulary?
      • Activities from authentic resources: Future tense
      • Why I love mistakes
      • Maternity leave!
      • Lots of your class gone? Pick up a book.
      • Abandon the multiple-choice question
      • Songs for future tense
      • I choose béisbol: sample "homework" report
      • 300 times thank you
      • Reporting like kindergarten
    •  March (11)
      • Training in circumlocution: Ban the dictionary
      • Fun activity #9: A leer
      • Last tips on avoiding burnout
      • Cortometraje for narration
      • Make developing curriculum even easier
      • Even more tips on avoiding burnout
      • Authentic resource: trivia games
      • Still more tips on avoiding burnout
      • Two more ways to ease into developing curriculum
      • Song, irregular present, part 3: Carmelina
      • More tips on avoiding burnout
    •  February (10)
      • Intermediate news activity for all three modes
      • Easing into developing curriculum
      • If you don't pay attention to comprehensibility...
      • Burning out or burning bright?
      • Keeping the class engaged: Change activities
      • Fun activity #8: A cantar
      • Twitter/relationships activity, just in time for Valentine's
      • Tech tools gone wrong
      • Grading regular free-topic writing
      • Add more music to homework choices
    •  January (9)
      • Spot-checking conversations
      • Song, irregular present, part 2: Hace tiempo
      • Four habits that enrich vocabulary
      • Paragraph form
      • Myths 8 & 9: I don't do it because they can't handle it.
      • Assigning homework
      • Song, irregular present, part 1: Sigo con ella
      • More choice every day
      • A novice cross-curricular activity from authentic materials
  •  2012 (39)
    •  December (2)
      • 5 New Year's resolutions for every WL teacher
      • It pays to have a focus
    •  October (2)
      • Best and worst games I've seen
      • Example: authentic text for novices
    •  September (7)
      • Success with Stations
      • More student choice in homework
      • Prezi: The Choice is Theirs (KWLA 2012)
      • Prezi: Kick the Vocab Quiz (KWLA 2012)
      • Take the leap to standards-based assessment
      • Fun activity #7: Conecta cuatro
      • A song for feelings
    •  August (11)
      • Screencast: Edmodo
      • Myth #7: Spanish Mike is a taco.
      • A study in motivation, part 2: Self-assessing abilities
      • It's my blogiversary - but you get the gift
      • Menus
      • Reading guides: Cajas de cartón & Esperanza renace
      • A re-post for your first days back: Abecedario
      • Screencast: Finding authentic sources for prompts
      • Maintaining personal proficiency
      • Ideas for the first days of school
      • AP redesign: Units & EQ's
    •  July (9)
      • A study in motivation
      • Advice for teachers in training
      • More uses for Amor de mi tierra
      • Book review: The Talent Code
      • Songs for 'duele'
      • The Case for Commands
      • Got idioms?
      • Like Musicuentos? Like it on Facebook.
      • Very short times with very young kids
    •  June (1)
      • 5...4...3...2...1... LAUNCH!
    •  March (4)
      • Another change: Survey says...
      • Design your own final exam
      • What I'm changing this week
      • Repost for CSC12: Increasing target language
    •  February (1)
      • A storytelling success story
    •  January (2)
      • Not going to ACTFL again, but for the best reason ever
      • Free Ebook for WL educators
  •  2011 (57)
    •  November (1)
      • Dear novice-learner teacher - love, an AP teacher
    •  October (3)
      • Learning from #langchat
      • Not your average health unit
      • Presentation: Target Language: Expect More, Say Less
    •  September (6)
      • Spanish 3 assessment documents
      • For KWLA 2011: Media from Reel to Real
      • Accuracy vs. proficiency: an illustration
      • Fun activity #6: A escribir
      • App review: Tour Wrist
      • Myth #6: Memorizing vocabulary
    •  August (5)
      • Trending topic = authentic comprehensible input
      • Got the rubric!
      • New year, new units, new assessments
      • Jumping on the Animoto bandwagon
      • Rethinking "late" work
    •  July (1)
      • A song made for early Spanish 1
    •  June (9)
      • Proficiency & tacos
      • Proficiency levels shouldn't be a secret
      • Flipbook illustration
      • Ethics in the language class - we aren't their parents
      • Activity #5: Gira la botella
      • Symbol Illustration
      • Connecting your classroom
      • Myth #5: The textbook is all I need
      • Taking paperless to the blog
    •  May (2)
      • Combat the 'este tiempo' monster
      • Children's DVD giveaway!
    •  April (6)
      • Activity #4: Drama Inmóvil
      • Myth #4: The Time Whine
      • Have you used PhotoPeach?
      • The myths aren't going to ACTFL
      • Fun activity #3: ¡Arriésgate!
      • Fun activity #2: A conversar
    •  March (3)
      • Dismantling Myths 2 and 3: Learning about language and its cousin, Grammatical Terms
      • Activity 1: Cuento poco a poco
      • (Trying to) Make learning fun
    •  February (10)
      • Two new options for out-of-class fluency
      • Great resource from la Sra. Birch
      • Dismantling Myth #1: What's a qualified teacher?
      • Keep singing: 189 pages of Spanish lyrics
      • #Charlando para aprender
      • Vote for this week's #langchat topic
      • It's time for them to use their time
      • For tonight's #langchat: A game for description
      • Short listening activity tailor-made for beginners
      • Ciudad de las bestias: Guides public & streamlined
    •  January (11)
      • Instead of the vocab quiz
      • Best songs for stem changing irreg. present
      • Do something drastic - kick the vocab quiz
      • Topic for #LangChat 1/27
      • Topic for the first #LangChat 1/20
      • Low-level learners can't understand authentic media, what?
      • They can't speak, and it's our fault: Dismantling the myths
      • Don't teach a health unit without this song
      • New: A language teachers' weekly chat on Twitter - choose our first topic!
      • Since I stopped teaching to the [AP] test
      • Faith and Culture: help me decide our AP topic
  •  2010 (38)
    •  December (4)
      • 9 ways to increase students' TL use
      • I love collaboration
      • The problem with translation (from a student)
      • Why music is more powerful than anything (& how to use it)
    •  November (2)
      • iPad giveaway!
      • A collaborative project for our Spanish-teacher PLN
    •  October (2)
      • And the winner is...
      • In the spirit of open source: Ciudad de las bestias
    •  September (10)
      • Books recommended as 'easy'
      • Pure present tense & at least 22 repetitions of 'ya no'
      • For a conference attendee: resources in math
      • Searching BBC Mundo
      • Prompts with Power: writing/speaking prompts
      • Prompts with Power: Prezi
      • Prompts with Power: German & French resources
      • Prompts with Power: Dating in high school
      • KWLA Presentation: PLN-ology
      • Tweet with double objects
    •  August (6)
      • Interactive comic creator using Maya & Miguel
      • Ads of the World | Creative Advertising Archive & Community
      • Added some great new links
      • First 12 days of Spanish 1
      • My supply list
      • Scope & sequence, word list for Spanish 1
    •  July (4)
      • 5 tips for increasing (your own) target language use
      • A warm-up from @samocamila: por vs. para
      • Camila's all on board! (well, on Twitter)
      • Getting vocabulary from a tweet
    •  April (3)
      • Huge toy giveaway from SpanglishBaby
      • A case for avoiding "pet" grammar
      • Authentic audio with future tense
    •  March (2)
      • Interesting blog post about iPod as language lab
      • News article: appeal + subjunctive for influence
    •  January (5)
      • A high-interest exercise for imperfect/pasado continuo
      • A song with 17 verbs in past subjunctive
      • My corporate Spanish links, all in one place
      • "Adora la Exploradora"-the week we didn't feel like a boring past-tense review
      • My level 1 and 2 stories (for Bethanie, and whomever else)
  •  2009 (80)
    •  December (2)
      • A song with 37 repetitions of "más que"
      • Switch to a communicative set-up
    •  November (10)
      • Print & audio sources for AP synthesis essay re: efficient energy
      • Two songs for voy + a + infinitive
      • A case for free-topic blogging
      • It's 19 de noviembre!
      • Camila's new single: "Mientes" (release date 11/24!)
      • A case for pleasure reading
      • Noviembre - a popular month for songs
      • Zachary Jones's "Clozeline"
      • Two songs + resources for Ojalá + subjunctive
      • A song just for @mamitati
    •  October (13)
      • You can't buy this in a textbook
      • Cultural connections: Four songs to explore using Google Earth
      • David Bisbal's YouTube channel
      • Correction on Pin Pon in Shrek
      • Four songs for contrasting que & lo que
      • Nominados en la 10a entrega de los Latin Grammy
      • Story and songs for subjunctive: indefinite/negative antecedent
      • AP sythesis essay sources: Los indocumentados y el sistema de salud
      • Blog that does what I do, only better
      • My October playlist
      • We must not ignore the Paz Sin Fronteras (video)
      • Build your perfect tenis (en español)
      • Video with por, haber, past participles, commands, from Coca Cola
    •  September (10)
      • Latin Grammy website gets a cool makeover... and nominations!
      • Songs for the elusive 3rd pers. sing. preterite
      • I just made my first Yodio
      • KWLA Fall 09 Conference presentation
      • Found Juanes on Twitter
      • For you French teachers
      • Bilingual toy giveaway, gracias a @mamitati
      • Keeping your eyes open for gold nuggets
      • CNN launches Latino in America
      • Bob Esponja on Mundonick
    •  August (4)
      • A correction on the correction of La Frase Tonta
      • I am in technology heaven
      • An AP oral presentation, with past tense: "Consecuencias"
      • I love crossover songs
    •  July (2)
      • Raimundo, the bilingual Latin American snail
      • A song for object/refl pronoun 'te'
    •  June (6)
      • A song for your hip-hop fans
      • Developing world citizens
      • Follow me on Twitter
      • Aquí Estoy Yo: video oficial
      • A new group on my radar
      • Two months later, back to the blogosphere (with a companion)
    •  April (5)
      • A most fantastic performance at Premio Lo Nuestro
      • The heroes speak Español
      • A brilliant pair of songs contrasting por/para
      • Useless grammar I used to teach
      • Adding some links--check 'em out
    •  March (7)
      • Negative commands + culture
      • Winds of change
      • Our students aren't the only ones who have speaking problems!
      • Activity: News interaction (present perfect)
      • A new smash hit with a subjunctive benefit
      • A shout out for Jacob & Joshua
      • El campesino y la princesa (a Spanish 3 story test, with a bit of subjunctive)
    •  February (15)
      • More interactive websites, courtesy of my students
      • A product I love
      • Good stories for commands
      • a story for imperf. vs. pret. and subjunctive influence
      • Interactive websites: practicing house/location/color vocab
      • Subjunctive for doubt: Story, song, activity
      • A good story for 'tiene'
      • A song for subjunctive/nosotros commands
      • A story for demonstratives
      • Rules in a communicative class
      • Cause and effect
      • Relating everything to English
      • A correction on La Frase Tonta
      • Equipping and informing, for free
      • A project based on motivation
    •  January (6)
      • "How much is estuvo de pie?"
      • One more song for subjunctive
      • A couple more subjunctive songs
      • An example of vocab
      • Internet scavenger hunts
      • A Spanish 2 story test
  •  2008 (51)
    •  December (7)
      • Videos from Jesús Adrian Romero
      • Alex Campos's YouTube channel
      • A story test
      • A video for Navidad
      • Great new song for subjunctive
      • ¡Nueva música!
      • A fantastic blog post
    •  November (14)
      • Ever heard of Patito feo?
      • Two groups you just can't go wrong with
      • Things to be thankful for
      • Grammar learning vs. acquisition
      • Forced to give grammar tests?
      • High aptitude is a beautiful thing
      • Another Spanish 1 reading
      • New media list!
      • At the ACSI conference in Dayton
      • Story success: Huevos verdes con jamón
      • Another story source!
      • Words we don't use
      • Song success: Hace tiempo
      • El carro de sus sueños
    •  October (12)
      • Overgeneralizing, again
      • Spanish 2 Story: La llama se llama...
      • Song success: Me voy
      • Not posting lately
      • overgeneralizing
      • The outcome of Pin Pon
      • Pin Pon in Shrek?
      • Best practices
      • Reading in Spanish 3
      • SCORE!
      • My media list
      • Awesome YouTube video
    •  September (18)
      • KWLA '08: Assessing comprehension without English
      • Song success: La llave de mi corazón
      • Spanish 1 Story: Insectos grises para el almuerzo
      • Finding stories
      • How do I find the music?
      • Modeling the billingual lexicon
      • Summaries of some classroom SLA articles
      • Love/Hate Krashen
      • Another article that rocked my world
      • More sunshine
      • When it's not all coming up roses
      • What on earth is going on here?
      • So, what are the cuentos?
      • The verdict on pop test 1
      • People I love
      • A pop test
      • Some assumptions
      • Starting to share my journey

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