The Motivated Classroom

In this second Q&A episode, some great questions from listeners get us talking about long-term motivation for learners as opposed to just dealing with the 'here and now' in our classrooms; how do we balance motivating activities with preparation for high stakes exams and finally some motivating classroom approaches for retrieval practice. Lots of practical classroom tips as well as important information about the current research around motivation and how to build it in our learners.

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 explain how I build on those relationships built in the first few years of students' Spanish learning journey, taking those more advanced and older students to a new level as 'Government Ministers' in my (fake) country of Españoland. It provides them with autonomy and ownership over what we learn and the resources we will study together as a group. By empowering them to be members of your 'Government' it not only teaches them about democracy and leadership but also allows them to become real experts in their chosen 'Ministry' before those final exams. If you teach older teenagers who have more advanced level of language, this episode is for you!

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 🙏

'The Star of the Week' also known as 'The Special Person Interview' is a wonderful, zero-prep, activity that provides your students with huge amounts of compelling, comprehensible input as they learn about and make connections to their classmates and to the teacher. A beautifully simple activity that raises autonomy and is all about building bonds and a sense of community in the classroom.

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 🙏

When we have active, enthusiastic, engaged participation, it has the potential to over-spill and feel chaotic. So how do we encourage this high level of participation in class without it reaching a stage that begins to impact on our classroom management and behaviour expectations? In this episode, using evidence from the research, I offer my three key elements for effective classroom management in the motivated classroom:

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 🙏

I had the pleasure to chat with the inspirational Joe Dale about three key apps and technology tips to boost motivation and engagement in the languages classroom. Joe is a globally renowned expert in language teaching and learning, with special interest in the use of technology as a means to develop proficiency and grow interest in learning the language. 

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 🙏

Every subject, every syllabus, every curriculum has a story behind it. Its time we re-humanised the classroom and the curriculum. This episode focusses on how we can weave narrative back into our classes to engage our learners and have them come on a learning journey with us. During this episode I give a live example of how I take students into the curriculum using the 'four Ps' approach. Behind everything we teach in every subject there are:

When we focus on this and allow students to become immersed in the story behind our content, we engage and motivate them. We hook them into the learning so they feel part of it throughout the entire unit. 

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 🙏

This episode is all about putting Comprehensible Input (CI) into practice in the classroom. Three practical, minimal prep, CI activities are presented that you can try out right away. These are activities that will really help your learners to feel a sense of belonging in the class, whilst also boosting their competence as they can follow along and understand all of your input. I really encourage you to give them a try!

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 we get into the practical strategies for providing compelling, comprehensible input in the languages classroom.

This episode looks in detail at Stephen Krashen's Comprehensible Input (CI) hypothesis; where it comes from, the research behind it and why teaching with is so motivating for both students and teacher. This episode also aims to debunk and respond to some of the criticisms that have been leveled at Krashen's CI model, highlighting that his most fierce critics were writing in the 1980's just a few years after he published his ground-breaking "Principles and practice in second language acquisition" in 1982 and well before his CI theory had any time to be properly researched. Now, nearly 40 years later, vast amounts of robust research have empirically tested Krashen's CI theory and found it be accurate, understandable and most importantly, easy for teacher's to put into practice. Finally, the episode discusses what CI teaching actually looks like in the languages classroom and why CI activities are so motivating for students as well as their teacher.

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 🙏

The first Question & Answer episode deals with a variety of questions mainly relating to teaching languages and motivation. Thank you to the listeners for these great questions. There were many others I did not have time to get to but will answer them in the next Q & A 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 🙏