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.
Back to School Night Tips for World Language Teachers
Back to School Night (sometimes referred to as Meet the Teacher Night) is rapidly approaching! What should we as World Language Educators be communicating to our students’ parents? In this blog post, I share 7 tips for making your BTSN presentation as engaging and stress-free as possible!
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?
First Day of School Lesson Plan Activities for World Language Teachers
Need some novel ideas to freshen up your first day of school lesson plans in your French, Spanish, or Italian classes? In this post, I’m going to walk you through what the first day of my French class looks like, but these activities work just fine in Spanish and Italian classes as well!
Essential Elements of an Effective World Language Course Syllabus
When thinking about drafting your French, Spanish, or Italian Course Syllabus, what are some key items you’ll want to include so that students and parents understand what the course is about and what your expectations are for student learning in your class? Read more to find out what are some ESSENTIAL components that you’ll want to include in your syllabus.
Back to School Self-Care for World Language Teachers
Teaching is not a sprint; it is a marathon! In this blog entry, I talk about some self-care practices that you can implement in your teaching life to help reduce stress and cope with the back-to-school exhaustion that is so common for us to experience as World Language Teachers during the first month of school.
Time-Saving Back to School Tips for World Language Teachers
It is no secret that the Back to School season is one of the busiest for teachers. Between setting up our classrooms, making photocopies, lesson planning, attending what sometimes feels like an interminable chain of back-to-back meetings…it’s a lot! It is so easy for us to lose so much steam during the first few days and weeks of school despite having had a restful summer break. In this post, I’m going to share some tips and ideas to save you some time and energy so that you can start the school year off being fully present with your students and not feeling tired or exhausted from all of the tasks you’ve got piled up on your plate!