Growing With Proficiency The Podcast

Send us Fan Mail En este episodio en español de Growing With Proficiency, converso con tres profes de nuestra comunidad de Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy: Ángela Johnson, Mariem Silva y Audrey Ramírez. Aunque enseñan en contextos muy diferentes, las tres comparten cómo han transformado sus clases al entender mejor la adquisición de la lengua y al crear clases más comprensibl...

Send us Fan Mail What if some of the most common beliefs about language teaching are actually getting in the way of acquisition? In this special episode of Growing With Proficiency , I sit down with Dr. Bill VanPatten for a powerful conversation originally livestreamed in the IFLT Facebook group as part of CI Reboot. Dr. VanPatten helps us unpack two foundational myths about second language acquis...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever looked at your students and wondered: "Why aren't they communicating in the language?" In this special episode of Growing With Proficiency , the tables are turned as my friend and fellow educator, Bethanie Carlson Drew, steps in as host and interviews me about my journey from lawyer to language teacher, the challenges that transformed my classroom, and...

Send us Fan Mail At the end of every school year, I ask my students one question: What activity or strategy helped you grow the most in Spanish this year? This year, their answers surprised me. Some students chose Daily Personal Questions. Others selected Silent Sustained Reading. Some preferred podcasts, cultural articles, Calendar Talk, Star Student Interviews, content-based units, or creating s...

Send us Fan Mail What actually helped students learn this year? As language teachers, it's easy to spend our end-of-year reflection focused on what didn't work. In Episode 191, I shared some of the challenges I faced this year. In Episode 192, I reflected on behavior, classroom culture, relationships, expectations, and the lessons I learned from a particularly challenging freshman class....

Send us Fan Mail ¿Tus estudiantes conocen las expectativas de tu clase, pero aun así siguen apareciendo interrupciones, conversaciones paralelas o dificultades para mantener la atención? En este episodio comparto tres lecciones sobre comportamiento que aprendí este año después de reflexionar sobre mis clases, analizar las encuestas de mis estudiantes y observar los desafíos que surgieron incluso e...

Send us Fan Mail As language teachers, we love sharing strategies that work. But what about the strategies that suddenly stop working? What happens when activities that worked for years begin falling apart, student engagement drops, and classroom dynamics feel different than before? In this honest end-of-the-year reflection, I’m sharing what did NOT work in my Spanish classroom this year, and the...

Send us Fan Mail You see a 60-second classroom video on social media. Students are engaged, speaking, producing. And you go straight to: "That is not happening in my class. Something is wrong with me." But you're missing the other 44 minutes — the class size, the school, the context behind that clip. In this episode, Claudia sits down with world language teacher Dahiana Castro to ta...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever wanted your students to feel genuinely excited before reading a novel or watching a movie in class, this episode is for you. In this conversation, I sit down with Rita Barrett, an outstanding Spansih teacher, to talk about the Tea Party strategy, an engaging pre-reading activity where students become characters from the story before they even begin reading. Students...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling exhausted trying to keep students engaged at the end of the school year? 😅 In this re-released episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, Claudia Elliott shares three powerful low-prep strategies that help world language teachers create communicative, comprehensible, and sustainable lessons without spending hours planning. If you need great strategies to keep stude...

Send us Fan Mail At this point in the year, many of us are feeling it. Students are distracted, energy is low, and if we say “read,” suddenly half the class needs the bathroom. In this episode, I’m sharing a simple sequence I use to turn any reading into an engaging station-based lesson that keeps students reading, moving, and participating without creating more work for you. Whether you’re using...

Send us Fan Mail Are you looking for an interactive and engaging activity to boost your students' participation and build a strong classroom community at the end of the school year? In this episode of "Growing With Proficiency, the podcast," we explore a unique twist on the popular Card Talk activity that my students absolutely loved! In this activity, I’ll share with you how to tur...

Send us Fan Mail The end of the school year can feel chaotic: testing, low energy, and unpredictable schedules.  So what do you actually do with your students during those final weeks? In this episode of Growing With Proficiency , I sit down with Allison Wienhold (Mis Clases Locas) to share simple, low-prep end-of-year activities for world language classes that keep students engaged without burnin...

Send us Fan Mail Profe ¿te ha pasado esto? Haces una pregunta… y recibes respuestas de una palabra.  O silencio.  O miradas de “no sé qué decir”. Y tú estás ahí pensando: pero si esto debería ser comunicación… ¿por qué no se siente así?   Porque muchas veces no es que tus estudiantes no quieran hablar o que no puedan, es que no tienen una razón real para hacerlo. En esta conversación me siento con...

Send us Fan Mail SCOLT is definitely one of my favorite conferences, and 2023 was a highlight. That is  why I decided to re-release this and because you can get amazing activities you can do tomorrow in your class.  Are you feeling bored and uninspired in your own language classroom? I'm not talking about your students, I'm talking about you. The truth is, we all need new ideas and fresh...

Send us Fan Mail Interpersonal communication can feel like one of the hardest modes to teach. You plan the activity, set expectations… and then students give one-word answers, switch to their common language, or disengage altogether. But what if the problem isn’t your activity? In this second part of my conversation with Chelsea Lawrence, we build on our previous conversation in episode 163 and ta...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt like you are doing everything, you’re running out of energy, and somehow, it still doesn’t feel like enough?  In this episode of Growing With Proficiency The Podcast , I sit down with Meredith White, Bethanie Drew, and Maris Hawkins to have a real and honest conversation about something we don’t talk about enough: How do we decide what to stop caring about as te...

Send us Fan Mail I’m re-releasing this episode today because Silent Discussions have become one of the most powerful activities in my classroom. Recently, during a formal observation, my assistant principal watched my students fully engaged in a Silent Discussion for almost 30 minutes—reading, asking questions, responding to each other, and learning from their classmates. If you’ve been looking fo...

Send us Fan Mail Dictation is one of those classic activities many of us use in our language classes—but sometimes it can feel repetitive or not very communicative. In this episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, I talk with Latin teacher Keith Toda about how a simple tweak can transform dictation into a purposefully communicative activity. We discuss how dictation supports comprehensibl...

Send us Fan Mail Join host Claudia Elliott in this insightful episode of 'Growing with Proficiency, the podcast,' as she delves into the importance of listening comprehension and skills in world language education with special guest, Marta Yedinek. Discover innovative strategies and the story behind the renowned podcast 'Cuéntame,' designed to aid Spanish learners. Claudia and...

Send us Fan Mail La comprensión auditiva es una de las habilidades más desafiantes para nuestros estudiantes… y muchas veces también para nosotros como docentes. En este episodio hablamos sobre cómo enseñar listening de manera intencional en la clase de español. Exploramos la diferencia entre el input oral que damos diariamente y un audio grabado, qué tipo de audios son más efectivos, y cómo crear...

Send us Fan Mail Are you a language teacher looking for ways to engage your students?  If you’re, you’re not alone.  How to engage students is the most common question among teachers today, and that’s why I’m so excited about today's episode of Growing With Proficiency! Let's face it, even the most compelling and relevant unit won't make much of an impact if students aren't eng...

Send us Fan Mail What if every student in your world language classroom was actively engaged, supported, and confident in using the target language? In this practical and inspiring conversation, Sally Barnes shares the powerful framework behind the 7 Steps to a Language-Rich, Interactive World Language Classroom . Rooted in research on comprehensible input, student engagement, and low-stress outpu...

Send us Fan Mail Nothing works if our students aren't truly listening, and I mean truly listening. Do you have that one class that pushes all your buttons? The chatty class where students talk over you, chat in English, and seem to tune out no matter what you try? I listened to this original episode again last week while dealing with my own challenging class, and it reminded me why this messa...

Send us Fan Mail Planear clases no debería sentirse agotador. Muchas veces el problema no es la falta de ideas, sino no tener una estructura clara que podamos repetir. En este episodio comparto un ciclo de instrucción del input al output que puedes usar con cualquier texto, tema o nivel. Un ciclo que te permite dejar de improvisar todos los días y empezar a enseñar con más intención. Hablo de: qué...