What is a Fluency Fast teacher?
Our current and previous Fluency Fast teachers are Linda Li (Mandarin), Nahed Hazaa (Arabic), Jason Fritze (Spanish), Karen Rowan (Spanish), Diana Noonan (French), Donna Tatum-Johns (French, English), Beth Skelton (German), Katya Paukova (Russian), Annick Chen (Mandarin), Joey Dziedzic (Spanish), Greg Stevens (Spanish), Carmen Andrews (Spanish), Joe Neilson (Spanish), Jeanette Apaez-Gutierrez (Spanish) and Darcy Pippins (Spanish).
Our teachers are the best in the world. Our teachers have more than 100 years’ combined experience teaching languages WITH comprehension-based methods. They are widely recognized as the best in their field. We didn’t train them. We found them. We convinced them to work for us because they are the most talented, engaging and experienced Total Physical Response®, Story Based Methods and other comprehension based methods teachers in the world. Think we’re exaggerating? We fly our Mandarin teacher in from China. When she moved to Bangkok, we flew her in from there. Now she’s moving to Saudi Arabia. We fly our Arabic teacher in from Egypt. All of our teachers have presented at National Comprehension based methods conferences since 2000. Nine of our teachers are published authors. One of our teachers was the SWCOLT Teacher of the Year and 3 of them were Colorado Teachers of the Year.
Our newest Fluency Fast teachers completed our Fluency Fast Teacher Training: Jorge Perez de Jesus (Spanish), and Carla Tarini (French) and are currently teaching classes in the Chicagoland area.
What is your background and experience with Comprehension Based Methods?
Have you attended Comprehension Based Methods workshops and National conferences? Are you already an expert at comprehensible input, applying Comprehension Based Methods in a classroom and advanced Total Physical Response® techniques? Do you have a degree in education or a language? Are you fluent in the language you wish to teach? Do you have teaching experience? Then we want to help you present your own Fluency Fast classes in your own community.
Do you have strong language skills in that language you want to teach?
As not-native speakers we are all continually working on our language skills. We use our native speakers as touchstones and depend on them for proofreading and editing. We also all read a lot in the languages we teach and constantly seek out more comprehensible input.
Would you like your colleagues?
Very important. We really like each other!
What language do you teach?
Although ultimately our vision is to teach lots of languages, Spanish is what supports us financially. Our other languages are growing. If you teach Spanish and speak it well, you’re more likely to be successful in your own community. If you can teach English, we are volunteering to teach English classes to refugees and encourage you to find opportunities to contribute in this way in your own community.
Do you have the time to invest in continuous training?
You should plan on continuing training as a CI methods teachers / TPRS teacher so that you are up to date on new techniques and have a chance to realign your teaching with other CI teachers and presenters. We hire and work with the best. Our teachers are always learning and sharing ideas.
HOW TO APPLY
- Register for iFLT (The International Forum on Language Teaching)
- Register for the Fluency Fast Teacher Training, July 7-14. Registration for one class: $299. Registration for two classes: $598, discounted to $400. Registration for iFLT registrants: $249 Registration for two classes for iFLT registrants: $400.00. Registration for Fluency Fast Teacher Training (must be registered for iFLT separately, also), including two language classes: $350.00 (To register and pay after acceptance: https://fluencyfast.com/store/)
- Send an email to [email protected] with the subject line Fluency Fast Teacher Training including this information Your name
The language you teach
The language you would like to learn
Your experience with Comprehension based methods - We will accept a maximum of 12 people. Teachers whose TPRS / Comprehension-Based Methods experience is insufficient for this training will be asked to apply again another year. When you are notified that you are accepted, you must register and pay to hold your spot.
- Teach a lesson and videotape it. Submit this with your letter. Send us the link to the video. It should be no more than 5 minutes long. (Level 1 and 2) or indicate which 5 minutes you would like us to watch.
- Begin the reading list.
- Purchase an on-line class taught by other Fluency Fast teachers.
- Take one Fluency Fast class in a language you don’t know. If you have already taken a FF class in a language you don’t know, take Jason Fritze’s Advanced Spanish class on-line.
- At the Fluency Fast Teacher Training you will act as assistants to the teachers, observe and participate in Fluency Fast classes in Beginning Mandarin, Advanced French, Advanced Spanish or Beginning Spanish or Intermediate Spanish and create a list of techniques common to Fluency Fast teachers. Sessions on business development are open only to Fluency Fast Teacher Training participants. The Monday evening sessions with Stephen Krashen is open to all. Participants are expected to collaborate on the list independently in the evenings so that it is completed by Monday and to create a basic business plan.
- Participate in coaching and training sessions throughout iFLT. Create coaching opportunities with other trainees and practice individually. Participate in coaching workshops with zeal and reckless abandon. Attend iFLT and break out sessions with Karen Rowan.
- Receive your Certificate of Completion certifying that you have completed the Fluency Fast Level 1 Instructor Training. (Those who are completing the training for the second time will receive a Level 2 Instructor Training certificate.)
- Write lesson plans based on what you have learned according to the University of the Pacific requirements. Make them available to the others in the class.
- Optional: Apply for credit through the University of the Pacific for $79 per credit hour for up to 6 hours.
- Begin planning steps to offer a class in your own city.
YOU MUST RETURN TO THE THIS PAGE FREQUENTLY TO GET UPDATED INFORMATION ON TRAINING SEMINARS.
REQUIRED READING LIST
- TPR is More Than Commands at All Levels, Seely and Romjin
- Fluency Through TPR Storytelling, Seely and Ray
- Learning Another Language Through Actions, Asher
- The Read-Aloud Handbook, Trelease
- The Power of Reading, Krashen
- The Natural Approach, Krashen
- Foreign Language Education the Easy Way, Krashen
- (Purchase through IJFLT.com, proceeds benefit the International Journal of Foreign Language Teachers)
- A Frequency Dictionary of (your language) by Mark Davies
- Fundamentals of Language Acquisition by Stephen Krashen
NEW, April 4, 2017:
Second Language Acquistion by Stephen Krashen (follow link to download)
Recommended Reading
- A Whole New Mind, Pink
- You Gotta Be the Book, Wilhelm
Required Membership
- The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, free subscription, www.ijflt.com
- Facebook: IFLTNTPRSCITEACHING
We aren’t always hiring and we don’t always need new teachers, but we have recently acquired new contracts that make the demand for our classes higher than the supply we can offer with our current staff. We are a growing company, and as we continue to grow we will need more teachers who believe in our mission and want to contribute to it as it germinates.
We intend to hire SOME of the teachers who attend the training to teach classes in their own communities. The teachers will assist with publicity and will provide a free or in-kind location to present the classes. (Their living rooms, their school or their church). We will provide publicity on the web site and will include the class in our email publicity. After the class, the teacher will provide us with evaluations and a video clip of the class. All teachers agree to continue with annual training.
Teachers who complete the Fluency Fast training can teach their own classes using the same model, but not the Fluency Fast name. (X has completed the Fluency Fast Teacher Training). As we continue to grow, we anticipate adding more teachers to our staff. Although many teachers are invited to participate in this year’s training, and all are encouraged to use their new skills in the classroom this year, we primarily anticipate training teachers to teach on their own in their own communities, not to work directly for us. Completing the training does not come with any guarantee of employment, not should one be inferred.
We want Fluency Fast teachers — all World Language Teachers, really — to be experts and leaders in our field. Observing 4 Fluency Fast classes to gather techniques, pacing and curriculum ideas, attending iFLT to improve your methodology, participating in coaching to take risks and get feedback and completing the reading list prior to arrival are the best ways we know to give you the tools you will need to launch your own adult classes.
What’s the difference between teaching for Fluency Fast and teaching in a year-long classroom?
There are a lot of them. Comprehension based methods training helps build a foundation, but adults are different in terms of their reasons for taking languages, their baggage, their attention spans, their issues, their ability to retain, the effect their age has on their ability to retain, what will make them promote a class versus what will make them ask for their money back….
What kind of support do I get as a Fluency Fast teacher?
Who provides the curriculum?
We do. Our teachers write a new curriculum each year.
Who does the publicity?
The host does (that’s you). We add your class to our website and mailings. There are 25,000 people on our opt-in mailing list as of 2017.
Can I teach similar courses without being a Fluency Fast teacher?
If you haven’t done Fluency Fast training, yes you can teach an adult language class. In fact, we encourage it. We want tons of adults to learn other languages. BUT, you can’t call it “Fluency Fast.”
Can I use the curriculum?
If you use it exactly as it was published and credit us and the teacher who wrote the curriculum, yes. Otherwise, no.
Can I use the same publicity?
No. Not unless you are working for Fluency Fast.