Diane Larsen-Freeman

24 The Direct Meth od
River. On the East Coast is the Atlantic Ocean, and on the West Coast
is the Pacific Ocean. In the East is a mountain range called the
Appa lachian Mountains. In the West arc rhc Rocky Mountains.
After the students fi nish reading the passage, they arc asked if they have
any questions. A student asks what a mountain range is. T he teac her
turns to the blackboard and dr aws a series of inverted cones to illustra te a
mountain range.
The student nod s and says, ' J understand.' Ano ther stud en t asks wha t
'between' means. The teacher replies, 'You are sitting between Maria Pia
and Giovanni. Paolo is sitting between Gabriella an d Cettina. No w do
you understa nd the meaning of "between "?' The student answers, 'Yes, J
understand.'
After all of the questions have been ans wered, the reacher asks some of
his own. 'Class, arc we looking at a 111;lp of Italy?'
The class rep lies in chorus, 'No!'
The teac her reminds the class to answer in a full sentence.
'No, we aren't looking ar a map of Italy,' they respond.
The teacher asks , 'Arc we look ing at a map of the United States?'
'Yes. We arc looking at a map of the United States.'
The Direct Method 25
'Is Canada the country to the south of the United Stares?'
'No. Canada isn't the country south of the United States.'
'Arc the Great Lakes in the North of the United States?'
'Yes. The Great l.akcs are in the North.'
'Is the Rio Grande a river or a lake?'
'The Rio Grande is a river.'
' It's a river. Where is it?'
'It's between Mexico and the United States .'
'What color is the Rio Grande on the map?'
'It's blue.'
'Point to a mountain ra nge in the West. What mountains are they?'
'T hey are the Rocky Mo unt ains.'
The question and answer session continues for a few mere minutes.
Finally, the teacher invites the students to ask questions . Ha nds go up,
and rhc teacher calls on stu dems to pose question s one at a time to wh ich
the class replies. After several questio ns have been posed, one girl asks,
'Where are the Appa lachian Mount ains?' Befor e the class has a chance to
respond, the teacher works with the student on the pronunciation of
'Appalachian.' Then he includes the rest of the class in this practice as
well, expecting that they will have the same prob lem with this long word.
After insuring that the students' pro nunciation is correct, the teacher
allows the class to answer the question .
Later another stu dent asks, 'What is the ocean in the West Coast?' T he
teacher again interrupts before the class has a chance to reply, saying,
'What is the ocean in the West Coast? ... or on the West Coa st?' The student
hesitates, then says, 'On the West Coast.'
'Correct,' says the teacher. 'N ow, repeat your question .'
'What is the ocean on the West Coast?'
T he class replies in chorus, 'The ocean on the West Coast is the Pacific.'
After the students have asked about ten questions, the reacher begins
asking question s and making statements again. T his rime, however, the
questions and sta tements are about the students in the classroom, and
contain one of the prepositions 'on,' 'at,' ' to,' ' in,' or 'between,' such ,1S,
'Anronclla, is your book on your desk?' 'Antonio, who is sitting between
Luisa and Teresa ?' 'Emanuc!a, point to the clock.' The students then
make up their ow n questions and srarcmcnrs ,1nd direct them to other STlIdents.
T he reacher next instructs the students to (Urn to an exercise in the lesson
which asks them to fill in the blanks. T hey read a sentence out loud
and supp ly the missing word as they arc reading, for example: