La prof caféinée (the caffeinated teacher) is my blog devoted to teaching and learning. Here are excerpts from a few of my favorite posts.
If there is one complaint that organically arises from a shift away from “culture Fridays” and towards authentic language use (90% plus, thankyouverymuch), it is this one. I can’t possibly teach culture to my novices if I can’t do it in English, right? |
While I can imagine my students doing lots of different things with the language they are acquiring, I can guarantee that very few of those things would definitely happen. They might never order in a French restaurant, or buy clothes in Senegal, or give directions... |
There are so many nuances, so many different rules, and so many knowledge gaps in teachers’ experiences that a truly accurate picture of the entire francophone world is virtually out of reach. But to refuse to begin is to fail, and we can do better than that. We can start by identifying common cultural misunderstandings that our students often carry around and creating opportunities to confront them in a productive way. |
We teach grammar at two times: When students need it, and when students are ready for it. If they need it, but they’re not ready for it, we give it to them as chunks of vocabulary. |