#178
How many preps do you have? If you have 3, 4 or more, or know someone who does, stick around for this episode. Oftentimes we equate 3 or more preps with 3 or 4 times the work. In this episode Sophie Forker, a French and Spanish teacher in New York City, joins me for a conversation about managing our teacher workload. We talk specifically about navigating a large number of preps, but it ultimately comes down to useful and actionable ways to streamline your lesson planning, whether you have 1 prep or 6.

Topics in this Episode:

• Sophie's personal experience of having multiple preps
• effective strategies for planning and organizing multiple language preps to ensure you stay on top of your workload
• how to prioritize planning and ensure that each class receives the attention it needs without becoming overwhelmed
• tools, resources and systems to streamline your preparation process and make it more efficient
• practical strategies for effectively managing multiple world language preps in your own classrooms and maintaining a balanced workload
• Episode #79: How to do a Write and Discuss with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

Connect with Sophie Forker:

• Instagram: @mmeforker

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

• wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter): @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram: @wlclassroom
• Facebook: /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

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Sign up for Talking Points to get tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
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Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
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Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#177
The most popular episode of 2024 was the one where I talked about moving from grammar to language functions. I begin this last episode of 2024 with some podcast stats from 2024 and then you have the replay of episode #141: Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function.

2024 World Language Classroom Podcast Stats :

• top 10% of all podcast downloads
• 52 episodes
• Most popular cities with listeners: Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Sydney
• Most popular countries with listeners: United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom
• Most downloaded episode: #141: Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function.
• Total 2024 downloads: 65,000
• Total minutes of audio published: 1,200

Replay of episode #141: Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function.

What have you heard about language functions? I see this as the idea of using the target language to communicate or convey a message rather than only being able to describe the grammatical structures, patterns and vocabulary. In this episode we are going to take a look at this shift in focus, and sometimes mindset, from a primary focus on grammatical forms to language functions with examples and practical strategies.

Topics In This Episode:

• 3 aspects of communicative language teaching:
  • 1. goal is on communicating and doing something with the language
  • 2. student-centered
  • 3. focused on understanding the message being conveyed by students despite inaccuracy in language form.
• language functions
  • focus is on communicating, student-centered, understanding the message being conveyed by students despite inaccuracy in language form
• practical strategies and examples to support our focus on language functions
  • Novice Levels: Making Language Practical
  • Intermediate Levels: Expanding Communication
• Embrace the Shift
  • not an either/or when it comes to grammar
  • it’s essential that we embrace this paradigm shift from a focus on grammar and accuracy to a broader emphasis on language functions and authentic communication.
  • ensures that language learning is not just a theoretical exercise, but one that builds proficiency and communicative competence.
• Blog post on Shifting the Focus from Grammar to Function

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

• wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter): @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram: @wlclassroom
• Facebook: /wlclassroom
• WLClassroom Facebook Group

__________________________
Interested in having Joshua work directly with your department, school or district? Look at options for collaborating in person or remotely.
______________________________
Sign up for Talking Points to get tips, tools and resources for your language teaching.
______________________________
Join Joshua as a guest on the podcast.
______________________________
Join Joshua for a

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

#176
How do you address your students’ mistakes or errors when speaking in the classroom? Should you address them? Is it useful, and if so, how do you do it? In this episode we are taking on the last of the High Leverage Teaching Practices, Providing Oral Corrective Feedback to Improve Learner Performance. My personal graduate thesis was on feedback in the language classroom and what has been shown to be most effective. I’ll share a little about my personal findings along with concrete strategies for providing oral corrective feedback to improve learner performance.

Topics in this Episode:

• High Leverage Teaching Practices from Enacting the Work of Language Instruction by Eileen Glisan and Richard Donato
  • Episode 160: Create a Classroom Where Students Use the Target Language Confidently
  • Episode 162: Facilitating Target Language Comprehensibility
  • Episode 164: Teach Grammar in a Communicative Context
  • Episode 167: Guiding Learners to Interpret and Discuss Authentic Texts
  • Episode 171: Focusing on Cultural Products, Practices, and Perspectives
• Oral corrective feedback is the immediate response provided by teachers to learners' spoken errors during language practice. It helps students notice and correct their mistakes, leading to improved language accuracy and proficiency.
• Effective oral corrective feedback supports language development by guiding students towards correct language use, helping them internalize language rules, and improving their confidence in speaking."
• From my thesis Feedback in the Second Language Classroom: The Impact of Explicit and Implicit Negative Feedback on the Interlanguage System: “The unaided learner may eventually learn on his own, but feedback will help him to do this more quickly and efficiently. The research helps to further narrow down the most productive forms of feedback, mainly feedback in the form of negotiation. When the learner is provided with scaffolding that leads him into producing the correct form on his own, he is much more likely to restructure his interlanguage system. This type of communicative feedback will not only provide the most naturalistic communication in the classroom, but will also be the most efficient means of moving the learner toward language that more closely resembles the L2.”
• Strategies:
  • Differentiate Types of Feedback
  • Consider Timing and Frequency of Feedback
  • Create a Supportive Environment
  • Focus on Error Patterns
  • Provide Constructive and Specific Feedback

**Be sure to download the The CI Toolbox. 15 Comprehensible Input (CI) activities for your language classroom to support comprehension and authentic engagement. These suggestions are a compilation of ideas shared on the World Language Classroom Podcast by me and many guests.

Connect with Joshua and the World Language Classroom Community:

• wlclassrom.com
• X (aka Twitter): @wlclassroom
• Threads: @wlclassroom
• Instagram: @wlclassroom
• Facebook: /wlclassroom
• WLClassro

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.