For many of you, last week’s inservice was a lot to take in and probably challenged much of your personal language acquisition/pedagogical beliefs. You are not alone in this.
I share two blog posts with you about CI/TPRS, the first decrying its methodology and theory, while the second is a rebuttal.
What I Hate about TPRS – One teacher’s honest disagreement with CI/TPRS, especially about delaying student output/production until they are ready and not teaching explicit grammar.
Carol Gaab’s Rebuttal – Carol Gaab, a noted CI/TPRS user and publisher, wrote a rebuttal to the above teacher’s blog posting. I had the chance to meet Carol Gaab at ACTFL last November, and she is the real thing!
I hope that you will read both posts with open minds. As a recovering grammar-translation teacher myself, I fully understand from where the first teacher is coming, but at the same time, I completely agree with what Carol Gaab has written.
Postscript/Addendum: In all fairness, here is Sara-Elizabeth’s companion post on What I Love About TPRS. Thanks for the comment and for wanting to set things straight, Sara-Elizabeth!
CI Training GCPS: Every student--every language! 
I just want to clarify that teachers should also read what I love about TPRS (http://musicuentos.com/2014/02/tprs/) and know that I am a TCI teacher, and not a grammar-translation teacher in any sense of the phrase. Carol and I are friends who agree on a whole lot of stuff. I encourage teachers to explore more of my blog for more help in making the move to communicative teaching.
Thanks for the reference!
Hi Sara-Elizabeth,
Thank you for this follow up. We want the teachers that we work with here in GCPS to think big, think long, think deep and practice TCI teaching. The interchange between you and Carol as well as the larger picture on your blog will help this significantly. I’ve been at this work for 15 years. I hear what you are saying and appreciate the time you have taken to articulate it ALL. What a rich offering to have you show up here and invite us to read more of what you have been about. Maximas graitas tibi! Bob Patrick
*gratias.
Reading pedagogical blog entries during bus call? Check. Working on fantastically engaging lesson plans? Check. Catching a Bob Patrick typo? Boom goes the dynamite!
Yeah, those damn typos. Gratias! 🙂 Bob