The Blogger Behind the Blog

Hello there! My name is Michael, and I am the teacher and blogger behind World Language Resources. I am a World Language teacher, Teacher Author on TeachersPayTeachers, and neophyte blogger! With over ten years of experience in the World Language classroom coupled with my current position as middle school French teacher, I hope to use this platform to share teaching tips and strategies that have worked—and are working!—for me and my students in my own classroom. I’ll also share comprehensive and engaging resources that will save you hours of prep time, so that you can be present for your students in the classroom and present for yourself and your family when you are at home.

I’m an inherently curious person, and so when I subscribe to a new blog, I always hunt for a self-introductory post so that I can get to know the blogger a bit better. As such, I figured I would share some information about myself for those who, like myself, may be curious about the blogger behind the blog!

How did I get into the field of education?

I always sort of knew that I wanted to be a teacher, but I definitely took a circuitous route to get here. I graduated with a B.A. in English literature and French Civilization. I spent a year as a language tutor at a local tutoring center. Then, I moved abroad to France and taught English in the Bordeaux region for a year. I came back home a year later and started my Masters program, ultimately finishing with a Masters in Teaching as well as my teaching certification. I’ve been in the World Language classroom teaching ever since!

What’s my teaching style like?

You’ll definitely get a closer look into my teaching style as I continue posting on this blog, but for now I can share a couple features of my teaching practice: I use tons of comprehensible input in my classroom; my students work collaboratively on communicative tasks nearly every class; yes, I do believe that there are merits to explicit vocabulary and grammar instruction, but they never take center stage in my instructional planning; I infuse culture into practically every lesson. From a general education standpoint, I use a Universal Design for Learning lens when I’m designing my classroom activities and resources—I’d love to talk more about that at some point!

What are some of my favorite World Language activities?

I LOVE paired speaking activities. What better way to gauge students’ progress in a thematic unit than by having them practice target vocabulary and grammar in a low-stress environment? I love to circulate and listen in on students’ conversations, providing some corrective feedback and highlighting the strengths in their language use. 

I also use a ton of games in my teaching; it’s a great opportunity for students to work collaboratively and help each other practice content. And if I’m being perfectly honest, it’s also a great opportunity for us as teachers to catch our breath! (Anyone else feel like they need a breather after doing a CI story, Picture Talk, Movie Talk, or PQAs? More on these teaching techniques in future blog posts!)

Here’s a FREE GAME (for Spanish, French, and Italian classes!) that my students love! Click the link below to download it - all you need to do is photocopy the game board and provide your students with some dice!