The Motivated Classroom

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...

The final episode in the three-part series on motivating young language learners following up on the interviews with researcher Dr. Quint Oga-Baldwin in episode 63 and with primary school Dutch teacher, Marianne de Best, in episode 64 . In this episode we discuss what secondary or high school teachers can learn from our elementary colleagues teaching languages to very young learners. Keep in touch...

In this second episode in the 3-part series on motivating young language learners, Dutch teacher and author, Marianne de Best , tells us all about practical, zero-prep, strategies we can put in place right away in our classrooms to reach our young learners. Marianne provides listeners with excellent and fun tips to both reach and teach our young learners whilst staying in the target language and p...

In this episode, I had the absolute pleasure to be joined by eminent Self-Determination Theory researcher, Dr. Quint Oga-Baldwin . Professor Oga-Baldwin has conducted years of research into motivation of young learners of English in Japan and has published extensively. We discuss what classroom teachers can learn from the research on young learners and how we can apply these findings to build a mo...

Music ! A key component in every language acquisition classroom but what are the most effective ways to implement it! In this episode I discuss how I bring music into the classroom, ensuring it is understandable and engaging for the students! Most importantly, music allows us a direct door into the target language culture by learning about the lyrics, the background and the artists! I'd love to he...

This practical episode is all about listening activities in the language classroom that are designed to motivate and engage our students. Listening activities in a textbook are often painfully boring for our students due to the lack of autonomy. The 12 activities outlined in this episode engage and motivate our students to listen intently and therefore acquire more language naturally! Keep in touc...

What does the physical learning environment do for motivation and engagement of our language learners? In this episode, the idea of 'going deskless' is discussed outlining the pros, the cons and the logistical challenges. Research around the physical make up of the classroom is also explored and in particular the impact of classroom decorations and posters. How much is too much? Should we even hav...

Thank you to all the listeners who submitted questions for this Q&A episode. We are discussing how to reach and motivate those particularly resistant students , what we can about the increased usage of online translators and finally how we can make teaching spelling fun , effective and engaging! Keep in touch and share widely! Full programme notes are available on www.liamprinter.com/podcast ....

I'm joined by the fantastic Dr. Chris Martin in this episode to discuss the importance of positive parental engagement and how this can impact upon language learning motivation for your students. Chris shares findings from his own research in this area as well as many easy to implement practical tips for the language classroom. Keep in touch and share widely! Full programme notes are available on...

In this episode we look at the research around parental beliefs, and the impact the words parents use have on the motivation for learning among their children. As always, lots of practical examples related to the language acquisition classroom and how we can use the findings from the parental beliefs research to inform how we speak to parents and ensure they are aiding us in the language acquisiti...

This episode explores some of the recent research about homework and how we can apply this to the language acquisition classroom. Should we even give homework in the first place? If so, how much and when? How can we ensure the homework we are providing is actually purposeful and not just 'busy work'? Have a listen to this episode and find out! Keep in touch and share widely! Full programme notes a...

In this episode we speak to the inspirational Dr. Florencia Henshaw about Second Language Acquisition theory, recent research in the area and how we can bring the classroom practice and the academic research together in a way that benefits all students. Dr. Henshaw shares her top tips for language acquisition teachers that stem directly from her research and are related to her forthcoming book ent...

This episode explores the current debates around implicit and explicit knowledge in the language classroom; should we be focusing on meaning or form , or a combination of both. The focus of this episode revolves mainly around the recent Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research in this area and what we, as language teachers, can do to ensure we maintain motivation whilst also boosting acquisition...