The Motivated Classroom

The second in a two-part series focusing on equity and access to learning for all. Following up on Episode 89 on 'Universal Design for Learning' (UDL) , this episodes looks more at differentiation ; what we can and should be doing inside our language acquisition classrooms in order to support all learners and ensure they all have the tools needed to access the learning. I provide a list of some of...

In this first of a two-part series focusing on differentiation, equity and how to ensure all learners have access to the learning, we look at the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and its applications in the language acquisition classroom. This episode goes over the 3 main priorities of UDL and their 9 principles, using an example from the world languages classroom to show how we can apply some...

This question and answer episode features some great questions from listeners about: What we do when new students come into our CI or acquisition focused classes when they're coming from what may be considered a much more 'traditional' learning environment? How do we adapt our lessons for adult learners and what about those 'difficult' classes, what suggestions are there to make them run smoothly?...

This episode of The Motivated Classroom podcast focuses on going back to school. I go through eight of my top strategies or goals to ensure both we, the teachers, and our students have a motivated year. Most importantly, there is a particular focus in these strategies on teacher and student well-being. Let me know what you think of them and what your goals are for a motivated year in school! Build...

This episode focuses on eight of my favourite activities designed to instil a love of reading among your language acquisition students, including a particular emphasis on the much requested "reading diary". Reading is the central and key element in language acquisition, yet many teachers are unsure about strategies to use in order to motivate our students into eager readers. Hopefully these eight,...

The wonderfully talent teacher, presenter and author of easy-to-read literature , Margarita Pérez García , joins us in the episode of The Motivated Classroom to talk us through how she uses novels in her classroom to motivate and engage beginner language students . As we know from decades of research, reading is a crucial and central element to language acquisition, yet teachers are often unsure h...

As a follow-up to the interview with Dr. Stephen Krashen , in this episode we look at a very common question among language teachers: Can we use a Comprehensible Input approach or with 'Acquisition Driven Instruction (ADI)' when it comes to intermediate or more advanced learners ? This episode takes a slightly different angle as I demonstrate what CI would look like in my classroom for both beginn...

Professor Emeritus Dr. Stephen Krashen is one of the most important and influential language acquisition researchers in history. His research over 40 years has completely revolutionised our understanding of how languages are acquired. Dr. Krashen has been cited in over 23,000 peer reviewed research journals and has authored more than 560 publications. The ' Input Hypothesis ', which showed us how...

The third episode in the mini-series on " Teaching with Comprehensible Input (CI) " is a Q&A episode with some great questions from you wonderful listeners on CI being more inclusive than grammar teaching, what we talk to parents about when we teach with CI and what do we do when students miss lots of inputs through absence. As always, please keep in touch and share widely! Full programme note...

In this second episode in the mini-series on " Teaching with Comprehensible Input (CI) ", we discuss the big debates around CI teaching: Whether it is inherently more inclusive but often perceived as less authentic? What do we even mean by 'authentic' and 'inclusive' in the language classroom in the first place? Join me to find out my take on all this! As always, please keep in touch and share wid...

The first in a five-part series on " Teaching with Comprehensible Input (CI) ", focuses on the obstacles and resistance many of us face in our journey to become more acquisition centred educators. I discuss six of the obstacles I've had in my practice and those I've seen and heard about from other language teachers.  As always, please keep in touch and share widely! Full programme notes are availa...

In this episode of The Motivated Classroom podcast from 2022, Gianfranco Conti discusses acquiring languages through 'Extensive Processing Instruction' (EPI) and how it links to motivation and engagement. As with all episodes, listeners are encouraged to engage critically with the ideas presented and to consider how the principles may be applied to their own unique pedagogical context. As...

Should we separate our learners by ability ? Setting, streaming or separating by ability is common practice in most schools in some way or form. But is it really best practice? Is there an evidence base to support doing this in our school? In this episode we discuss the research behind separating students by ability or setting and streaming as it is known in the UK. Does it work? Should we keep do...

Sadly, more and more language students around the world are dropping their world language courses as soon as they get the chance. Retaining students in our language programmes is proving more and more challenging. So what can we do about it? How can we increase uptake in our language classes. Many aspects are out of the control of the language teacher. However, what is in our control is our classr...

Another question and answer episode, and another set of brilliant questions from the listeners. Should we assess writing or just do formative tasks with no corrections? When should grammatical accuracy take a role in assessment? How much English should we use when students don’t understand the target language? How do we ensure we don't overwhelm beginners ? A huge thank you to all the listeners fo...

Following up on the social justice focus in episodes 73 and 74, in this episode the wonderful Ben Tinsley joins The Motivated Classroom podcast to discuss how he centres his entire languages curriculum and classroom around Black, Brown and other marginalised identities and voices. A brilliant episode where Ben explains how he uses a technique called 'Map-Talk' to amplify and uphold diverse regions...

This episode follows up on the previous episode with Françoise Thenoux about bringing a diversity, equity, inclusion and social justic e lens to our languages curriculum and classroom. We begin to unpack the big questions like "What is education for?" and "What is your languages class for?" in this episode and I provide a few practical ideas for how you can bring a more anti-bias and anti-stereoty...

In this episode, the brilliant Françoise Thenoux speaks to us about the inextricable links between language, identity and inclusion. Françoise shares how we can make everyone in our language classroom feel included by ensuring everyone's identity and history is represented. She shares tips and advice about how language teachers can get started on the route to a more diverse and inclusive classroom...

The target language: How much should we use as teachers? When should we use it? How should we use it? The debate around target language use, translation and use of the common language is one that many language acquisition teachers continue to grapple with. In this episode we unpack how and when to use the target language in class! Keep in touch and share widely! Full programme notes are available...

In this question and answer episode, we discuss the most motivational and effective ways to start class , how often students should take notes in the language classroom and finally what we can do to build upon co-created class stories . A huge thank you to all the listeners for the wonderful questions! Keep in touch and share widely! Full programme notes are available on www.liamprinter.com/podcas...

Parent-teacher meetings: A part of every teacher's year but often one that causes anxiety, stress and worry. In this episode I present six, easy, date-focused, steps to apply to your parent-teacher meetings to ensure they are effective and focus on student learning . While this episode highlights strategies that will be of particular use for language acquisition teachers, the steps can easily be a...

The last in the three part mini series on professional development and the importance of being an evidence-informed teacher . In this episode I am joined by the inspirational, Jade Pearce . Jade shares the journey her school has been on towards becoming an evidence-informed school and gives us all tips to get started on this path in our own contexts. Jade is a fountain of educational and pedagogic...

This episodes builds upon and follows on from Ep. 67 with Darren Leslie of Becoming Educated podcast focusing on our roles as 'teaching and learning research leads'. In this episode I discuss the internal, research based, professional development we have started here at The International School of Lausanne in our drive to becoming an evidence-informed school using evidence-informed pedagogy . I ex...

In this first podcast collaboration, I chat with Darren Leslie of the wonderful Becoming Educated podcast . We talk about our roles as 'teaching and learning research leads' at our respective schools, how we got into these positions, why we feel its important to have internal, evidence based, professional development on-going throughout the year and how we got started on this podcast journey! A br...

This question and answer episode looks at how to overcome the difficulties of moving classrooms, what we can and should teach when we only see students for less than 1 hour per week and finally how we can go about creating a class slogan or motto based on our co-created values from the class constitution. Thank you to Sophie Harrison, Sophie Miller and Amanda Miller for the great questions! Keep i...