Just wanted to let you know what's coming up in season 2 of The Kate Languages Podcast and try out my new jingle!

Season 2 is a mini-series of 5 episodes dedicated to the fundamentals of lesson planning in MFL - starters, introducing vocabulary, listening/reading, speaking/writing and finishing a lesson effectively.

Subscribe now to make sure you get each episode the minute they are released!

Music is from Pixabay by Coma-Media

In the last episode of season 1, I'm talking about saving time! If feels like there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything you need to do... so here are my top 5 tips to avoid wasting time. Hopefully, they will also help you to be more productive and, more importantly, allow you to spend precious time with loved ones, rest and recharge! From saying "no" to being confident that good is good enough, I wish I'd known these tips (and been assertive enough to implement them) when I was starting out as a teacher!

In this episode, I talk about my online courses for MFL teachers. I go into some of the background behind why I teach them, explain the different levels and what we cover in the classes, to help you work out which one is right for you!

To sign up to one of the courses, head to https://katelanguages.co.uk/courses/ or follow me on social media and/or sign up to my mailing list to find out when registration is open for the next block of lessons.

Do get in touch if you have any more questions!

In today's episode, I talk about how I came to be a teaching resources writer - from setting up my website (with the help of my very talented stepmum!) to selling over 2500 of my most popular resource (at the last count). I also go into quite a lot of detail about my process when it comes to creating each resource, even down to the reasoning behind my font choices!

This episode has come about as I've received a lot of messages and emails recently about writing resources and setting up a website, so I'm hoping I've answered some of the most burning questions! As always, while it will be most useful for MFL teachers in England, I also believe that teachers in all subjects and Key Stages, and hopefully even from around the world, will find some helpful takeaways here... after all, writing resources is the essence of lesson planning, regardless of where you are and what you're teaching!

I wrote a blog post on this a few years ago as well, which also contains links to the photo websites I use in my resources - https://katelanguages.co.uk/a-guide-to-creating-and-selling-teaching-resources/

This is my 3rd episode featuring a guest and this time I'm chatting to the brilliant and very inspiring Dr Liam Printer. As well as having a PhD in Motivation, Liam is a Spanish teacher in Switzerland and also has his own podcast, The Motivated Classroom (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-motivated-classroom/id1525120086). We actually had this chat last year (2021) as an Instagram live (so there are a couple of references to the pandemic and lockdowns) and it was so great, I just had to upload it here as a podcast episode so more people can hear it!

We chatted about all things motivation (of course), both teacher and student; TPRS; the importance of unpredictability in teaching; some great ideas for fun lessons... and so much more!

As always, I can't wait to hear what you thought of the episode, so get in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook - I'm @katelanguages on all 3!

My first Q&A episode!

In this episode, I answer 5 questions that my lovely friends and followers on Instagram asked me this week.

The first one is about teaching my son languages; the 2nd and 3rd are about improving MFL take up from Year 9 to GCSE and getting SLT/other staff to support MFL; the 4th question is about my opinion of schools I've worked in (obviously no naming and shaming, but I am quite honest about some of the difficulties I faced in a couple of schools); and then in response to the last question, I give some ideas for what jobs are good for ex-teachers, in case you're pondering leaving the classroom!

I'd love to do more of these in the future, so let me know if you have any more questions for me!

In this episode (which was originally an Insta live, recorded in February 2021), I chat to the lovely Bex (@pagepracticepodcast on Instagram) about workload, educational reading and research, setting boundaries and lesson planning in general. She shares some great tips about how to work smarter, not harder, and how to switch off from teaching.

As this was recorded in the middle of the Covid pandemic, we do talk about some ideas in relation to life in lockdown, but they can all be implemented in 'normal' times as well!

During the chat, we talked about a couple of different podcasts and books, including...

From Page to Practice - Bex's own podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/from-page-to-practice/id1478303084

Tiny Voice Talks podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-with-rebecca-nobes/id1526852152?i=1000506973960

Mary Myatt's Curriculum book (let's be honest, when have I NOT talked about this book in an episode haha!)

Simplicity Rules by Jo Facer

Teach Like Nobody's Watching by Mark Enser

Making Every Lesson Count by Andy Tharby and Shaun Allison

As always, I'd love your feedback on this episode, so get in touch on the socials (I'm @katelanguages on Insta, Facebook and Twitter) or email [email protected]

My first podcast guest is Adeline (aka @teaching8to4 on Instagram), amazing French teacher, mum of one gorgeous toddler and founder of the Fulfilled Teacher Academy (FTA).

In this episode, we discuss the FTA's mission to help teachers take control of their workload, set boundaries and achieve a better school-life balance. Adeline gives some great tips in this episode, and if you want to dive deeper with her, check out her Instagram feed and sign up to her FREE workshop on 25th Jan 2022!

We discussed a few books in the episode that we couldn't quite remember the names of! After a bit of googling, here are the details...

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Feel Better in 5 by Dr Rangan Chatterjee

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

As always, let me know what you think of the podcast! Can't wait for your feedback!