Chicago, NTPRS Day 1
This morning I went to a language class: Japanese with Melinda Kawahari. What a cool language! I really want to learn Japanese. In the afternoon Linda Li and I did the experienced workshop. Today’s focus was on how learning beliefs affect how we teach. Today’s coaching was on Personalization with flair.The final topic was how to encourage creativity in students. In the evening I went to dinner at Lou Malnati’s restaurant in Naperville with Mike Miller, Lisa, Barb Watson, Carol Sutton, Donna Tatum-Johns, Katya Paukova, Doug...
read moreIxatpa — Day of the Dolphins!
Today is Saturday and the conference is over. But I went on a field trip with Michel Baker and Scott Benedict: to swim with dolphins! We went to a place that has various offerings for tourists to interact with dolphins. We chose to actually swim with them, pet them, and have them give us a high-speed ride! What a glorious vacation/conference this has been. Thanks a million to Carol Gaab and to her hard-working husband Pat for putting together this incredible opportunity.
read moreIxtapa (Day 5)
Last day of workshops went well. I loved it and the people were so cool! Everybody wants to do it again next year and we all talked about where it should be. Poor Carol has to put it together, but she sure has some satisfied customers! Went wave jumping with Nikita after lunch. Even had some sun after pretty cloudy week! This evening we went on a sunset cruise on a catamaran. It was lovely to float along the Pacific shore with caves and rocks and fancy hotels.
read moreIxtapa, Day 4
This week is just flying so fast! Nobody wants it to end. So many things to do: circus, water sports, spa, children’s activities, lessons, workouts, yoga, dancing. And then the professional development on top of it all. I like that way individual participants can grab one of the presenters and get questions answered or simply pick a few brains. I picked Diana Noonan’s brain about district-wide assessment today. The live entertainment tonight was the little kids from mini-club showing their stuff. We had so much fun watching...
read moreIxtapa, Day 3
Leslie Davison and Scott Benedict came to help with coaching the participants. They all got a chance to practice circling in a safe environment. We have seen an interesting animal here on the Club Med property. Some people say it is a “coati” but others say it is something else. One of them came to pose for us! The swimming pool is getting lots of business! Afternoons have some participants taking additional workshops and others are lounging in the lovely setting. But TPRS talk goes on day and night in little...
read moreIxtapa, Mexico (Day 2)
The TPRS training went very well today. Additionally I spoke with lots of teachers who are in Jason’s “experienced” workshop. They are thrilled with the quality of training; one woman told me that Jason “walks on water.” A man in my workshop (John) got stung by a jellyfish! Obviously we are not in colorado anymore. The laid-back atmosphere of this conference is really wonderful, as well as the chance to meet people from all around the world!
read moreIxtapa, Mexico: Multi-Cultural Conference!
Carol Gaab owns the company (TPRS Publishing) that sponsors this conference. She had a NICE welcome for everyone right away in the morning. The workshops ran all morning: I did TPR Storytelling for beginners, Jason Fritze did TPR Storytelling for experienced teachers, and the rest of the pariticipants took Spanish (either Beginning or Intermediate Spanish). Kristi Placido, Leslie Davison, Scott Benedict and Carol herself round out the group of presenters/ trainers. Michael and I brought our grandson Nikita for the week. Nik was very...
read moreAmarillo, TX
TPRS Workshop at Amarillo ESU16 went well: Wonderful lecture hall, really nice group of teachers. Some visiting teachers used their own personal checking accounts to buy sets of Spanish books!
read moreArlee, MT (Day 2)
The workshop went great. The teachers got up and practiced circling. We praised and applauded them, building an atmosphere of mutual support. One woman (Otel) is a fabulous illustrator. She did nature scenes showing numbers of animals. Just incredible! I totally enjoyed doing this workshop, I loved these teachers and sympathize with them. They are so hard-working and dedicated.
read moreArlee, MT
The community here has built and operates an immersion school for the Salish children. Because the language is close to extinct, they are working to save their language and their culture. The school has everything labeled in Salish, they have made their own books in Salish, and they all work together for their common goal. I did a sample TPRS lesson in French and then we began to work on circling. It is so difficult when only a few of the elders actually speak the language. The teachers themselves are learning the language so doing even a...
read moreMusic and Classroom Management (Day 5 at AAS Moscow)
Did two workshops again: “Music” in the morning and “Classroom Management” in the afternoon. I am really on a high because these teachers are just simply amazing. They are fun and dedicated and they exude pride in their work, confidence, commitment to excellence. This has been a fabulous week. I had lunch with the Jill (curriculum director) to assess the week and to talk about the language department’s future goals and needs. After school I met with Tatiana (elementary school vice principal.) Vera was going to...
read moreGrammar and Differentiation (Day 4 at AAS in Moscow)
Did workshops on reading in the morning, then how to teach grammar and how to differentiate for exceptional learners in the afternoon. These topics were really good for the high school. I also taught a demo lesson with the kids in first grade French and HS Spanish 2 and 3 together. Tonight Michael and I went to the ballet “Spartacus” with Vera, Danielle, and Snejana. Snejana drove us home and it took forever because the main streets are all closed due to getting ready for the May 9 celebration. (65th anniversary of Victory in Europe.)...
read moreAcquisition and the Brain (Day 2 in Moscow)
In the morning I did a workshop about Language Acquisition and Language Learning. In the afternoon I did a workshop on the Brain. I focused on how brain research has informed “best practices in education.” When planning instruction how to connect this brain information to language instruction.
read moreMoscow
Today was my first day at the AngloAmericanSchool of Moscow. Wow! What a fabulous school! It is a beautiful facility with apparently unlimited offerings. Michael went for walks in the forest around the school. I met every language teacher and visited classes. They have classes to teach Russian, Spanish, and French. Students begin learning languages even in kindergarten! The teachers are all very proficient in the language they teach plus English. I can’t wait to work with them. The school has housed us in a nice apartment where many of...
read moreOgallala, Nebraska’s distance learning
Jan Coone has been establishing Spanish lessons by podcast that the elementary schools all around can access for free any time they want. It has been a multi-year project, with annual trainings for teachers of all levels and special training for the elementary teachers who will add Spanish via TV. She has had many different trainers come over the years in addition to me. I came to do the final visitations and to see the testing results. Yesterday we visited two Ogallala elementaries and one in South Platte. Very interesting to see how the...
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