Practical Proficiency Podcast

29 - UNIT IDEAS: Description - Physical and Personality Traits Units for Proficiency-Oriented Instruction


Listen Later

Send us a text

The ability to describe people - both physically and by personality - isn't just another vocabulary list in your world language curriculum. It's a pivotal developmental milestone on your students' language journey, marking their transition from me-centered language to a broader world of expression.

Devon Gunning breaks down why description skills serve as the defining characteristic separating novice low, mid, and high levels according to the latest ACTFL Performance Descriptors. 

 This episode provides age-appropriate strategies for making description relevant and engaging, with practical activities you can implement immediately: celebrity "Guess Who" games, dating app profiles for fictional characters, picture talks, and multimodal matching activities that provide abundant comprehensible input.

For Romance language teachers, Devon offers a refreshing perspective on teaching grammatical gender - skip the extensive rules and instead provide pattern-rich input that allows students to discover the patterns themselves. 

Resources Mentioned: 

French 1 Physical Descriptions Task Cards

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/French-1-Physical-Description-Vocabulary-Adjective-Agreement-Games-10690811

Practical Proficiency Curriculum with Units: https://lalibrelanguagelearning.mykajabi.com/practical-proficiency-curriculum-world-language-info




Submit your question here

Download the free audio training "The Joyful CI Classroom System" here 

Find out more and join the Practical Proficiency Network here

Let's connect:

Get the Free World Language Teacher Toolkit
Get the Free Roadmap to Proficiency
Website
TPT
Instagram
Youtube
Facebook

Love this episode? Get access to over 150+ trainings, instructional coaching, and an amazing peer community of proficiency-oriented teachers in the Practical Proficiency Network


Submit your questions about proficiency, grammar, or creating communicative classroom environments through this link: https://airtable.com/appOp9IY7Ah77oYup/pagpRzuEqAVZgBnrk/form

and I'll answer them on the show!

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Practical Proficiency PodcastBy Devon Gunning | La Libre Language Learning

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

4 ratings