The Motivated Classroom

In this question & answer episode we discuss how to survive as a student-teacher, what to do with an overly prescriptive curriculum, what would I tell myself as a student-teacher and what notes students should (or should not!) write in our language acquisition classes! 

The fantastic Maud Waret shares her personal learning and classrooms experiences as a mixed race French woman growing up in France and then moving to the UK as well as many wonderful practical ideas to help language teachers to begin to decolonise some of their curriculum. Maud speaks passionately, powerfully and practically. This is a real must listen episode for all language teachers seeking to have a more inclusive, representative and diverse classroom experience for their students.

In this episode, the inspirational Tan Huynh speaks about the use of Larry Ferlazzo's framework for empowering multilingual students as well as how we can all be more representative and inclusive in our choices of materials and the stories we share. Tan provides brilliant practical tips on how we can ensure our classroom is a welcoming, diverse space for all learners. This is a must listen episode for all language teachers striving to have a more inclusive learning environment where everyone feels welcome to be themselves and explore their own unique identity.

This episode is a follow up to Ep. 43 on 'Structuring a language curriculum without a textbook' and focuses on the individual language acquisition lesson and how I structure it to keep motivation at the forefront of each class. At the end of the episode I also speak about what this structure looks like in my lesson planning. I hope you find this practical episode useful!

Thank you to The #MotivatedClassroom patron, Margit Alexy, for prompting me to do an episode on how I structure a year of language acquisition curriculum without a textbook. In this episode I go into some detail about what my Spanish Level 1 sequence of learning looks like over a whole year, before giving a brief overview of what this translates into for older, more advanced, students a few years later in their language learning journey.

For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at www.liamprinter.com/podcast.

Keep sharing and spreading the word. I'd love to know what you think, please get in touch or leave me a review 🙏

Anxiety, stress, nervousness and a high 'affective filter' is often discussed around language learning, but what happens when you focus on positive emotions? It's time we talked about the research behind positive emotions in the language classroom rather than focusing on the negative ones. In this episode I provide an overview of the key research in this area and how we can apply it to our classes to make the experience more welcoming, fun and interesting for our students. 

For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at www.liamprinter.com/podcast.

Keep sharing and spreading the word. I'd love to know what you think, please get in touch or leave me a review 🙏

In this episode I am joined by the fascinating, knowledgeable and highly inspirational, Steve Smith, to talk about memory and motivation in the language classroom. Steve is a former Head of Modern Languages in England. He has taught French for over 30 years and is the author of the resources website frenchteacher.net. He has also co-authored five books for language teachers with with Dr. Gianfranco Conti with the latest being What Every language Teacher Should Know. This episode is an absolute must-listen for all language teachers!

For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at www.liamprinter.com/podcast.

Keep sharing and spreading the word. I'd love to know what you think, please get in touch or leave me a review 🙏

Sitting all day is exhausting! This episode is full of practical ideas for active learning in the language classroom. Getting students up and out of their seats is a mainstay in every class I teach. Even just for a few minutes, it helps to re-engage the students in what is happening, it freshens things up and helps them to re-focus. It also helps to mix things up and keep that important aspect of 'unpredictability' in each class. I've mentioned some of these activities before, but with so many listeners asking about activities that aid acquisition but also get students up and active, here are all my favourites in one episode:

For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at www.liamprinter.com/podcast.

Keep sharing and spreading the word. I'd love to know what you think, please get in touch or leave me a review 🙏

In this question and answer episode there are some wonderful questions from listeners on how to prioritise our class time, coping with colleagues who are reluctant to new initiatives, how to create interesting stories and supporting students' low confidence/self-esteem.

For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at www.liamprinter.com/podcast.

Keep sharing and spreading the word. I'd love to know what you think, please get in touch or leave me a review 🙏

"How do you teach grammar in a motivational way?" is a question we all face as language teachers. In this episode we explore some of the research around explicit teaching of grammar and its impact on motivation. I then present some zero-prep classroom strategies we can use to introduce and develop understanding of grammar, but in a more autonomy-supportive, motivational style. 

For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at www.liamprinter.com/podcast.

Keep sharing and spreading the word. I'd love to know what you think, please get in touch or leave me a review 🙏