A Mid-Year Refresh

When I started teaching, I used very little target language in my classroom. I struggled with classroom management and the only way I knew to handle it was to speak in English, try to keep students busy with work that I explained in English, and teach vocabulary and structures using English. I was in survival mode and, frankly, I didn’t know any better.

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.

That opening scene starts off with a bang! The viewer is immediately thrust into a high-powered action thriller, be it a car racing around hairpin curves, a speedboat jumping a dock, or a hang glider weaving between mountain crevices

Alright, so not actually bringing James Bond, but starting the unit off with an activity that pulls learners into the theme and motivates them to want to learn what we want to teach.

There is an exciting movement underway. Fewer and fewer teachers are exposing students to meaningless drill and practice to help them acquire new content, such as vocabulary.

In Part I of our series, Acquiring vocabulary: 5 strategies to create meaning in learning vocabulary, we set the scene for a movement in which teachers are shifting from meaningless drill and practice exercises to help students acquire new content, such as vocabulary.

Immersing students in the target language embraces all facets of the classroom environment—physical, social, emotional.

In Part I of our series, Acquiring vocabulary: 5 strategies to create meaning in learning vocabulary, we noted that teachers are moving towards authentic resources and communicative tasks to teach vocabulary and language structures in context.

Authentic resources. That buzz word seems to be everywhere these days. It’s thrown around as if it were a beach ball in Miami.

When it comes to designing and curating interpersonal activities, especially at the novice levels, I used to feel like I was setting students up to hit tennis balls against the garage door:

How do I structure practice for intermediate high AP® students in a way that meets their individual needs and interests without boring them and still appease the “Gradebook Beast” (who must be fed a steady diet of numbers at least every two weeks)?

Get your students jazzed about learning languages and motivate them with some rocking strategies by incorporating music into your instruction.

If you are the teacher who likes to keep up with the latest trends and research in pedagogy and who wants to do what is best for language learning and students, you most likely tried a number of setups in your room. I know, I did!