The Motivated Classroom

Sitting all day is exhausting! This episode is full of practical ideas for active learning in the language classroom. Getting students up and out of their seats is a mainstay in every class I teach. Even just for a few minutes, it helps to re-engage the students in what is happening, it freshens things up and helps them to re-focus. It also helps to mix things up and keep that important aspect of...

In this question and answer episode there are some wonderful questions from listeners on how to prioritise our class time, coping with colleagues who are reluctant to new initiatives, how to create interesting stories and supporting students' low confidence/self-esteem. For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and res...

"How do you teach grammar in a motivational way?" is a question we all face as language teachers. In this episode we explore some of the research around explicit teaching of grammar and its impact on motivation . I then present some zero-prep classroom strategies we can use to introduce and develop understanding of grammar, but in a more autonomy-supportive, motivational style.  For full deta...

Educational research consistently finds that motivation is the key factor in young people achieving their potential and succeeding at school. Demotivation, on the other hand, can be defined as “someone who was once motivated but has lost his/her commitment for some reason” (Dörnyei and Ushioda 2011). Even if we are struggling to understand how to motivate our learners, the very least we must ensur...

In this episode I am delighted to be joined by the wonderful Diane Neubauer 杜雁子. Diane is a Mandarin Chinese teacher with over the 14 years experience across age groups. She currently teaches online part-time while working on her PhD in Foreign Language & ESL Education at the University of Iowa. She presents on a variety of language teaching topics at conferences and is involved in research...

Thank you to the listeners for this question about how we can maintain motivation whilst also grading and assessing for proficiency. In this episode we discuss some strategies for assessing and grading keeping the core psychological need of competence in mind. For full details a list of these strategies, check out the programme notes with further information and links to research and resources at...

In this question & answer episode we explore some great questions from listeners about: what to do with reluctant learners or school refusers , how we can adapt a comprehensible input & storytelling approach for younger learners and finally what key language structures we should concentrate on in a reimagined syllabus focused around students' interests. For full details a list of these str...

As language teachers, finding ways to move from comprehensible input to 'authentic output' or how to "foster an increase in natural, interpersonal language" , as one teacher wrote to me, is often our greatest challenge. In this episode I provide ten zero-prep, practical, strategies to increase spontaneous and enthusiastic speaking in the language classroom. Get in touch and let me know what you th...

I'm delighted to be joined by the wonderful and highly knowledgeable Dr. Ed Stevens for this episode on teacher's professional identity . Ed is Manager of the Arts & Humanities Research Institute at King's College London having previously been Deputy Head of Public Engagement at the University of Bath. He has recently completed a professional doctorate in Education, where he explored how educa...

Sometimes, to really change our practice we have to confront our deeply-rooted beliefs. The study of Language Teacher Beliefs or 'Language Teacher Cognition' is gaining momentum in the educational research. In this episode I talk about what the concept is all about and why it is essential for us to talk about it, reflect on our beliefs and ultimately to question whether or not we still value those...

I'm delighted to be joined in this episode with Olly who goes by "Let's Transform MFL (Modern Foreign Languages)" on Twitter. Olly is a vocal and powerful advocate for reinvigorating the MFL curriculum in England so that we can reach more students and help more people achieve fluency. In this discussion, Olly shares his passion for MFL and argues convincingly for a re-imagined curriculum that focu...

Teacher motivation: A hugely important topic we don't discuss nearly enough. In many countries around the world, teachers are leaving the profession in huge numbers. So what can school leadership do to ensure their teachers remain motivated? In this episode we delve into this thorny issue with a look at recent studies on teacher motivation and discuss what the research can teach us in terms of mai...

Drawing on recent research around error correction and feedback , this episode provides six easy to implement strategies that allow the teacher to give meaningful feedback to students whilst ensuring it doesn't harm their basic psychological need of 'competence'. These strategies will hopefully give you some ideas about how we can ensure our feedback is timely, specific and meaningful to the stude...

We all have to teach the 'basics' like numbers, dates, colours and letters in one way or another... or do we? What if the students just naturally acquired all of this basic vocabulary through motivational strategies and activities in the classroom? In this episode I explain how I introduce these items and the various, zero-prep, activities I use to embed these key words in the students' long term...

In this question and answer episode, we look at the topics of teaching culture, the one important thing to change in our languages classrooms (from my perspective at least!), how to build confidence in our learners and how to adequately challenge our high achievers in each lesson. Thank you to all the lessons who submitted questions! For full details a list of these strategies, check out the progr...

Episode 25 of The #MotivatedClassroom is all about Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) and the most common questions people have about it as a way to help learners acquire language more naturally. I go through some of the questions you have submitted about assessment, units, planning and many others! This is a very practical episode for language teachers who are trying out...

Building on the interview with Adriana Ramirez in Episode 23 on using novels and reading to motivate our language students, this episode focuses on 11 zero-prep practical strategies for the languages classroom aimed at growing a love and passion for reading among your students:  1. Class novels 2. Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) 3. Embedded readings & extended readings 4. Volleyball reading...

The inspirational author and teacher, Adriana Ramirez , joins Liam Printer on The #MotivatedClassroom for this episode where they discuss how we can instill a love and passion for reading in the target language through the use of graded novels. These are novels that are specifically written for learners of the language and use a Comprehensible Input approach to ensure the students read lots of rep...

So you listened to Episode 21 and you started your #TPRS story... but now what? This episode provides some detailed, zero-prep, practical, strategies you can implement in your language classes to build on and compliment the story asking process. I present comprehension techniques, homework tasks, formative assessment options. An overview of how the 'circling', questioning, strategy is done in a Co...

Now that we understand the research behind #storytelling in the #languages classroom from episodes 19 & 20 and why it is so motivating for both teacher and students, its time to learn how we actually put it into practice! In this episode I explain how I set up my class for its first TPRS story . I go through the ground rules, the physical make-up of the classroom and the jobs students have to...

As a follow up to Episode 19 of the podcast , which provides an overview of the year long doctoral research into teaching languages through storytelling and its impact on student and teacher motivation, I am delighted to be joined in this episode by Chloé Lapierre who was the French teacher-participant during the longitudinal research study. Chloé described herself as a 'novice' teacher of TPRS (T...

This episode provides a synopsis and summary of the findings from Doctorate research into the motivational impact of teaching languages through storytelling and reading . The episode begins with an overview of how the research was conducted using Self-Determination Theory and its basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness to measure changes in motivation. It then presents so...

In this third interview of the series, the inspirational Beth Skelton shares with us her vast experience and expertise relating to teaching languages through compelling, cultural and historical content. Beth outlines how we can use language classroom to engage our learners via experiential learning with students immersed in fascinating cultural and historical content related to the target language...

In this second Q&A episode, some great questions from listeners get us talking about long-term motivation for learners as opposed to just dealing with the 'here and now' in our classrooms; how do we balance motivating activities with preparation for high stakes exams and finally some motivating classroom approaches for retrieval practice. Lots of practical classroom tips as well as important i...

In this episode I explain how I build on those relationships built in the first few years of students' Spanish learning journey, taking those more advanced and older students to a new level as 'Government Ministers' in my (fake) country of Españoland. It provides them with autonomy and ownership over what we learn and the resources we will study together as a group. By empowering them to be member...