Treading Water

I started this blog with the intent to share with my students' parents what was going on in my classroom each week. That was kind of a failure. I did good the first few weeks, but since then my blog has disappeared into the black hole where blogs go when they die. This is my attempt to revive it. I will write about my experiences with a new language acquisition method I've been implementing in my classroom.


Over the past few months, I have been attempting to teach with a language acquisition method known as TPRS. From everything I've heard, it's wonderful. The students love the language, and the fluency comes naturally. It's fun and personal and the students are constantly engaged.


But not in my classroom. We're flailing in there. It's like we're drowning in a sea of personalization, storytelling and vocabulary. I was so comfortable doing it the 'other way'. I had vocabulary games that were fun, quizzes that assessed the students, and they constantly performed well on the exams. So why did I decide to change it all up? Because I want what's best for my students... Because what I was doing before was ineffective... Because I want my students to be fluent, not learn grammar rules. At least that's what the experts say. But it's hard when I'm out here in the proverbial middle of nowhere, with nowhere to go. What I need is a life vest, but the question is... where do I find one?