7 Simple Tips for Staying Comprehensible in the World Language Classroom
We all know that we need to use comprehensible input in our French, Spanish, Italian, and other World Language classes… but in my experience, how to implement effective comprehensible input strategies is rarely discussed. In this blog post, I am sharing SEVEN tips for how you can stay comprehensible so that you ensure your students are understanding the messages you are delivering to them.
Unlocking Language Proficiency: The Role of Comprehensible Input in the World Language Classroom
Comprehensible Input is a term that all World Language Teachers should be familiar with. In my own teaching practice, I would consider comprehensible input to be a part of my “core beliefs” that guide my philosophy of World Language teaching and that inform the decisions I make regarding planning, instruction, and assessment. In this blog post, I’m going to talk about what comprehensible input is and how to begin using it effectively in your World Language classroom so that you can begin unlocking your students’ innate ability to acquire language and gain proficiency.
Revolutionize Your Classroom: Top 7 Tech Tools for World Language Teachers
Unlock the full potential of technology in your World Language classroom! Discover innovative strategies and essential tech tools that will help empower you to elevate your teaching practices and increase student engagement. In this blog post, I discuss SEVEN tech tools that I personally use in my World Language classroom and provide some ideas for how you can incorporate them in your French, Spanish, or Italian class, too! For each tech platform, I give a BEGINNER TIP as well as a PRO TIP, so there’s a little something for everyone in this post, regardless of where you may fall on the World Language Teacher Tech spectrum!
How to Ace your Teacher Observation
Many teachers dread being observed, and for good reason. We tend to be very territorial of our teaching practices, and having an administrator enter our classrooms and evaluate our performance based on a 20-40 minute lesson can be overwhelming even for the most veteran teachers. In this blog post, I’m sharing a handful of practical, actionable tips that will help you to perform better, feel more confident, reduce anxiety during your next teacher observation.
How to Keep your Language Skills Sharp as a World Language Teacher
As language teachers, language atrophy is a real concern. The old adage of, “If you don’t use it, you lose it!” is particularly true with languages, especially for World Language teachers who teach beginner and intermediate courses. And given that we are expected to be fluent experts in the language we teach, there’s a certain level of unspoken pressure placed upon us to maintain (and even advance) our current language capacities. In this blog post, I’m going to share some ways you can keep your French, Spanish, Italian, or German skills sharp to stave off language atrophy and maintain fluency.
Avoid These Five Common Mistakes Made by Novice World Language Teachers
Last year I had the privilege of mentoring the new French teacher in my school, and serving as mentor was an illuminating and rewarding experience that allowed me to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of novice World Language Teachers. In this blog post, I discuss five common mistakes that I see new teachers making, and offer practical solutions to help them refine their teaching practices and improve work-life balance.
Retrieval Practice Strategies in the World Language Classroom
To learn a language, students need to acquire massive amounts of vocabulary and be exposed to many grammatical structures before they are able to decode and communicate in the language effectively. In this blog entry, I’m going to talk about retrieval practice, which is one of the most effective ways to help students bring previously-taught information to the front of their minds, review high-frequency vocabulary and core language structures, and provide students with multiple opportunities to access curricular content. I define what retrieval practice is and offer three practical strategies that you can implement in your World Language classroom to help students retain language in a more durable, long-lasting way.
How much Target Language should I use?
Maybe you’ve heard teachers, supervisors, and other World Language experts say that you should be speaking in the target language at least 75%, 80%, or 90% of the time. Is this true, or is it a myth? How much target language should you be using in your French, Spanish, Italian, or German class?