I got back from a 3-day absence to unprecedented levels of work completion from my students. Subs noted that my student teacher got the kids started and humming along with work. What a blessing!

I feel skeptical of the PACE model, but I had not considered that the "Extension" could be another input-focused task - checking off list items based on a text, marking true/false, etc. In my brain, I always bounced to producing the targeted form, which is just PPP all over again. #LangChat #SLAyyy

It's especially problematic in my content World Languages because language acquisition doesn't happen in that way at that pace. And it's still too textbook influenced even if no textbook is used. #EdChat #edusky

How to differentiate when you have no time...listen in for how students felt about differentiated instruction in their language classes, and tips for how to make differentiation your default across the modes! rss.com/podcasts/sla...

In our latest episode, we discuss how students felt about differentiated instruction, as well as tips for differentiating that don't suck up all your precious teacher time! #SLAyyy #LangChat

What are you doing planning everything from scratch?! Use a planning menu to make your life easier! mrfishersays.com/why-i-use-a-...

Why I Use a Planning Menu to Increase Efficiency and Decrease Stress Planning is often one of the most fun aspects of teaching. I tend to get lost in authentic sources or good stories, fantasizing about how to engage students with such interesting ideas, and getting more input for myself. I…

Excellent post on Bryce Hedstrom’s blog about what makes a strong language program/class: www.brycehedstrom.com/2025/good-qu...

Someone on Threads was going on about how schools don’t teach useful skills like how to email, so I figured I could share this graphic again.

Trying to internalize the wisdom of Jake the Dog.

Is something astrological happening today? The children are acting...in an interesting manner 🙃

Always a must listen anyways, this podcast episode gives excellent food for thought. We language teachers can get obsessed with vocabulary - but how can we make it really stick for our students? It might not be how we’ve thought…!

I have updated my slides about Leo Neugebauer to include an English-video sub plan, and a short story in simple vocabulary about how he just won gold in the decathlon at the World Championships! German teachers - check it out! docs.google.com/presentation...

Klett has uploaded the video recording of the presentation I gave on "Maintaining Momentum in World Language Classes" - check it out! youtu.be/sRzWPiHxFZo?...

What might an anti-racist pronunciation pedagogy look like? Take a listen to our latest episode for some thoughts!

It is important to not mistake the demands of the job for your real work in the classroom. Show up for the students in ways that count the most and that the system can’t measure. That’s where your agency lives. Where your work matters most. #EdChat #EduSky

Omg! Join us for the book study and get the book at a discount!

The reminder on page 59 to choose more natural-sounding language is evergreen. We have to cycle between thinking like the teachers aware of what students have learned and are learning, and how we might express something in our own natural use of a language. #langchat

My final question is a bigger overarching question that I've been thinking about while reading this book: is this all really a facet of "teaching for proficiency," or is it just traditional teaching in a disguise of authentic resources? #langchat

Teachers are invited to choose resources providing input appropriate to students' proficiency levels. The resource on p.55 has 12 words on it. I think how we USE the resource can provide more input, but that doesn't seem like a big investment in pushing proficiency to the next level. #langchat

I had another question about the assertions about teacher-created resources regarding authenticity and bias. The authors seem to find leveled readers "inauthentic" (p. 54), where my experience has been that they are engaging stories (reading for pleasure being an authentic purpose)... #langchat

I came away with some questions - in the model lesson plan in this chapter, there is a presentation of how the teacher feels when spending time with good friends. It presented language in context using a targeted form - awesome! - but I was uncertain how the presentation would actually go. #langchat

I felt good about how I always teach grammar in context. It's never isolated - always in an utterance or text we are discussing together, and discussions of grammar are centered on how the grammar conveys meaning in that context. #langchat

I'm with @stacywitkowski.bsky.social - a lot of this felt familiar to me in terms of the variety of activities I use for pre- and during-reading. I always look to @marishawkins.bsky.social for ideas, and lean on this post a lot for inspiration: marishawkins.wordpress.com/.../21-ideas... #langchat

I need yall to see this student drawing of me because it cracks me UP

"If you had to guess what percentage of American adults are transgender..." Survey Guess: 21% Actual Share of the US Population: Less than 1% - YouGov -

I think that as teachers for language proficiency, we should have more than passing familiarity with the Proficiency Guidelines - they form the foundation for everything we do. Here's a blog post I wrote about my transformative experience with Avant ADVANCE! www.avantassessment.com/blog/profici...

This chapter made me think about the balance of authentic resources and teacher-created resources in my classes. There were great ideas about what to do with them in this chapter, and I feel I probably underutilize authres for lack of activities that are high-leverage and worth the time. #langchat

Consistent work gets results - the things you learn at 35 years old! 🏃

I’ve shared my spreadsheet of strategies that I use to streamline my planning for world language classes before, but now I’ve made it a clickable database of articles on how to do the strategies! Check it out: #langchat docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Goosifer now has a wonderful tote bag, a book to go, and a lil hat out of the same yarn! I love my students 😭

Send help, my new level 2 classes got split up freakishly exactly such that all my introverts are in one class, and all my extroverts are in another. Also all the introverts have class 7th period. It's just me flailing around wildly and them like 👀

Learned during Card Talk today that two students in one class like to make clothing. Manifesting a completely student-created outfit by repeatedly saying in class “SECOND PERIOD OUTFIT DROP SOON”

Hi German educators! I hope you're already in the Special Interest Group for German. Join by going to the ACTFL Central, and then navigating to "Communities" / Special Interest Groups" and hit JOIN. If you're interested in joining our leadership, let me know! community.actfl.org/home/memberh...

I impulse purchased an “ELEGANT DESK GOOSE” from the TikTok Shop and it arrived in my classroom today. And then one of my chicken nuggets crocheted a tie for him within the hour. HE IS EVEN MORE ELEGANT NOW

In this week’s episode, Bill and I discuss the effects of using story books in language teaching. JUSTICE FOR KINDERGARTEN DAY rss.com/podcasts/sla...

Moments before I yapped continuously for an hour to a WONDERFUL group of World Languages educators this afternoon. Danke to NNELL and @klettwl.bsky.social for this opportunity - I had so much fun!

Look it’s me! Excited to present for NNELL and Klett WL on Tuesday ✨

What a blessing having a student teacher is! Today is day 1 and I already have shortened the feedback loop for improving my own practice, simply by trying to verbalize to her what was going on in the classroom and why. I was like oh yeah, this procedure doesn't make sense...let's do it another way!

A mom of a student sent me a video from the summer of her son ordering in German at a cafe in Switzerland and he was so polite and did a great job 😭😭😭 and he has only finished German 1!

I keep seeing this float around social media. America would rather force her children to be heroes in the face of unspeakable violence than take the steps needed to protect their lives.

LLM companies are beta testing experimental products our children, and educators are facilitating it.

Part of the reason so many educators are eager to jump on the AI bandwagon is because we’re asked to do way too much with not nearly enough planning time. In a profession where working outside contract hours is the norm, a magic tool that promises to fix that is welcomed.

✔️ Attention (culture of collaboration helps with this) ✔️ Active Engagement (culture of collaboration helps with this) ✔️ Error Feedback (culture of collaboration helps with this) ✔️ Consolidation (culture of collaboration helps with this) Reminder: collaborative classrooms = better classrooms

Very interesting! Great thoughts for how we help students acquire vocabulary more deeply.

AI in education is a hot topic. How do students feel about using it for language learning? Check out our latest episode of the pod to learn more: rss.com/podcasts/sla...

Conversations about Language Teaching is back after a summer break -- today's episode: conversationsaboutlanguage.buzzsprout.com/2325378/epis...

Did a training on the Danielson framework today, and one of the "Common Themes" is "Student Assumption of Responsibility." How can we foster Student Assumption of Responsibility for their learning (/acquisition) in our World Language classes? Would love to hear your thoughts and reflections!

Hi y'all, our school year starts in a week, and I am looking to refresh some classroom items, including clipboards for my deskless classroom, pencils for drawing weird pictures of me on assignments, and books for my FCR library. Any help is appreciated! #clearthelist www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

In their first week of school.