COACH Inspires!!
I’m having a wonderful day with passionate and dedicated language teachers at Los Alamitos High School!
We started the morning with Jason Fritze reviewing the ACTFL Core Practices.
Here you will find the PowerPoint for the Community-S. presentation.
Here is the PowerPoint for theEmbedded Reading Intro for Coach that we used today!
Go here if you want to see/use thegrandma-all levels copy .
Interested in the Embedded Reading using Enrique and Eres Tú? Click here: Eres tu con Enrique
Right now the participants are working in language groups examining best practices and the skills needed to incorporate Core Practices with COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT in the real classroom. They are being led by members of the (devoted and skilled) COACH team.
We are watching video clips of teachers in the classroom, with their own students and identifying (and appreciating!) what we see. What a wonderful model. Bit by bit this idea of opening ourselves up to others in the profession is taking hold…and I really think that it will radically change classrooms across the country.
Kudos to COACH for all they do!
with love,
Laurie
Embedded Reading 
I feel like CI teachers can find many ways that our teaching is compatible with ACTFL’s Core Practices, with some license in our interpretation of the practices. For example in what constitutes appropriate pair and small group activities (Carol Gaab’s ‘partner processing’ as opposed to ‘pair practice’, for instance), or when and how to use authentic resources (at upper levels, with embedded reading-type scaffolding, for example). I get stuck, though with this practice: Give Appropriate Feedback. It seems like a no brainer until it is further explained with: “Oral corrective feedback in speech or writing elicits output beyond a simple yes or no response.” We know that’s simply not supported by research, right? Did the COACH team and participants find a way to reconcile this one? Or is this where we decide to accept what works with our understanding of SLA and ignore/reject what doesn’t?
This part of the day was presented by Jason Fritze, and it was one of the places where defining “oral corrective feedback” was the issue. His statement, and the belief of many of us, was that recasting the language or asking for clarification are one form of corrective feedback. His other point was that we need to remember that we have much more in common with ACTFL’s statements than we disagree with. By focusing on, and supporting, areas of agreement, we can then move forward in other areas in the future.