Colin, Here’s a blog by an adult language learner that occasionally posts user-friendly digested versions of theory. You may have to comb a little, but there’s some good stuff here. http://www.languagesurfer.com/ From: ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Harris Levinson Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 1:27 PM To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ola] Re: OWL support articles Colin: I'd also say that the longer I teach and the more pedagogical approaches I experiment with and/or commit to, the more I recognize that there is not ONE approach that is best for all learners. I have made my peace with this, although it took some years to let go of the mission I had set for myself while in my ed program at UW, i.e., to reach and teach well every single student. Atwell's Writing in the Middle introduced many Language Arts teachers to the reading and writing workshop approach and school districts and English teachers throughout the States adopted it. I loved it for its use of mini-lessons and fostering one-to-one relationships with students about their writing and the books they were reading. Yet, some students did not respond with the enthusiasm of their classmates; they preferred a class where everyone was writing on a similar topic and reading the same literature. A number of us have experienced this same phenomenon with OLA and OWL. It helps us accomplish the goals we have for getting our students to feel comfortable taking risks in speaking the language. Many students feel empowered to use the language outside the classroom context and want to interact with Spanish-speaking people around the world. We have evidence of this and we share it joyfully....and still it is not the right fit for all our students. Some don't want to push or aren't yet comfortable taking risks or just really prefer sitting down doing activities from a text--it's what they know and it allows them to disappear. To counter this, I believe one has to emphasize building community. That is one of Darcy's central tenets and I don't think we can overestimate its use when we encounter resistance. When we have buy-in from students because they feel they are part of an exciting organism that recognizes and values their humanity, one that lives and breathes in the target language (my own classroom is NOT always that way), then we find less resistance. And even still, with your best and most sincere efforts, there will be those who choose not to join us, who say nay, but they will not be the majority and they may even one day come to see that life is simply not as fun nor as gratifying without movement, community, and OWL. Harris 2014-11-12 11:47 GMT-08:00 Eliza Pfeifer <epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx>>: Colin, I am not sure that I have any kid friendly articles, but know that you are not alone with push back. My first year I suffered from some. Most of the push back came as students realized that they had errors in their Spanish but didn´t know who to fix them. They wanted grammar rules for clarity. How do you see the push back? (If and when you get a chance!) On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 9:02 AM, Colin Oriard <coriard@xxxxxxx<mailto:coriard@xxxxxxx>> wrote: Tess, most of my students are freshmen and sophomores Colin Oriard Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4 Grant High School Room 112 Phone extension - 75612 ________________________________ From: ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> on behalf of Tess Siemer <tess.siemer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tess.siemer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 7:59 AM To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [ola] Re: OWL support articles What grade level Colin? I have several that I can share but they might not resonate with freshman or sophomores so much... On Nov 12, 2014 6:48 AM, "Colin Oriard" <coriard@xxxxxxx<mailto:coriard@xxxxxxx>> wrote: OWLers, I wrote yesterday, but it was rushed so I'd like to follow up.... I'm still running into lots of student push-back and English use so in an effort to help that, I'm putting a few new changes in place. To support one of these, I was wondering if anybody had good foreign language immersion and/or language acquisition articles that our students would be able to follow (kid-friendly language)? Any resources people have would be much appreciated! Colin Oriard Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4 Grant High School Room 112 Phone extension - 75612 -- Eliza Pfeifer Spanish Instructor | St. Mary’s Academy _________________________________ 4545 S. University Blvd., Englewood, CO 80113 303.762.8300 x 393<tel:303.762.8300%20x%20393> | fax: 303.783.6201<tel:303.783.6201> | epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:jwimbish@xxxxxxxxxx> [https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/V-DPcKI82YFYE63jZZfZyK7xBdPJIZ8ZpbUfvj6_CQvSJYr3GWAuGsgHcKxTOQBkcEFaV47Bfj1Ypz3oSRj0tr5e4Uhb52LPl8sjSNDUC6Df02aB_rm3K20JxxUDMm1HKdnGtgAtZzE] -- Harris Levinson Teacher, Adviser Vashon Island High School Tel: 206.463.9171 x141