The Motivated Classroom

'The Star of the Week' also known as 'The Special Person Interview' is a wonderful, zero-prep, activity that provides your students with huge amounts of compelling, comprehensible input as they learn about and make connections to their classmates and to the teacher. A beautifully simple activity that raises autonomy and is all about building bonds and a sense of community in the classroom. For ful...

When we have active, enthusiastic, engaged participation, it has the potential to over-spill and feel chaotic. So how do we encourage this high level of participation in class without it reaching a stage that begins to impact on our classroom management and behaviour expectations? In this episode, using evidence from the research, I offer my three key elements for effective classroom management in...

I had the pleasure to chat with the inspirational Joe Dale about three key apps and technology tips to boost motivation and engagement in the languages classroom. Joe is a globally renowned expert in language teaching and learning, with special interest in the use of technology as a means to develop proficiency and grow interest in learning the language.  For full details a list of these stra...

Every subject, every syllabus, every curriculum has a story behind it. Its time we re-humanised the classroom and the curriculum. This episode focusses on how we can weave narrative back into our classes to engage our learners and have them come on a learning journey with us. During this episode I give a live example of how I take students into the curriculum using the 'four Ps' approach. Behind e...

This episode is all about putting Comprehensible Input (CI) into practice in the classroom. Three practical, minimal prep, CI activities are presented that you can try out right away. These are activities that will really help your learners to feel a sense of belonging in the class, whilst also boosting their competence as they can follow along and understand all of your input. I really encourage...

This episode looks in detail at Stephen Krashen's Comprehensible Input (CI) hypothesis; where it comes from, the research behind it and why teaching with is so motivating for both students and teacher. This episode also aims to debunk and respond to some of the criticisms that have been leveled at Krashen's CI model, highlighting that his most fierce critics were writing in the 1980's just a few y...

The first Question & Answer episode deals with a variety of questions mainly relating to teaching languages and motivation. Thank you to the listeners for these great questions. There were many others I did not have time to get to but will answer them in the next Q & A episode. Teaching/learning for young children in a virtual 1:1 setting with a view to maintaining interest and enthusiasm...

In this first interview episode I am joined by the inspiring and incredible @polyglotteacher Soukeina Tharoo . Soukeina is an English as an Additional Language (EAL) and French teacher as well as being the Home Language Coordinator at The International School of Lausanne in Switzerland. She is also a workshop leader & school visitor for the International Baccalaureate and a team evaluation mem...

This episode focusses on  'competence',  one of the three basic needs of Self-Determination Theory  that we need satisfied in order to feel intrinsically motivated. Competence relates not to a student’s individual ability but to their perception about their capability and capacity to achieve success in the classroom. Central to the notion of competence, is that students will on...

This episode is all about engagement, active learning and retrieval practice. ' Retrieval practice' is a study technique where mental effort is used to recall information. It focusses on bringing information to mind which enhances and boosts learning. Deliberately recalling information forces us to pull our knowledge “out” and examine what we know.  Engagement and active learning strategies a...

Relatedness is the second key component of motivation that we have looked at in The Motivated Classroom podcast. Listen back to Episode 1 to learn about the three basic psychological needs we all have and want to be satisfied in order to be intrinsically motivated. In Episode 3 we discussed 'autonomy' and its critical role in boosting motivation. This Episode goes into detail about the psychologic...

The 'one-word image' activity is an absolute must-listen for all MFL  and world languages teachers! It allows you to teach languages in an engaging, student-centred way by creating an invisible character with your students, which will result in active listening, huge all-class engagement and high motivation. The strategy was originally developed by Ben Slavic and is now a mainstay in many lan...

What is 'autonomy-supportive' teaching and how do we do it in the #languages classroom? Autonomy is an essential component of intrinsic motivation and is often considered in the research as more central to building motivation than any of the other basic psychological needs. In this episode, I share how I build perceptions of autonomy in my learners and also the classroom strategies that allow us,...

How can we set up the very first class of the year to ensure the three basic needs of intrinsic motivation are right at the heart of lesson? In this episode, I start by looking at classroom management and how we can allow student autonomy but maintain structure. I then speak about how I set up the first lesson with all my classes in order to foster autonomy, build competence and develop a sense of...

In this first episode of The Motivated Classroom podcast I discuss: An overview of what motivation is and how we can 'do' it in class Current knowledge on language learning motivation  Self-Determination Theory of motivation and applying it in the classroom The three basic psychological needs for intrinsic motivation Tips for activities to boost motivation in the classroom Full programme note...