I love reading other peoples blogs and get so much inspiration from them all and it is time to both acknowledge and share with you a selection of the blogs I follow and in doing so recommend that you start following them too!!
The top two that are always my first ‘go-to’, are Ben Slavic’s and Martina Bex’s. They are both so comprehensive and up to date. It is so easy to get lost following threads linked to threads collecting inspiration and information along the way.
Ben Slavic’s WordPress Blog requires the payment of a minimal monthly fee – money well spent in my opinion. It is both a forum and a collection of resources where both newbie TCI teachers and highly experienced TCI teachers ‘meet’ to discuss aspects of CI. The conversations on this blog are fascinating and the support I have received has been awesome. It was here that I met Catharina, my incredible mentor.
Martina Bex’s The Comprehensible Classroom is a comprehesive collection of all things related to TCI. It is an amazing blog/website with a vast range of ideas and activities and even though there is a Spanish and largely secondary focus, it is easy to search for lessons and activities which are suited or can be adapted for primary Indonesian. Martina can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook where she uploads recent and archived posts.
There are also many other CI blogs that I follow. The below blogs are ones that supplemented and provided another perspective along my TCI journey and will hopefully be helpful for you too. I recommend you look through them and find a few to follow yourself. You can either have their latest posts emailed to you or add them to your reader in WordPress.
- Kristin Duncan is a Canadian years 5-12 teacher. Her blog/website is TPRSteacher. Here you can find a great selection of resources for a wide range of languages.
- Another real gem is the Latin Best Practices: Comprehensible Input Resources wordpress blog. While it states that it is for Latin Teachers, I can reasssure you that like all the others, this is a treasure trove of resources and research.
- Crystal Barragan is a secondary Spanish teacher and while she doesn’t post that often (her most recent post was Nov 2014), when she does, they are well worth reading. Her blog roll is awesome and includes many TCI legends. Well worth fossicking around here.
- Bryce Hedstrom has a website and it too is well worth exploring.
- Senor Fernie is a kindegarten to year 8 Spanish teacher who made the transition to TCI this school year too, so his blog is relevant and compelling for many reasons.
- Haiyun’s blog Ignite Chinese is also an amazing place to while away a few hours!! It is refreshing to read posts written by a CI teacher who also teaches an Asian language even though the Chinese and Indonesian languages have little in common!
- Michel Baker’s TPRS & Beyond is another I follow as Michel is also an elementary Languages teacher.
While perusing the above sites, I highly recommend you look carefully at their blog rolls and search through the blogs they also follow. Occasionally I have discovered a terrific blog that somehow escaped my notice up till then! Finding your own blog in the blog roll is a blast!
A great review Cathy. Thank you.
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Hi Bu Cathy,
My name is Bu Anne, I teach in Victoria and have been inspired by you to try TPRS. Today, after only two lessons, I had year twos reading an entire page of Indonesian and many wrote for 10 minutes non- stop in Indonesian and some even used sentences!! ( One girl actually wrote a new story based on the one we did in class) I am just blown away!! Totally committed to doing more…
from Anne MacKelvie
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Lovely to hear. Glad to hear you have experienced and witnessed the magic of TPRS. Have you had a chance to look at some of the blogs I recommended?
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