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Patience trumps perfection when transitioning to proficiency-based language instruction, as veteran Spanish teacher Kia London reveals in this enlightening conversation about her journey teaching at a new school. With 19 years of experience across all grade levels K-12, Kia brings genuine wisdom about adjusting instructional pace to meet students where they are—without compromising high expectations for target language use.

Watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/eknSSQBX4xA

Connect with Kia London: 
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When Kia moved to her current high school (coincidentally her alma mater), she faced a significant challenge: students unaccustomed to the 90%+ target language environment she cultivates. Rather than lowering expectations, she embraced a semester-long process of scaffolding, repetition, and strategic classroom design to bring students along. Her detailed approach to creating visual supports, recognizing student feedback cues, and building a classroom culture where "I don't understand" is welcomed rather than feared provides practical takeaways for teachers at any stage of their proficiency journey.

The conversation explores the delicate balance of pushing students beyond their comfort zone while being responsive to their needs. Kia shares specific strategies that transformed initial resistance into engagement—like reducing homework load to improve quality, modeling activities before practice, and using station work to foster peer support. Most inspiring is her celebration of student growth beyond language acquisition itself, as she witnesses learners developing confidence, leadership, and problem-solving skills.

For teachers struggling with the messy middle of proficiency implementation, Kia's mantra that "consistency beats perfect" offers refreshing permission to embrace the journey rather than expect overnight transformation. Connect with Kia's wealth of resources at bitly.com/KLondon and implement her practical wisdom in your own language classroom tomorrow.

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