World Language Classroom
Tips, Tools and Resources for world language teachers who want their students to rise in proficiency and communicate with confidence.
Episodes
253 episodes
Balancing CI and Explicit Instruction
#251Have you ever felt like you’re not allowed to say this out loud? That Comprehensible Input works beautifully with novices… but something feels different at Intermediate High and Advanced? That maybe your students plateau, avoid compl...
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Making Teaching Sustainable with Dr. Allyson Power
#250What if a few intentional moments of gratitude each day could help you feel more connected, energized, and sustained in your teaching life? In this episode, I speak with Dr. Allyson Power about how gratitude practices can help world ...
Quicker and More Effective Writing Feedback
#249Do you spend hours correcting student writing—marking every error, fixing every verb, circling every agreement mistake—only to see those same exact errors show up on the next assignment? What if the issue isn’t your students… and it’...
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Participation That Works for All Students
#248When you think about participation in your classroom… who comes to mind first? Is it the students raising their hands? The ones who always have something to say? The ones who are quick, confident, and ready with an answer? Now think ...
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Language Learning Through Music and Film with Sybil Sanchez Jacome
#247Do you use songs and films with your students? Do you have some go-to activities that you normally do, but could maybe use some new ideas? In this episode I’m joined by Sybil Sanchez Jacome, a Spanish teacher in New Jersey and ...
5 Strategies to Move Beyond Q&A in Classroom Discussions
#246Your students read the text and you had comprehension questions ready, yet the conversation never really took off. Instead of an authentic discussion, it became a sequence of teacher questions and short student answers. Today we’re g...
Language and Culture Through the United Nations SDGs with Carmen Reyes
What if language class could help students talk about the issues shaping our world today? In this episode, I’m joined by Carmen Reyes, a Spanish teacher in Virginia, to explore how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can bring lang...
No Prep Speaking and Writing Activities
#244Have you ever reached the last five minutes of class and thought, I wish my students spoke or wrote a little bit more today… but we didn’t have time. That moment happens to all of us. Not because speaking and writing aren’t ...
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Daily Strategies That Build Comprehension
#243Have your students finished listening to something or reading in the target language and you looked around the room, and wondered… Did anyone actually understand that? Not because your students weren’t trying. Not because th...
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Turn That Vocabulary List Into A Communicative Activity
#242Do you have required vocabulary lists by units that you’re expected to teach? Let’s say that you have a list of 30 or 40 words per unit. Your colleagues teaching other sections have the same list for consistency. You introduce them, ...
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Practical Ways to Bring Art to Your Language Classroom with Courtney Bonino
#241What would happen if the artwork on your classroom walls became the catalyst for real communication in the target language? In this episode I’m joined by Spanish teacher Courtney Bonino to explore how adding art to your curriculum ca...
Improve Student Writing with Frames & Scaffolds
#240Do your students sometimes struggle to get their ideas down in writing because they aren’t sure how to start or how to say exactly what they mean? Writing can feel overwhelming without the right support—but it doesn’t have to be that...
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Short Writing Tasks that Build Confidence
#239Do your students sometimes feel overwhelmed or a little hesitant when you ask them to write in the target language? Building writing confidence doesn’t happen overnight. It grows with small, purposeful moments every day. In this epis...
National Board Certification for Language Teachers with Erin E.H. Austin and Lisa Bartels
#238Do you want to deepen your practice as a world language teacher and sharpen your skills around proficiency? In today’s episode, we’re exploring a way to do just that through the lens of National Board Certification. I’m joined ...
Promoting and Sustaining Language Programs with Ann Leclair Ash
#237What keeps students coming back to your language program each year? Especially when graduation requirements, scheduling and competing electives are pulling them in other directions? This is the second episode in our advocacy se...
Advocacy for Languages and Programs
#236Curious how language programs thrive even with tight budgets and shifting graduation rules? In this episode, I share insights from conversations at the Klett World Languages booth at
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Support Students in Feeling Motivated & Confident with Martha Cox-Stavros
#235What actually motivates our students? Today we explore that question through the lens of Self-Determination Theory with teacher Martha Cox-Stavros, a middle school Spanish teacher in Massachusetts. Whether this theory is brand new to...
What You Can Learn When You Reflect On Your Teaching
#234When did you last speak with a colleague about what really worked in your lesson? Or reflected on what helped students communicate, not just what they covered? In this episode we look at how small, intentional habit...
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Techniques to Get Students Talking with Christina Margiore
#233Do you want your students to feel more confident and eager to share their ideas in the target language? In this episode, we’ll explore strategies that help learners move beyond words and phrases and into real discourse and communicat...
CI Activities in Practice in the Classroom, Part 2
#232Last week in episode 231 I began a two-part series on using a simple story to show what CI looks like in real classroom practice. In this episode, I continue by building on the same story and walking through how CI activities help st...
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CI Activities in Practice in the Classroom, Part 1
#231Over a series of 3 episodes we looked at a range of CI activities, and I promised I’d be back and to show exactly how they work together in practice. This is the first of 2 episodes where I’ll take a simple story and use it to model ...
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Recharge Your Educator Battery with Will Anderson
#230It’s the start of new year and a chance to recharge our educator battery. Sometimes a little easier said than done, I know. In this episode, recorded at the NYSAFT Annual Conference in Albany, NY, w...
Sponge Activities for Any Level with Jessica Hall
#229What do you do when there is a change in your schedule, like shortened class time because of a delayed opening? What if several students need to miss class because of a school event or responsibility? This is sometimes the real...
3 Engaging Narrative and Storytelling Activities
#228Do you use stories in your classroom? Do you have some engaging ways for students to, well, engage with those stories? In this third episode of the CI Toolbox series, we look at storytelling and narrative-based activities th...
Engaging Reading Activities That Build Proficiency
#227Have you noticed how a well-chosen reading can spark curiosity in your students? Reading can be one of the most engaging, communicative parts of your language class. With the right support, reading is incredibly empowering for studen...
