All Things Languages
USING a language is the point of Language learning. What can Language teachers do to create the space in our classrooms for students to become confident spontaneous users of Language? This honest, real and relatable content is like a chat with Susan and her fabulous guests as they keep finding great language learning and use.
Episodes
78 episodes
2025 12 Baby stacker rings, how it went.
Who said baby toys were just for babies? My current iteration of solutions to the problem of making learning progressions make sense to students, worked a treat. Students helped me label the rings for three stacks, then we worked together to de...
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13:57
2025 11 How baby stacker rings might unlock learning progressions
Baby stacker rings. Think of the baby toy, where multi-coloured rings are stacked on a pole. Rather than having the three different graphics - a rainbow for independence, a tower for complexity and a flower for variety - I am experimenting with...
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8:48
2025 10 TIF TEP and student-generated learning progressions
TIF (Teacher Impact Fellowship) is an optional year after TEP (Teacher Excellence Program) that is run by the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. I did TEP in 2023, and have been accepted into TIF this year. My project is about learni...
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11:44
2025 9 Explicit instruction my thoughts
My thoughts are offered as a way for you to also develop your own thinking. I hold my ideas lightly, meaning I am ready to change them as I notice new evidence or the influence of other perspectives. My hope is that you can listen to my current...
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11:18
2025 8 Explicit Instruction with Languages examples
This episode brings a specifically Languages lens to explicit instruction with some examples that might help it make more sense in the Languages classroom. There is no agenda or expectation here. It is offered to provide information around this...
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14:21
2025 7 What is meant by 'explicit instruction'?
'Explicit instruction' is a popular current term in education, however it is often thought of as the part of a lesson when the teacher does the talking to introduce new content. It is actually a much broader set of lesson components. I quote or...
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12:02
2025 6 Find your evidence base - the research evidence and your classroom evidence
When we hear 'evidence based' we usually think of research. Classroom based evidence is also a basis for teaching practice. When there is an alignment of between the two, then the research evidence helps to clarify something that already seemed...
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12:40
2025 5 Evidence based practice - show me what you know
What evidence do we use to make decisions about what to teach to a particular group of students? "Show me what you know" is a written version of what students can recall independently. A quick scan of these shows generally what a cohort might b...
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13:29
2025 4 Find your evidence base - noticing participation
Evidence based practice is a persuasive term. It comes up in the DOSCEL Learning and Teaching Expert Teacher Practice document several times. This year I plan to explore how 'evidence based practice' relates to Languages. Evidence is from 'evid...
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11:54
2025 2 Samantha on visits.
Last year Samantha was able to invite me once a term to visit her classes and work with her. We were able to achieve a lot together. I hope you also find inspiration and ideas in Samantha's story.
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14:38
2025 3 Kate on visits
I was able to visit Kate twice to talk about planning and assessment, and once to visit a classroom. Kate talks about what it felt like, what we did together and what she got out of it. To anyone thinking about inviting me to visit, she says "G...
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14:14
2025 1 Filomena on visits
I have been able to interview a few teachers about their experiences when I have visited. My hope is that you will also feel inspired to invite me, and I will be swept off my feet driving all over Gippsland. If you are wondering whether or not ...
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13:41
2024 Term 4 ALL
Here are all the term 4 podcasts in one file, so you can turn it on and binge the lot.
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1:45:31
2024 37 James on visits
Inviting me to visit your school, or visit your class might come with a variety of thoughts and feelings. Listening to the experience of some of the teachers who have invited me, might help you to also feel open to the conversations that ...
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7:20
2024 36 James on Japanese
Many people tell me that after they have finished studying Languages in school, even to VCE, even with a great ATAR, they feel unprepared to actually use it in the country. I wonder if we are really teaching the skills needed for Language use. ...
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16:26
2024 35 supporting teachers new to language teaching
Many teachers come to language teaching from classroom roles or other specialty areas. I often visit these teachers to offer resources such as the TCL websites and co-creating planning or assessment documents. This is a case study of one of the...
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10:01
2024 34 Responding to context: a secondary case study
Each school, teacher and class is unique. When I visit I respond to you, in your context with guidance from you about what is most useful. In this case study, I visited a secondary school Languages meeting where I had been asked to consider Blo...
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Episode 34
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14:17
2024 33 successful learners - a case study
We are all wanting our learners to feel successful. Imagine your student saying "I felt incredibly successful. I can now write or speak a mini conversation with someone." This is a case study of a teacher I worked with this year, visiting class...
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7:06
2024 32 thoughts and feelings around visits
"Our work is in schools" means that I am being asked to visit schools. As a teacher I know some of the thoughts and feelings that arise when I have invited a Languages leader into my classroom. Classrooms are messy, often literally. There are m...
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10:54
2024 31 Reflections on the Language Maintenance and Development Grant
If you are teaching a language, it is very helpful to be able to develop your own language skills. This increases confidence, accuracy and natural language use when helping learners in our schools. These are the reflections of a few of the teac...
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Episode 31
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12:25
2024 31 Auslan and oral games for accuracy, memory and communication
Here are a couple of game ideas. The first is similar to Gianfranco Conti's 'False Echo' game, and also Austin's butterfly. It is about accuracy and getting feedback towards greater accuracy. The second is about memorising. I played this game w...
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14:02
2024 29 Being the cool one?
My journey to becoming a leader has been an evolution of attitude and self-belief. I wasn't always as vivacious and self assured as I might seem now. In this podcast I let you into the little mind shifts that have led to the choices that have l...
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13:18
Term 3 2024 all
If you have been wanting to listen to all the podcasts at once, without clicking each link separately, then this is for you. I often find that if I am on a long drive or something, it is easier to just turn something on and keep listening. Here...
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1:50:18
2024 27 a fun way to activate collective expertise
Collective expertise is where together people can achieve something that they would not have been able to do individually. This is a fun classroom activity which is like a language jigsaw puzzle where students need to work with each other to wo...
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8:03
2024 26 I can use I can statements with a five point scale
I can statements from the Victorian Curriculum Achievement standards are one way to track student progress in Languages. When reporting it is expected that we use a five point scale. This podcast talks through a process for creating a five poin...
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13:38