The Journey to a 90%+ Target Language Classroom

What is the difference between performance and proficiency? There is so much information floating around about proficiency levels and performance descriptors that it can be hard to sort out.

Second language acquisition researchers and world language educators alike agree that providing input in the target language is essential for language learners to be able to produce output in the target language. ACTFL agrees by recommending that 90%+ of classroom instruction takes place in the target language! But what does input look like?

If you are striving to create a proficiency-based classroom this year but are not sure where to start, we are here to help! These quick, low-prep tips will help you embark on your journey to proficiency-based teaching starting on the first day of school.

Teachers are leaders within their own classrooms, but we look to our respective leadership figures for inspiration, motivation, and support. Our leaders have the potential to ensure the school culture is a positive, upbeat one in which everyone is given the opportunity to thrive. I have spoken with many educators over the years, and one of the main qualities they look for in their leaders is approachability.

Between September 15 and October 15, the United States celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, honoring the people of Hispanic origin within the United States.

We teachers often put so much pressure on ourselves to do more. On top of managing our teaching jobs and personal lives, we are frequently given extra duties and responsibilities at school outside of teaching.

This month, CASEL and SEL4US (Social Emotional Learning Alliance for the United States) have jointly kicked off their 2021-22 school year SEL Showcase Challenge. The challenge includes monthly goals to inspire educators to make connections between SEL best practices and the tactics they implement in their classrooms.

This past year was one marked by change, loss, and unimaginable hardship. For teachers and students, the ordinary school year as we knew it quickly became a distant memory. Even the classroom looked like an unknown space, with desks and chairs spread far apart.

The demographics of French learners in the United States continue to evolve as we welcome newcomers from around the globe and our population grows more diverse. According to Statista, in 2019 there were over 1.2 million people in the U.S. who speak French at home, and francophone families must make important decisions regarding balancing language use at home and at school.

When I was 18 years old, my mother fell on the ice and developed a brain hemorrhage. As a result, she lost her speech and had to start over again; luckily, it was much quicker to learn the second time around. The doctors described it as the signals from the brain, which usually take the highways to get to their destination, now needed to take the back roads and figure it all out. This analogy helped me understand the situation I found myself in five years later when I became a Latin teacher.

Want to get your students excited to start class? Start by having them join a Jam of the day! When I first started using Jamboard, it felt much clunkier and lagged more than Slides, so I did not use it very often. However, Jamboard has received some significant updates the past few months which has made it more functional than ever.

I have a two-year-old son, and watching him grow, I have discovered there is nothing more fundamental than the process of a child learning to walk. I see four stages to this process, namely supported standing, cruising, staggering, and finally, walking.

Would you rather conjugate verbs in another language or have a conversation with someone who speaks another language? Unless you are a true grammar geek, you prefer communicating.

Every year, National Foreign Language Week serves to highlight and honor all languages. In our increasingly globalized, interconnected society, it has never been more crucial to promote the value of language learning.

At a Google for Education conference in 2017, another educator referred to Google Slides as the Swiss army knife of the Google Suite. At the time, I really thought it was just a digital answer to PowerPoint. I had not used it extensively except to upload my existing PowerPoint slides onto my Google Drive.

A few years ago, I ordered a stationary bicycle for my home. When the two delivery people brought it in and started putting it together, they began to chat in very technical terms - in French! It turns out, they were from Togo and had relocated to the Upper Midwest a couple of years prior.

Effective communication is an important factor in any field, whether you are a teacher, a nurse, an administrative assistant, a chemist or a computer programmer. Today’s students, regardless of which path they will choose, need to be able to express their ideas clearly, communicate effectively, be persuasive, and accept criticism gracefully, in order to encourage innovation and social change.

We have all probably heard of the Harlem Renaissance, that pivotal African American intellectual movement in the early part of the 20th Century. But did you know its influence spread across the ocean to France, and all francophone countries through a literary and ideological movement called Négritude?