Category Archives: Podcast Episodes

86: Lots of Activities for Any Reading with Ashley Mikkelsen

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Do you use reading as a source of comprehensible input in your language classroom? In this episode, we dive into the topic of reading with Ashley Mikkelsen, a Spanish teacher in North Dakota, who shares suggestions and ideas for engaging reading activities that you can do right away in your classroom. Ashley has a true passion for making reading fun and interactive for students. So, grab your notebook and pen, and get ready to add lots of pre, during, and post reading activities to your next lesson.

Topics in this Episode:

  • Ashley’s journey with literacy
  • the benefits of reading in the language acquisition process
  • simply reading or truly engaging with a text
  • activities for any reading:
    • pre-reading
    • during reading
    • after reading and leveraging the content

Connect with Ashley Mikkelsen:

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85: Go-To Activities for Your Teacher Toolbox (Vol 4)

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This is the fourth teacher toolbox episode.  I hear from listeners all the time that they like the actionable tips and suggestions for activities that they can use with students next week, or even tomorrow. That usually means effective and beneficial, but somewhat minimal prep.  That’s what I bring you on these Teacher Toolbox episodes.  I have another 4 activities to share with you…plus a bonus.

Activities and Blog Posts in this Episode:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
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We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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84: Movies, Video, Shorts and Clips with Allison Wienhold

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Do you use movie or film clips in your classroom?  Allison Wienhold, a Spanish teacher in Iowa, joined me back on episode 30 to talk about using music in the classroom. She left us with so many useful and actionable tips for music that I had to have her back on to share ideas and suggestions for using movies, film clips and other types of visual media.

Topics in this Episode:

  • the essential benefits of using video clips or movies in the language classroom from  linguistic and cultural perspectives
  • where Allison finds the video that she uses
  • looking for themes or finding a good clip/scene and planing a lesson around it
  • various types of video and what to do with them:
    • short films (clip chat, EdPuzzle)
    • TV Series (authentic input)
    • full-length films (culture, themes, seasons, units)
  • Allison’s thoughts and suggestions around subtitles and modifying audio speed

Episode 30: Music in the Language Classroom with Allison Wienhold

Connect with Allison Wienhold:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
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We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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83: Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities with Danja Mahoney

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How do you, your department or school support and integrate students with learning disabilities into your language program? In this episode, we are talking about teaching all students, with a particular focus on students with learning disabilities.  I’m joined by Danja Mahoney, a Latin and Spanish teacher in Massachusetts, who has done extensive research on this topic.  She is here to speak about her doctoral research with actionable tips and advice for all of us.

Topics in this episode:

  • Can every student succeed in a language class?
  • Are there students whose disability prevents them from learning a language?
  • The research on the success of students with disabilities learning a language.
  • What teachers can do to build the type of engagement necessary for students with learning disabilities to learn language.
  • Examples of accommodations and modifications that teachers can implement to support all students in their language classes.

Connect withe Danja Mahoney:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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Posted in Classroom Procedures, Podcast Episodes, Teaching Methodology and Research

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82: Engaging Language Activities With Wendy Mercado & Valérie Greer

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Could you use a few new ideas to reinvigorate the energy and productivity in your classroom? In this episode, you will get lots of new ideas and suggestions for authentically engaging your students in their language learning.  I’m joined by 2 teachers in New York. Spanish teacher Wendy Mercado and French teacher Valérie Greer.

Topics in this Episode:

  • the essential benefits of authentic engagement and excitement in the language classroom
  • how“games” or “activities”  address skill development and standards
  • lots of ideas for engaging activities and games
    •  High Tech
    •  Some Tech
    • Low Tech
    • No Tech

Connect with Wendy and Valérie:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
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We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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81: Do Nows and Exit Tickets in the Language Classroom

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Do Nows and Exit Tickets in the World Language Classroom (French, Spanish) Podcast Episode
What’s the first thing students do when they enter your classroom and the last thing they do before they leave? In this episode we look at Do Nows and Exit Tickets and how they can be very effective ways of setting up the class for the day and providing quick formative assessments and recaps of the class objectives.  Yes, you’ll hear some reasons that support both, but you’ll also get some quick, and in many cases no-prep, ideas to add to your teacher toolbox. 

Topics in this Episode:

  • what Do Nows and Exit Tickets are and why they are useful and effective in the language classroom
  • examples of Do Nows and Exit Tickets at various proficiency levels
  • logistics: where to write the prompts; where and how students record response; what we do with the responses

Blog post with all details and suggestions for using Do Nows and Exit Tickers in the language classroom. 

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
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We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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Posted in Activities and Games, Classroom Procedures, Podcast Episodes, Writing

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80: The Teacher’s Roadmap to Proficiency with Devon Gunning

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Where would you say that you are on the path toward teaching for proficiency?  World Language Classroom Podcast. French teacher, Spanish Teacher.
Where would you say that you are on the path toward teaching for proficiency?  In this episode, we look at the Roadmap to Proficiency framework. This is the framework that Devon Gunning (from La Libre Language Learning) uses as she mentors teachers working toward the goal of teaching with a proficiency objective. Devon joins me today to help us all see where we are on the roadmap with guidance on how we can move further along.

Topics in this Episode:

  • Devon’s  proficiency journey, where she started and what she has learned along the way
  • a teacher’s journey (roadmap) to proficiency broken down into 5 phases/steps of where a teacher might identify on their journey
  • the identities with a description of each phases/step so that listeners can see where they might be
  • guidance for teachers to move themselves along the roadmap
  • suggestions for leveling up: Wanderer to Explorer, Explorer to Navigator, Navigator to Globetrotter,  Globetrotter to Local

Connect with Devon Gunning:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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79: How to Do a Write and Discuss with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

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Have you tried a Write and Discuss” in your classroom?  Are you hearing about this procedure for the first time?  No worries if it is, because in this episode, Ben Fisher-Rodrigues, a German teacher in Washington, joins me to talk about the benefits and logistics involved in implementing Write and Discuss as part of Comprehension-Based Communicative Language Teaching.

Topics in this Episode:

  • Comprehension-Based Communicative Language Teaching (CCLT) and what this looks like in Ben’s classroom
  • the benefits of using Write and Discuss
  • Logistics of doing a Write and Discuss
    – when you us it
    – how you do it
    – the procedure
    – what you can do after
  • Ben’s pro tips

Connect with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
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We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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78: Seeing, Hearing & Tasting Culture with Allison Perryman

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What is culture and how do you engage your students in cultural topics?  In this episode, we are looking at culture, but with a lens of seeing, hearing and tasting so that culture comes alive for students in the classroom.  Allison Perryman, a Spanish teacher in Virginia, joins me to talk us through how she uses the senses to engage students in the diversity of target language cultures. We also talk about why it is beneficial to honor our students’ individual lived experiences as they approach their language and culture learning.

Topics in this Episode:

  • what culture is and how culture can be an entry point for student engagement
  • why it is necessary, and ultimately incredibly beneficial, to talk about diversity in the language classroom and how can we use this as an opportunity to affirm students
  • formats for presenting and engaging students in diverse cultural experiences
  • Allison’s approach of seeing, tasting and hearing diverse cultures with students

Connect with Allison Perryman:

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Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
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We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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Posted in Classroom Procedures, Cultural Exploration, Podcast Episodes

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77: Reflective Practice for Language Teachers

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How often do we stop to reflect on our teaching?  Hopefully we take the time and opportunity to do it regularly so that we are teaching our students as effectively as possible.  In this episode I’m going to talk about reflective practice and how we can use this as language teachers.  I’ll also include a discussion of success criteria and how this can work into our reflective practice.  I know, this all sounds way up there in the theory world.  I promise you it’s not and that it’s fairly simple.

Topics in this Episode:

  • Reflection can help you to be more creative and try new things. It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut and it can be helpful to think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. This can help to spark new ideas and ways of thinking.
  • Reflection in Learning and Professional Development: Theory and Practice, Moon, J. (1999)
  • Reflective Practice for Language Teachers:
    1. Teach
    2. Assess the effect your teaching has on learning
    3. Consider what can improve the quality of teaching and learning
    4. Try the new ideas
    5. Reflect on effectiveness 
    6. Repeat
  • The Success Criteria Playbook John T. Almarode, Douglas Fisher, Kateri Thunder, Nancy Frey (2021)
  • Tim Eagan on Episode 60: Leading a Proficiency Focused Language Department
  • Success Criteria:
    • What will be learned?
    • Why is it going to be learned?
    • How will I know that it has been learned?
    • What will I do with what I learned?

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

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