World Language Classroom

#192

How much flexibility or autonomy do you have over your curriculum? Are you able to integrate CI techniques and procedures? This can be a bit challenging if our curriculum is aligned with chapters…

#191

Do you have effective routines that support your students’ language proficiency and communication skills?  We often think of the communication modes, proficiency levels and 90+% target language a…

#190

A few weeks back I posted on LinkIn and Andrea Caulfield left a comment. Andrea is the World Language Curriculum Specialist in Denver Public Schools.  She commented that she uses podcast episodes…

#189

We are all well aware of the importance of comprehensible input in our classrooms, and to support this many of us use stories as the way to do it.  Do you use short stories, novels or graphic nov…

#188

We are always taking on new vocabulary themes and language structures in our language classroom. How do you make sure that your students are engaging with these new topics, particularly when it c…

#187

What do your grades look like? Do the grades that your students earn reflect their mastery and what they can do with and in the target language? In this episode, I speak with Jude Krushnowski, th…

#186

How do we ensure our students know exactly what they’re working toward in their language learning journey? In this episode, we’re diving into Writing Can Do Statements—how to make them concrete, …

#185

What have you learned about your teaching throughout your years of experience? Do you take time to look introspectively at what works well for you and why so that you can replicate it? In this ep…

#184

Are you always on the lookout for new and inventive ideas to bring to our classrooms. I have one simple, yet powerful, tool.  A mini-folding book is a compact, 8-page book made from a single shee…

#183

Are you getting more comfortable with AI tools? Are you finding ways to use them to enhance your teaching? Last year, Noemi Rodriguez joined me on episode 116 when AI felt so new and emerging. No…

#182

Calendar talk is a CI (Comprehensible Input) activity that is part of many teachers' routines in the classroom.  It is essentially just that, talking about the calendar.  What began as simply say…

#181
Have you seen teachers posting on social media about their hexagonal grouping activities? I certainly have and I got curious about how it works and how teachers are using it in their world langua…

#180
Do you have particular activities and procedures that you use to engage students in your classroom? Many of us have these tried-and-true go-to CI (Comprehensible Input) activities. They get talke…

#179
What have you heard about special person interviews in world language classes? Maybe you have tried them yourself. In today’s episode I speak with Bryce Hedstrom, a Spanish and Latin teacher in C…

#178
How many preps do you have?  If you have 3, 4 or more, or know someone who does, stick around for this episode. Oftentimes we equate 3 or more preps with 3 or 4 times the work. In this episode So…

#177
The most popular episode of 2024 was the one where I talked about moving from grammar to language functions.  I begin this last episode of 2024 with some podcast stats from 2024 and then you have…

#176
How do you address your students’ mistakes or errors when speaking in the classroom? Should you address them? Is it useful, and if so, how do you do it? In this episode we are taking on the last …

#175
Do students read in your classroom? What do they do with the reading? In this episode I speak with Jennifer Degenhardt and Theresa Marrama. They are both authors of CI Novels that I have personal…

#174
How cohesive are your lessons?  Do you feel that activities flow and connect to each other in meaningful ways, or do they sometimes seem disconnected? Today’s episode is a Leveling Up episode, wh…

#173
This is an exciting episode that I recorded live at the 2024 ACTFL Convention and Language Expo in Philadelphia! This year’s ACTFL theme, “Connect for the Love of Languages!”, highlights the impo…