Tag Archives: 90%+ Target Language

62: Class Pacing and Brain Breaks with Fadi Aboughoush

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In this episode, we talk about pacing in our language classrooms.  How do we determine the amount of time that students should spend on particular activities? Part of this involves when and how to use Brain Breaks.  Fadi Aboughoush, an Arabic teacher in Chicago, has a wealth of information and ideas on this topic.

Topics include:

  • class structure and pacing and why it is important to plan in advance, rather than just seeing where things go.
  • how long we should spend on activities in the various modes and signs of it being time to move on or take a break.
  • the purpose of brain breaks.
  • do we need to change activities after a Brain Break, or can we return to the previous activity?
  • what makes a brain break effective.
  • useful brain breaks that we can try right away.
  • Wheel Decide

Connect with Fadi Aboughoush:

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Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

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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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61: Goals and Assessment in the Language Classroom

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In this episode we look at goals, and assessment of those goals, in teaching and learning language.  This is the third of 5 episodes dedicated to the book Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom by Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins. Actionable insights and takeaways that you can use right away as you set goals for your students and create the assessments that support students moving toward them.  

Topics in the episode:

  • ACTFL Proficiency Levels
  • Setting Proficiency-Based Goals
  • Performance and Proficiency
  • Assessment; Integrated Performance Assessments and Rubrics
  • Intercultural Communication Goals
  • Making the discussion interactive on Twitter with Joshua (@wlcalssoom), Florencia Henshaw (@Prof_F_Henshaw) and Maris Hawkins (@Marishawkins).

Blog posts referenced in this episode:

Get your own copy of Common Ground.  Hackett Publishing is generously offering a 25% discount when you use the code WLC2022.  [Available through December 31, 2022].

**The 25% off discount code can be used for any book through the end of December, 2022.  Hackett publishes several intermediate language-learning textbooks in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, and Classical Greek. New releases include Cinema for French Conversation, Cinema for Spanish Conversation, and Les Français.

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Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

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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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56: Backwards Design and Planning

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In this episode we look at planning in the language classroom.  Whether it is for an entire year, a particular unit or even an individual lesson, backwards design and planning is quite effective.  It also helps to ensure that we are focusing on all of the modes and that our ultimate goals are for students to do something with the target language vocabulary, structures and themes that they are learning.  It’s all about planning ahead to plan backwards.

Backwards design planning and execution happens in three phases or stages.

  1. Identify Desired Results
  2. Determine Acceptable Evidence
  3. Plan the Learning Experience and Instruction

References in this episode:

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54: Revisit Activities for Your Teacher Toolbox

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This is the last episode in Summer Headspace series. I revisit episodes 25 and 36. These are the 2 Teacher Toolbox episodes where I give you low (and mostly no) prep activities for your language classroom.

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53: Revisit Textbooks and Online Translators

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In this episode of the Summer Headspace series I revisit episode 14 with Timothy Chávez, who talks about using textbooks in the language classroom and episode 23 with Bertha Delgadillo who speaks about online translators.

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40: Microinstruction in the Language Classroom with Lindsay Mitchell

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In this episode we talk about the concept of Microinstruction. This approach is being applied in general education contexts, but we we speak about how it can be used specifically in the language classroom.  I’m joined by Lindsay Mitchell, a Spanish teacher in New Hampshire, who talks about her own personal experience and success with Microinstruction.

Lindsay speaks about:

  • the skill set from her previous profession that she brought to her teaching
  • obstacles and challenges that she saw in her classroom that led her to look for other approaches
  • the concept of microinstruction and its benefits
  • what a lesson looks like using the microinstruction approach
  • the levels and content best suited to microinstruction

Connect with Lindsay Mitchell:

French and Spanish Teaching Position at the Brookwood School in Manchester, MA.

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38: Strategies to Engage Early Language Learners with Carolina Gómez

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Even if you are a middle or high school teacher you will surely learn a lot from Carolina Gómez, my guest on this episode.  Carolina is Spanish teacher in Massachusetts and she walks us through planning and procedures that authentically engage learners with compelling, meaningful and comprehensible language.
Carolina speaks about:

  • the benefits of early language learning and any concerns or fears that parents may have.
  • what draws her to teaching early learners.
  • how we can engage early learners and make language comprehensible for them.
  • what lesson planning looks like with early learners.
  • what teachers of all ages can take away from the strategies that she shares with us.

Connect with Carolina Gómez:

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22: 90% + Target Language Use

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In this episode we are talking about 90%+ target language use in the classroom.  We start with where this comes from and why we want to do it, then I ask 4 questions about what is happening in your classroom.  These questions will help to focus on some of the challenge areas and I provide some ways to address them.

  • Q1: Are prompts and tasks at the appropriate proficiency level?
  • Q2. Do students have the language tools they need to communicate?
  • Q3. Are students held accountable for using the target language?
  • Q4. Are all the students actively engaged and interested?

Links referenced in this episode:

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