Quirky Scripts is a lesson requiring almost no prep that can be used repeatedly all year, at every level. It’s also a way for students to acquire “advanced” language really early on with minimal effort. Skim the how-to or scroll down for a dozen reasons these Quirky Scripts are so useful. Here are the steps: Step 1: Give […]
Teaching Latin to Humans
Twofer! Announcing… “Teaching Latin to Humans,” an article just published in Eidolon, and LIMEN, a Latin teaching portal here at indwellinglanguage.com Whether or not you are learning or teaching Latin, it’s likely that you have a reason to view or share these: 1. “Teaching Latin to Humans: How to Honor both the Language and the Learner” diagnoses the […]
Celebrating Others’ Success in 2015
2015 was a year of great successes for language learners and teachers. Here are some of those successes just from people in my circles, shared so that you can join in the joy! Why not add your own or others’ joys and successes in the Comments section or on social media using hashtag #joysuccess ? B.M. started learning Spanish from […]
Top Ten Posts of 2015
Every blogger’s doing it, and I’m glad. It’s great to see what’s been most helpful to language learners and teachers this year! Here, for your undelayed gratification, are the ten most popular posts published at indwellinglanguage.com in 2015, in chronological order. Preparing a Lesson vs Preparing Yourself How to teach well and save your sanity. (01/13/2015) 9 Ways To Happify Your […]
4 Myths about Comprehensible Input
Ever since Stephen Krashen made it central to his Input Hypothesis, since rebranded as the Comprehension Hypothesis, “comprehensible input” (CI) has been part of both academic discourse and shop talk among language teachers. It’s easy to have misunderstandings surrounding a concept that has engendered so much spinoff research and so much water-cooler conversation, so let’s […]
The Bummer about ‘Acquisition’ (Part 2)
In the last post, I lamented that the distinction between acquisition and learning that developed in 20th-century academia is prone not only to misunderstanding, but also to misrepresentation. In this post, I point out some deficiencies in the term acquisition itself and suggest another way of picturing the process. Bummer 2: ‘(Second) language acquisition’ suggests the transfer of a commodity […]
The Bummer about ‘Acquisition’ (Part 1)
I love it. I aim for it. I teach for it. I travel all over presenting about it. It pervades this website. If I had a gerbil, this would be its name. But it also carries two bits of baggage that I wish could be lost in one of those airline warehouses where duffels go to die. I’m talking about the third […]
TRUST in the Language Classroom (guest post)
This practical exploration of trust is from a discussion about classroom management on an email group for language teachers exchanging ways of providing their students with Comprehensible Input (CI)*. I’m honored to share it here with the permission of its author, Dr Bob Patrick (@BobPatrick), Latin teacher and world language department chair at Parkview High School in Greater Atlanta. Bob was […]
Share Your Greatest JOY and SUCCESS
When have you experienced your greatest JOY or SUCCESS as a language learner or teacher? Were these at the same moment?–in other words, were your joy and success linked? As the purpose of Indwelling Language is to help learners and teachers maximize their joy and success, we’re always eager to hear about experiences that link […]
Using Stock Photo Sites To Generate Language
Consider this picture. Think you could come up with something to say about it in your students’ target language? Think you could ask questions about it that your students could answer? I know you can. A quirky picture is just the thing for getting a lot of bang for your buck when you want students to […]