World Language Classroom | Teaching Ideas, Activities and Strategies

#182

Calendar talk is a CI (Comprehensible Input) activity that is part of many teachers' routines in the classroom.  It is essentially just that, talking about the calendar.  What began as simply saying the date has grown into much more than that. In this episode I will share with you my own process of doing a calendar talk activity that engages students on a wide variety of topics as we begin the class. Lots of language and culture is embedded in activity very organically. Sometimes the slides and materials can take quite a bit of time to create. I don’t want that to hold you back, so you can make a copy of my Google Slides with all of the embedded links right in the show notes.

Topics in this Episode:

• The evolution of Calendar Talk in my classroom – from a simple "Today is [date]" to a dynamic, engaging discussion that students look forward to.
• The benefits of Calendar Talk
• The process and routine: Date, Time. Weather with visuals
• Engaging students in specific details about the date, weather and time in their own lives.
• Moving toward these details in a target language country and leading students in discussions where they compare to their own responses in the previous activity.
• Practical Tips for doing a calendar talk along with the country comparisons
• Episode #170  with John Sifert
• Be sure to Copy the Google Slides that I use will all of the embedded links to your Google Drive.

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
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#181
Have you seen teachers posting on social media about their hexagonal grouping activities? I certainly have and I got curious about how it works and how teachers are using it in their world language classes.  I’ve seen Erin Coleman posting and presenting workshops on the topic, so I invited her onto the podcast to share with all of us how she uses hexagonal grouping with her students. Erin shares lots of ideas and pro tips so that you can start using hexagonal grouping with your students. 

Topics in this Episode:

• what Hexagonal Grouping is and how it works in classrooms
• how can Hexagonal Grouping can be particularly beneficial in world language classes
• what preparation is involved, creating templates and follow-up activities
• specific examples where Erin has successfully used Hexagonal Grouping in her language classroom
• practical tips and strategies for implementing Hexagonal Grouping

Connect with Erin Coleman:

• Instagram: @theengagedspanishclassroom    
• Website: theengagedspanishclassroom.com

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#180
Do you have particular activities and procedures that you use to engage students in your classroom? Many of us have these tried-and-true go-to CI (Comprehensible Input) activities. They get talked about a lot on social media, in language teacher circles and even on this podcast. In this episode I’m going to walk you through 15 CI activities. Be sure to download the free CI Toolbox that includes all 15 Comprehensible Input (CI) activities with descriptions, suggestions and tips. 

Topics in this Episode:

• what CI (Comprehensible Input) is
• how to make language comprehensible
• though CI is input-focused, authentic student engagement with the input provides opportunities for comprehension checks and supports acquisition
• 3 categories of CI activities:
  • Interaction and Discussion: These activities focus on fostering interactive communication in the classroom, allowing students to engage with the language in meaningful and personalized ways.
  • Storytelling and Narrative: These activities involve students in storytelling and narratives, offering a rich context for language acquisition through listening and speaking.
  • Reading and Writing: These activities are designed to reinforce comprehension and writing skills through structured and interactive tasks
• Previous episodes referenced in this episode to dive deeper on particular topics and activities:
  • Episode #31 with Sarah Moghtader
  • Episode #86 with Ashley Mikkelsen
  • Episode #79 with Ben Fisher Rodriguez
  • Episode #91 with Margarita Pérez Garcia
  • Episode #170 with John Sifert (Padre de cinco)
  • Episode #179 with Bryce Hedstrom

Be sure to download the free CI Toolbox that includes all 15 Comprehensible Input (CI) activities with descriptions, suggestions and tips.

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#179
What have you heard about special person interviews in world language classes? Maybe you have tried them yourself. In today’s episode I speak with Bryce Hedstrom, a Spanish and Latin teacher in Colorado. He also does quite a bit of professional development with language teachers. Bryce walks us through the benefits of special person interviews, along with actionable suggestions for implementing in our classrooms.  Whether special person interviews are new to you, or if you're looking for some ways to enhance how you are already using them, you will walk away from this episode inspired. 

Topics in this Episode:

• what a special person Interview is and how does it fit into a Comprehensible Input (CI) approach
• the key benefits of conducting special person interviews for both students and teachers
• what a special person interview looks like in practice; what the teacher does and what students do
• selecting students for the interviews and preparation involved 
• examples of questions and topics to use during these interviews to keep students engaged
• follow up activities

Connect with Bryce Hedstrom:

• Instagram: @brycehedstrom.com3254
• Facebook: /BryceHedstrom
• Website: www.brycehedstrom.com

 Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#178
How many preps do you have?  If you have 3, 4 or more, or know someone who does, stick around for this episode. Oftentimes we equate 3 or more preps with 3 or 4 times the work. In this episode Sophie Forker, a French and Spanish teacher in New York City, joins me for a conversation about managing our teacher workload. We talk specifically about navigating a large number of preps, but it ultimately comes down to useful and actionable ways to streamline your lesson planning, whether you have 1 prep or 6. 

Topics in this Episode:

• Sophie's personal experience of  having multiple preps
• effective strategies for planning and organizing multiple language preps to ensure you stay on top of your workload
• how to  prioritize planning and ensure that each class receives the attention it needs without becoming overwhelmed
• tools, resources and systems to streamline your preparation process and make it more efficient
• practical strategies for effectively managing multiple world language preps in your own classrooms and maintaining a balanced workload
• Episode #79: How to do a Write and Discuss with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

Connect with Sophie Forker:

• Instagram: @mmeforker

 Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#177
The most popular episode of 2024 was the one where I talked about moving from grammar to language functions.  I begin this last episode of 2024 with some podcast stats from 2024 and then you have the replay of episode #141: Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function.

2024 World Language Classroom Podcast Stats :

• top 10% of all podcast downloads
• 52 episodes
• Most popular cities with listeners: Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Sydney
• Most popular countries with listeners: United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom
• Most downloaded episode: #141: Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function.
• Total 2024 downloads: 65,000
• Total minutes of audio published: 1,200

Replay of episode #141: Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function.

What have you heard about language functions? I see this as the idea of using the target language to communicate or convey a message rather than only being able to describe the grammatical structures, patterns and vocabulary. In this episode we are going to take a look at this shift in focus, and sometimes mindset, from a primary focus on grammatical forms to language functions with examples and practical strategies.

Topics In This Episode:

• 3 aspects of communicative language teaching:
  • 1. goal is on communicating and doing something with the language
  • 2. student-centered
  • 3. focused on understanding the message being conveyed by students despite inaccuracy in language form. 
• language functions
  • focus is on communicating, student-centered, understanding the message being conveyed by students despite inaccuracy in language form
• practical strategies and examples to support our focus on language functions
  • Novice Levels: Making Language Practical
  • Intermediate Levels: Expanding Communication
• Embrace the Shift
  • not an either/or when it comes to grammar 
  • it’s essential that we embrace this paradigm shift from a focus on grammar and accuracy to a broader emphasis on language functions and authentic communication. 
  • ensures that language learning is not just a theoretical exercise, but one that builds proficiency and communicative competence.
• Blog post on Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#176
How do you address your students’ mistakes or errors when speaking in the classroom? Should you address them? Is it useful, and if so, how do you do it? In this episode we are taking on the last of the High Leverage Teaching Practices, Providing Oral Corrective Feedback to Improve Learner Performance. My personal graduate thesis was on feedback in the language classroom and what has been shown to be most effective.  I’ll share a little about my personal findings along with concrete strategies for providing oral corrective feedback to improve learner performance. 

Topics in this Episode:

• High Leverage Teaching Practices from Enacting the Work of Language Instruction by Eileen Glisan and Richard Donato
  • Episode 160: Create a Classroom Where Students Use the Target Language Confidently
  • Episode 162: Facilitating Target Language Comprehensibility
  • Episode 164: Teach Grammar in a Communicative Context
  • Episode 167: Guiding Learners to Interpret and Discuss Authentic Texts
  • Episode 171: Focusing on Cultural Products, Practices, and Perspectives
• Oral corrective feedback is the immediate response provided by teachers to learners' spoken errors during language practice. It helps students notice and correct their mistakes, leading to improved language accuracy and proficiency.
• Effective oral corrective feedback supports language development by guiding students towards correct language use, helping them internalize language rules, and improving their confidence in speaking."
• From my thesis Feedback in the Second Language Classroom: The Impact of Explicit and Implicit Negative Feedback on the Interlanguage System: “The unaided learner may eventually learn on his own, but feedback will help him to do this more quickly and efficiently. The research helps to further narrow down the most productive forms of feedback, mainly feedback in the form of negotiation. When the learner is provided with scaffolding that leads him into producing the correct form on his own, he is much more likely to restructure his interlanguage system. This type of communicative feedback will not only provide the most naturalistic communication in the classroom, but will also be the most efficient means of moving the learner toward language that more closely resembles the L2.”
• Strategies:
  • Differentiate Types of Feedback
  • Consider Timing and Frequency of Feedback
  • Create a Supportive Environment
  • Focus on Error Patterns
  • Provide Constructive and Specific Feedback

**Be sure to download the The CI Toolbox. 15 Comprehensible Input (CI) activities for your language classroom to support comprehension and authentic engagement. These suggestions are a compilation of ideas shared on the World Language Classroom Podcast by me and many guests.

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or distric

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#175
Do students read in your classroom? What do they do with the reading? In this episode I speak with Jennifer Degenhardt and Theresa Marrama. They are both authors of CI Novels that I have personally used in my French and Spanish classrooms. I thought I’d go right to the source when thinking about the many ways that we can engage our students in target language reading. Jennifer and Theresa share their writing process, inspiration for their stories, and  ideas for getting the most out of comprehensible novels.

Topics in this Episode:

•  what comprehensible novels are and why they are valuable tools in world language classrooms
• What inspired Jennifer Degenhardt and Theresa Marrama to write comprehensible novels, and how thet decide on the themes and content for their books
• how teachers can effectively integrate comprehensible novels into their curriculum to maximize student engagement and language acquisition
• examples where using comprehensible novels made a significant impact on students' language learning
• practical strategies implementing comprehensible novels 

Connect with Jennifer Degenhardt and Theresa Marrama:

• Twitter/X: @digilangua1
• Facebook: @Digilangua
• Website: digilangua.co
• Instagram: @digilangua

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#174
How cohesive are your lessons?  Do you feel that activities flow and connect to each other in meaningful ways, or do they sometimes seem disconnected? Today’s episode is a Leveling Up episode, where I coach Cyndi, a German teacher in Idaho. Planning more cohesive lessons that flow more naturally and are connected to each other is the area where she wants to level up her teaching practice.

Suggestions:

• Use a Consistent Daily Lesson Framework Across All Levels. A consistent framework gives you a structure to plug in content without feeling like you're reinventing the wheel every day. It also provides students with a predictable routine, which enhances engagement and learning.
• Focus on Key Learning Targets and Prioritize. By narrowing your focus, you avoid overloading yourself and the students. Lessons will feel more cohesive because everything revolves around a central goal, which helps bring that “flow” you're looking for. Go deep on compelling topics.
• Chunk Your Time for Efficient Planning. By batching similar tasks, you minimize switching costs and make the process more efficient. This also helps ensure consistency across all your classes and lessens the cognitive load.
• Leverage Spiral Review. Students will see the connections between lessons, and it reduces the pressure on you to cover everything perfectly in one class. By spiraling content, lessons will feel more connected and purposeful, and you’ll also create natural review opportunities for students. Perhaps use that additional block each week during the extended period.

 Action Plan:

This Week:

• Create a flexible lesson template for your 50-minute and 90-minute classes; figure out how the time will be chunked and determine 2-3 activities for this period of time.
• Focus on one learning target per lesson to maintain clarity and coherence.

The Coming Weeks:

• Incorporate spiral review activities into extended lesson blocks to maintain flow and reinforce learning over time.

You  can also be a part of Leveling Up coaching episode if there is an area of your teaching that you like to improve or enhance.  Join me on the podcast for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode.

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#173
This is an exciting episode that I recorded live at the 2024 ACTFL Convention and Language Expo in Philadelphia! This year’s ACTFL theme, “Connect for the Love of Languages!”, highlights the importance of building meaningful connections in every aspect of language teaching. In this episode, you'll hear from inspiring educators and leaders who share strategies for connecting with students, fostering cultural understanding, and growing professional networks. These conversations, that we had at the Klett World Languages booth in the exhibit hall, capture the energy and passion of language educators united by their love of teaching and learning.

Teachers and leaders who join me for this conversation:

• Caroline Schlegel, Spanish teacher at Frederick County Public Schools (MD)
• Aubrey Swisher, Spanish teacher at Washington County Public Schools (MD)
• Sara Stefanich, Professional Development Coordinator at Klett World Languages
• Maria Carreira, Executive Director of AATSP
• Patrick Wallace, Program Specialist for World Languages and Global Workforce Initiatives (GA); Strategic Relationship Specialist at Klett World Languages

Topics in this Episode:

• The Importance of Connection in Language Learning
• Strategies for Connecting with Students
• Building Cultural Connections
•  Professional Connections and Teacher Community
• The Love of Language Teaching

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

•  wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter):  @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram:  @wlclassroom
• Facebook:  /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district?  Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get  tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode  on the podcast.  

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.