Using passwords is a joy and a great way to set the tone for each class period, but passwords also yield long-term language results. Last week I asked the students which passwords they remembered from the entire school year... and as a group, each class remembered them all. Students [...]
Here is another guest post from my friend, Gerry Wass on his MULTI-LEVEL CLASSROOM experience: “La preuve que il a existé c’était qu’il était ravissant.” "The proof that he existed was that he was lovely.” –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry A year and a half after retiring, I continue to get [...]
I have been very fortunate to have been visited by two master teachers in the past two weeks: Connie Navarro and Karen Rowan. Now here are the observations by a set of fresh eyes. Noah is a second year teacher from a Christian school in Denver, full of ideas and [...]
If flight attendants purposefully greet their passengers at the door in order to pick up valuable information about them, wouldn't it help teachers to adopt a similar practice? Starting a classroom password greeting ritual not only provides social and linguistic benefits, there are substantial classroom management advantages as well. [...]
For the last week of school I have allowed students to choose their own passwords. What a fun way to start each class period this has been! They get to show how smart they are, and I get to admire and applaud them. This is just where we want [...]
The passwords this week are both tongue twisters and they are similar to one another. Upper Level classes: Mi madre madrileña me menciona a mí miles migas malas. / My mother from Madrid mentions thousands of bits of gossip to me. Lower Level Classes: Mi mamá a mí me [...]