-
Continue reading →: Building Intercultural Competence in the Novice ClassroomFollowing my recent post on Building Empathy and my 2024 ACTFL session, I had the pleasure of joining Claudia Elliott on her podcast Growing With Proficiency to discuss an essential topic: how to build intercultural competence in the Novice language classroom. To me, building empathy, reducing bias, and fostering intercultural…
-
Continue reading →: Two Strategies to Transform Student Feedback into Growth OpportunitiesReceiving feedback from students can be both validating and frustrating for educators. As a teacher and department chair, I’ve seen my share of student feedback. From “Your class is boring” to “Your class is so fun and engaging! ” from “Can we stop doing songs?” to “Can we do more songs?”…
-
Continue reading →: Making the Uncomfortable Accessible: Discussing Hard Topics in a New LanguageShawna Sache is a high school French teacher and a Language Education Advocate with the BC Association of Teachers of Modern Languages in British Columbia, Canada. She also shares insights about her Comprehensible Input (CI) teaching journey on Instagram @pourquetusaches. I invited Shawna to share her approach to making challenging…
-
Continue reading →: Breaking Stereotypes with a Simple Bridge ActivityOh, I love it when a simple recap activity does more than just review—it bridges into a reading and breaks stereotypes at the same time! Intrigued? Read on. Background In the previous lesson, my Novice learners investigated what they know about the Francophone world by answering a few key questions…
-
Continue reading →: Crowdsourcing at ACTFL: How do we develop empathy?On a chilly Sunday morning at 8 a.m., in a city bustling with marathon runners, I presented on Cultivating Cultural Connections: A Novice Approach. Honestly, I expected only a handful of attendees. I was thrilled to see a sizable crowd show up—and also immediately regretted having prepared a post-it share…
-
Continue reading →: How to free yourself from vocabulary-centric unitsTeaching vocabulary is critical in a World Language classroom, but there are several limitations to using vocabulary-centric thematic units such as “Hobbies,” “Food,” or “Places”: What if, instead, we focused on who is in the room? What if we empowered our Novice students to explore a wider variety of topics…
-
Continue reading →: Representation matters: Choosing LGBTQ+ Resources for your Language ClassKodi Rain (they/elle) teaches gender-inclusive Spanish to upper elementary and middle school students at a Montessori school. They are also the co-author of the first Spanish language reader written in gender-inclusive language, Los viernes de peliculas. I invited Kodi to provide their thoughts on selecting LGBTQ+ resources for the WL…
-
Continue reading →: Beginner French lab in Agen (Day 5)This summer, I had the privilege of teaching a beginner French lab at The Agen Workshop. In response to requests from several participants, I’m excited to share my plans and materials in this post. I hope these resources will be valuable as you prepare for the upcoming school year. Note:…
-
Continue reading →: Beginner French lab in Agen (Day 4)This summer, I had the privilege of teaching a beginner French lab at The Agen Workshop. In response to requests from several participants, I’m excited to share my plans and materials in this post. I hope these resources will be valuable as you prepare for the upcoming school year. Note:…
-
Continue reading →: Beginner French lab in Agen (Day 3)This summer, I had the privilege of teaching a beginner French lab at The Agen Workshop. In response to requests from several participants, I’m excited to share my plans and materials in this post. I hope these resources will be valuable as you prepare for the upcoming school year. Note:…
Welcome!
This platform is dedicated to empowering World Language educators in their journey towards Teaching for Proficiency and Intercultural Competence.