The Motivated Classroom

The third in a six part series leading up to the release of my book ⁠⁠ The Motivated Language Classroom: Practical Insights for the Languages Teacher . The book brings together everything I have learned on the podcast from all the amazing guests I've been lucky enough to speak to. It covers what motivates our students, how languages are acquired, and what it looks like when we put all of it in...

After five years, 150 episodes and conversations with over 50 experts, the book is finally here. ⁠ The Motivated Language Classroom: Practical Insights for the Languages Teacher ⁠ brings together everything we have learned on the podcast. It covers what motivates our students, how languages are acquired, and what it looks like when we put all of it into practice in our classrooms. In this six-part...

After five years, 150 episodes and conversations with over 50 experts, the book is finally here. The Motivated Language Classroom: Practical Insights for the Languages Teacher brings together everything we have learned on the podcast. It covers what motivates our students, how languages are acquired, and what it looks like when we put all of it into practice in our classrooms. Over the next six ep...

Students are doing some independent writing, or a short turn and talk and you are circulating, listening in, observing and making mental notes that you will feedback to the whole class... but, we inevitably end up forgetting a lot of what we have observed. We provide 'whole class feedback' but it may only be based on 1-2 students and what you can hold in your mind from what you observed as...

Research into the transience effect suggests that learners can struggle when spoken information disappears before they have had time to process and connect it. A student shares an interesting idea, uses a brilliant phrase or makes an important connection - but seconds later the conversation or story has moved on and that contribution has been forgotten. In this episode, we explore how we can use t...

Q&A episode featuring questions sent in directly by listeners: In this on we explore the use of AI and AI made resources in the language classroom, when and how do we start teaching spelling to children, and finally, how can we combat the inevitable forgetting that happens when we acquire language in classrooms. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think: Let me know what you think!...

In this special, extended episode, I am joined by Janet Schneider and Michelle Scot t to talk about how they transformed dwindling numbers in their language courses to now, where they have waiting lists and not enough classrooms due to all the student demand for languages. A truly inspirational episode to show us what can be achieved when we are brave enough to change something that often demotiva...

In those first few weeks of the school year, it is easy to just provide the classroom routine once and then assume the students have it nailed. As it begins to slip, we gloss over it and let things slide so that we can get on with our content... but, this often ends up eating into way more class time as you try to fight against that poorly embedded routine as the year progresses. This episode is a...

When we think about autonomy as a driving force of intrinsic motivation, we often conflate it simply with 'providing choice'. According to Self-Determination Theory, however, autonomy is also about self-direction, ownership and value; this psychological need is also satisfied when we understand the rationale and purpose behind an activity... especially ones we may not find in inherently in...

A very special podcast collaboration with Will Marks of The Language Lab Podcast where we discuss motivation, storytelling and assessment in the acquisition-driven classroom. Thank you to Will for inviting me on his excellent podcast. I highly recommend listening to his other content! Full programme notes are available on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.liamprinter.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

The first few lessons give us an opportunity to build the foundations for a classroom where students feel connected, capable and have a sense of ownership over their language learning journey. In this episode, we look at how we can apply the principles of Self-Determination Theory to those crucial first two weeks of the school year. What can we do to develop relatedness? How can we create a sense...

Motivation is repeatedly found in the research to be a key factor in long term success in education. In 2020, I started this podcast with the episode "Motivation: What is it and how does it work?". So, what do the world's leading researchers and voices on motivation and language learning now tell us, about how it works in our classroom over 6 years later? In this episode, I share wha...

Almost all SLA researchers agree on one core point: Comprehensible input is necessary for language acquisition... but, there is now widespread agreement that in a school environment, that input must also be compelling, interesting and engaging . Comprehensible alone is not enough to hold our students' short attention spans in the current busy classroom - the input needs a narrative arc to engage o...

In this episode I am joined by the wonderful author and educator, Kodi Rain . We had a great conversation about belonging, representation and identity affirming teaching practices; with a particular focus on gender-inclusive language in the classroom. A perfect listen in this  ⁠#Pride⁠  Month. Full programme notes are available on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.liamprinter.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

For over five years, this podcast has advocated for an approach to language teaching centred around compelling, comprehensible input to unlock natural language acquisition and simultaneously increase student and teacher motivation? But is input alone really enough? I first talked about this back in Episode 103 in 2023. In this episode I unpack and discuss my how view has shifted over the years bas...

Instructional Coaching: A highly effective and impactful method of professional development for teachers where they work 1-on-1 with a coach to focus on tiny tweaks to their practice based on evidence-informed insights. This episode follows up on episode 120 and focuses entirely on 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 from three separate but connected perspectives: Nick Pointer who was training our team of coac...

How do we keep advanced language learners motivated and how do we meaningfully use a CI approach at higher levels ? In this episode, we explore the expert-reversal effect and what it means for sustaining input, autonomy and progress as students become more experienced language users. I unpack how we can adjust our practice so that input remains compelling, challenging and supportive of continued a...

Principle Six of Six for a Motivated Year in the 'Back to School' series: Principle 6: Secure attention and running routines The final episode in our six part series of principles for a motivated language classroom. In this last principle we focus on running routines in class and how we secure attention . I take you through my favourite and most used classroom routines, why they work well in my co...

Principle Five of Six for a Motivated Year in the 'Back to School' series: Principle 5: The CI Class Yearbook This episode builds on the previous principles about effective pairwork and input in 5-minute blocks by taking it further and each student having a notebook where every student in the class gets a page . Students write matching bullet points in pairs , filling in each person's page gradual...

Principle Four of Six for a Motivated Year in the 'Back to School' series: Principle 4: Effective pairs This episode is all about maximising the effectiveness of pair work in class by setting students up for multiple small wins, using scaffolded and psychologically safe output tasks in groups of two. You'll learn about: - Rotating pairs - Changing seating plan - Turn and talk versus pair discussio...

Principle Three of Six for a Motivated Year in the 'Back to School' series: - Principle 3: Five-minute input blocks In this episode you'll learn about how we limiting our listening input to 5-minute blocks relates to:🧠 Cognitive Load Theory 🎯 The Four Types of Engagement 👂 Maximising acquisition with Intent Listening 🌀 The Zeigarnik–Ovsiankina Effect 🧘‍♀️ Brain & Body Breaks 📥 Input ➡️ P...

Principle Two of Six for a Motivated Year in the 'Back to School' series: Principle 2: The Motivation-Acquisition Balance This episode is full of practical, research-informed tips to help you: ✅ Give the right input for acquisition ✅ Use output to boost motivation ✅ Create powerful student interaction ✅ Build learner confidence ✅ Light that language-learning 🔥 ✅ Grow future fluent speakers...

Principle One of Six for a Motivated Year in the 'Back to School' series: 1. Aligning a CI approach to your curriculum In this episode we lay the foundations for a motivated year in your language classroom by ensuring our curriculum aligns with a CI and comprehension-based approach in our practice. It is all well and good having loads of great CI strategies up your sleeve but for those of us who t...

The first in a Seven-part 'Back to School' series where I break down my Keynote speech from the Agen Conference 2025 on: Getting the Acquisition-Motivation balance right. In episode 129 I provide an overview of the six principles for a motivated language classroom this year: Aligning a CI approach to your curriculum The Acquisition-Motivation balance The 5 minute block principle Effective pairs to...

Almost a year after our first conversation for episode 127, Jonathan is back in the studio for Part Two of his 2-part series focusing on what he learned from six weeks of observing teachers in three countries using a CI and acquisition approach. In this episode, Jonny hones in how he translated all the things he learned about CI into his classroom practice in his school in Scotland. Another absolu...