How do we bring the diversity of cultures of the target language into our classrooms? In this episode, we are talking about how to do just that. Kia D. London, a Spanish teacher in Chicago, speaks with me about how she brings the afro-latino diaspora to her students in the classroom. Kia has lots to share from how she came to understand and appreciate the diversity of cultures to how she provides this experience to her students.
Topics in this Episode:
- Kia’s personal connection to the Spanish Language and Afro-Latino Culture
- Kia’s Cuba trip and what she learned from that experience
- why representation of racial and ethnically diverse content is vital in the language classroom
- why “one-off” lessons around representation of racial and ethnically diverse content are less effective and why should consistency should be the goal
- examples of centering representation and diverse racial and ethnic content from Kia’s classroom and curriculum
- how to do this consistently while also engaging students authentically
- what Kia has personally seen as a result of centering diversity and representation in her classroom and curriculum
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Posted in Cultural Exploration, Podcast Episodes
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, Afro-Latino, french, french teacher, Kia D. London, Kia London, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, Representation, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher
How can we bring authentic cultural experiences to our students? In this episode, I’m joined by teacher and podcast host Jenniffer Whyte, who speaks with me about her experience as a self-described “Afro-Latina teacher in the Rural South.” She also has a podcast aptly titled Afro-Latina teacher in the Rural South. Jenniffer Whyte tells us about her teaching journey through Florida, Georgia and Alabama and how she got more comfortable bringing her authentic self into the classroom, and then decided to start a podcast to connect with other teachers.
Topics in this Episode:
- Jenniffer’s journey from the Dominican Republic to the Rural South
- what Jenniffer has learned about yourself while navigating life in the Dominican Republic, NYC, Miami, Atlanta and now Anniston, Alabama
- how Jenniffer brings her Afro-Latina identity and lived experience into her classroom and how this benefits her students and representation overall
- what led Jenniffer to start a podcast specifically focused on the Afro-Latina experience, and particularly that experience in the rural south
- what Jenniffer hopes that listeners get out of her podcast episodes
Connect with Jenniffer Whyte:
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Posted in Cultural Exploration, Podcast Episodes
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, Afro-latina teacher in the rural south, Afro-Latino, french, french teacher, Jenniffer Whyte, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher
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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Posted in Podcast Episodes, Reading
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, ashley Mickelsen, french, french teacher, interpretive mode, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, Reading, Señorita Spanish, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher
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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Posted in Activities and Games, Classroom Procedures, Podcast Episodes
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, Activities, chatgpt, french, french teacher, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, logic puzzles, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher, world language classroom podcast
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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Posted in Classroom Procedures, Listening, Podcast Episodes
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, allison wienhold, clips, french, french teacher, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, mis clases locas, movies, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher, video
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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Posted in Classroom Procedures, Podcast Episodes, Teaching Methodology and Research
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, danja mahoney, french, french teacher, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, learning disibilities, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher
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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Posted in Activities and Games, Podcast Episodes
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, Activities, french, french teacher, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, nysaflt, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher, valerie greer, wendy mercado
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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Posted in Activities and Games, Classroom Procedures, Podcast Episodes, Writing
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, Do Nows, Exit Tickets, french, french teacher, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, 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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Posted in Classroom Procedures, Podcast Episodes
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, Devon Gunning, french, french teacher, La Libre Language Learning, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher
Are you using Do Nows and/or Exit Tickets in your classroom? They sometimes have different names, but essentially Do Nows are quick assessments that students complete at the beginning of class to get their brains warmed up and ready to learn. Exit Tickets are assessments at the end of class that provide teachers with valuable information about what their students have learned and where they may need more practice. Do Nows and Exit Tickets are effective tools for language teachers that help to track student progress, inform lesson planning moving forward, and provide opportunities for immediate feedback to students.
Let’s look at Do Nows first.
Why are Do Nows useful and what are some ways of using them?
- Quick Assessment of Previous Class: Do Nows provide teachers with an immediate snapshot of their students’ understanding of a topic. This quick assessment helps teachers tailor instruction to meet the needs of their students right away in that class. Maybe there needs to be a little more review before moving on to a new topic or perhaps that planned additional review won’t be necessary.
- Immediate Engagement that Builds Confidence: Do Nows are short, focused activities that engage students and encourage them to be active learners. By starting class with a Do Now, teachers can create a positive and productive learning environment. Students feel successful because the material is not new, but rather reviewing or building on previous content.
- Practice: Do Nows provide students with the opportunity to practice their language skills in a low-stakes situation. This regular practice helps students build confidence and develop proficiency in the language. Also an opportunity to recycle or review previous topics and content to keep it fresh.
- Prep for Class Activity: Do Nows can be used as prewriting or to access prior knowledge on a topic. Maybe a new topic will be covered in class, but the Do Now focuses on prior knowledge and builds schemata. They can also be used to spark discussion or as a pre-reading activity.
- Differentiation: By creating multiple versions of a Do Now, teachers can differentiate the activity to meet the needs of their diverse students. This makes it possible to provide students with a meaningful and challenging learning experience, regardless of their level of proficiency in the language.
Where is the prompt and where/how do students respond?
- The prompt can be on the board and students record their response on a sheet of paper. Students can also do this in a notebook that they keep, either with them or in the classroom.
- Instead of writing a prompt on the board, the teachers can hand out individual prompts, such task cards, slips of paper with vocabulary words, pictures, or a a quote. This will make the Do Now more individualized. There can also be a prompt on the board instructing students what to do with the information on their card or slip of paper.
- Do Nows don’t always have to be written responses. Students can read a short text or even engage in a short speaking activity using similar prompts.
resources for Do NOws:
Now Let’s look at Exit Tickets.
Why are Exit Tickets useful and what are some ways of using them?
- Formative Assessment: Exit Tickets provide teachers with an effective and efficient way to assess their students’ understanding of a topic that was covered in class that day. This regular assessment helps teachers identify areas where students need additional support and can adjust instruction accordingly. Not unlike a Do Now, but an Exit Ticket is focused on new content from class. A Do Now is typically more focused on previous material.
- Reflection: Exit Tickets encourage students to reflect on their learning and think critically about what they’ve learned in class. This reflective practice helps students make connections between new concepts and prior knowledge, deepening their understanding of the language.
- Practice: By completing Exit Tickets, students have the opportunity to practice their language skills and demonstrate their understanding. This helps students build confidence and develop proficiency. Build in previous content and material into the prompt so that students continue to build on their skills and proficiency levels with new and prior topics.
- Feedback: Exit Tickets provide teachers with valuable feedback on the effectiveness of their instruction. Teachers can use this feedback to make changes to teaching strategies and improve their students’ learning outcomes the next day.
- Planning: Exit Tickets can also help teachers plan for future lessons. By analyzing students’ responses, teachers can identify areas where students need individualized additional support and plan lessons that address these needs. This proactive approach to planning can help ensure that all students make meaningful progress.
Where is the prompt and where/how do students respond?
- The prompt can be on the board and students record their response on a sheet of paper or a notebook, just as they might so with Do Nows. However, these papers or notebooks should remain in the classroom so the teacher can look at them after the class or as students are leaving.
- Hand out individual prompts, task cards, vocabulary words, pictures, or a quote with a prompt on the card or on the board. Just like a Do Now, but an Exit Ticket is focused on new content from class. A Do Now is more focused on previous material.
- Students can hand these Exit Tickets to the teacher as they leave.
- Exit Tickets don’t always have to be written responses. Students can speak to the teacher at the door as they leave, providing a spoken response. If there are large numbers of students, mix it up with some doing verbal and others doing written responses.
resources for Exit Tickets:
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Posted in Activities and Games, Classroom Procedures, Grammar and Structures, Speaking, Writing
Tagged ACTFL, ACTFL Core Practices, do now, exit ticket, french, french teacher, language, language acquisition, language learning, language teacher, Second Language Acquisition, spanish, spanish teacher, teacher
