Author: Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

Bringing Students to Culture and Empathy Through The Fourth P: People!

I was unable to attend ACTFL 2024, but lucky me, language teacher colleagues are nothing if not generous! After making the move over to Bluesky, I’ve been on the lookout for #langchat colleagues, and people I’ve met over the years on social media. I was able to reconnect with Dorie Conlon, whose work I really respect and admire, and saw this tweet about a session she attended by Cécile Lainé (another source of inspiration):

This post really struck me. Many who teach for proficiency acknowledge that language is too abstract and complex to teach explicitly, but we also work in a model of culture that focuses on three abstract nouns: Products, Practices, and Perspectives. The way culture emerges is with people, their actions, and their use of language, rather than by stepping outside of it. This is much like the acquisition of a language, which happens with communication and use, rather than by observing a languages features from outside of it.

Behind all these Ps are People! Through the experiences of individuals, we can see culture and the 3 Ps in action, and also develop empathy for others who are different from us. A “different” culture is easy to write off as “strange” to the Novice eye, but it’s possible to find commonalities with any individual human, learn from their experiences, and see cultures through their lives. Individual lived experiences are more memorable anyways, versus just learning “cultural tidbits” as they are strewn randomly through textbooks and class “Culture Days.”

I find it very important for my students to learn about historically marginalized communities to build their critical thinking and empathy. If students are only presented elements of culture and people that confirm their prior beliefs, which are often informed by cultural stereotypes, I have done nothing to build their ability to communicate competently with members of other cultures. The interactions of minoritized individuals with majority cultures reveal a fuller picture of those cultures, as well. I look to the ACTFL Intercultural Communication Benchmarks, which at the Superior level read as such for the “Investigate” strand:

“In my own and other cultures I can suspend judgment while critically examining products, practices, and perspectives.”

Furthermore, the “Interact” strand at the Superior level reads:

“I can interact in complex situations to ensure a shared understanding of culture.”

These are obviously skills that we are not expecting immediately from Novice learners. But in order to get to consistent “suspension of judgment” and “sharing understanding of culture,” students need practice being confronted with difference and engaging with the thinking of others. This supports working towards the Social Justice Standards of Learning for Justice, across all the four major strands, and builds their capacity for empathy.

So, I’m inspired. Here are some individuals I have shared with my classes, starting with level 1, and the activities I use to help students think more critically and empathetically about culture. The biographies are easy to share with students in the earliest stages of their language learning, and are easy to “level up” for higher levels by drawing in information and media from other sources. I think it’s important to follow up with reflection activities that help think more deeply about the individuals presented, and how their identities might affect their interactions within the Target Cultures.

Even if you aren’t a German teacher, maybe you will find some value in my thinking and planning for these experiences with German speakers!

Conchita Wurst

Student reactions to just seeing Conchita often quickly reveal their underlying assumptions and feelings towards the LGBTQ+ community. Students have sometimes been confused about the difference between a drag queen and a trans woman. Meeting Conchita, who presents both feminine and masculine personas, challenges students’ understandings of gender and sexuality.

I like to show Conchita’s Eurovision-winning performance to let her undeniable talent shine. Students are blown away by her artistry and the theatricality of the performance. The key question I ask students after getting to know Conchita and her talent is: “What do you think the reaction to Conchita was like?” If given time and space to think, students often speculate about potential backlash from groups connected to European countries competing in Eurovision, and what cultural factors might influence that backlash. Conchita’s Wikipedia page provides a lengthy catalogue of the vitriol that she faced, as well as her defiant and proud responses. All this, because she dares to put on a dress, put on some makeup, and sing.

Leo Neugebauer

I’m a huge Olympics fan, and was so excited to hear about a Black German Olympian who also studies at one my alma maters, UT-Austin! Even better – he has a YouTube channel where he makes content in German AND English! Introducing my students to Leo Neugebauer helps to challenge the notion that “German = white.” “What it means to be German” is a cultural discourse that has evolved drastically over the last few decades, and we get our first steps into that discourse by meeting Germans with identities that don’t match our preconceived notions.

After reading Leo’s biography, my classes and I defined the ten disciplines of the decathlon (which was a learning moment for me), and decided which we would ourselves ideally compete in. (I would probably do one of the running events!) Then, we watched his video “CULTURE SHOCK in America!” and discussed our reactions, which was a lot of fun. While I was absent one day, I had my students rewatch the video and write a 2+-sentence reflection on each of his culture shocks. I included the following questions:

  • Does what he says surprise you? Why?
  • Do you think there is truth to what he says? 
  • What do you think it says about Germany and German culture that these things stood out to him?

For me, the last question is key to help students build their inquiry into “what German culture is.” After we analyze whether or not his “culture shocks” align with our own local cultures, we can form hypotheses about how the shocks reflect Leo’s own cultural expectations. This opens us to testing those hypotheses in future meetings with German cultures.

Taliso Engel

My Olympics obsession also introduced me to many German-speaking Paralympians, including swimming phenom Taliso Engel. I have been working towards including more disabled people in my teaching, and learning about Taliso Engel helped me learn so much more about the Paralympics, the various classifications involved for different disabilities, and the athleticism required to be a top-tier competitor.

After reading Taliso’s biography, I found a couple videos that detailed Taliso’s training and reasons for getting into swimming. The first video on the slideshow above also shows an approximation of what he can see, which helps provide some nuances to students’ understandings of vision impairments. Then, we can stand up and play “Either / Or,” showing our preferences by moving to the side of the room corresponding to the image of our preference. These “either/or” questions are asked to the Paralympians in the final video, which provides students another opportunity to get to know German athletes with disabilities. Connecting their own preferences to those of disabled athletes helps build empathy and understanding.

Bonus: Heiko Burak

I don’t have a biography written of hard-of-hearing German Sign Language teacher Heiko Burak, but I found his videos very clear and easy for students to understand. For Disability History and Awareness Month in October, I showed my students the video above to learn 10 essential German signs. This gave us a good opportunity to talk about the various sign languages around the world (Austria and Switzerland don’t use deutsche Gebärdensprache – they have different sign languages!), as well as compare to what we know about ASL. (I’m currently learning ASL, and have a few students who know some sign, as well.) Finally, students learned and practiced all 10 signs, which was really cool to see. Some have even continued to use the signs in conversation in class, well over a month later, which is even cooler. The German sign for “no” got a lot of love from my class, which will make sense if you watch the video.

But Ben, I don’t teach German!

Pech für dich. 🙂 But really, I encourage you to be on the lookout for people from your Target Cultures to humanize student learning and build empathy. Ask your teacher communities if they are familiar with inspirational and interesting members of the Target Cultures, and expand the lens of who gets included in your classes. Do you know speakers of your Target Language that are People of Color? Members of the LGBTQ+ community? Disabled? We need language classes that center the lives of the historically marginalized so that our students can treat others with dignity, and create a more peaceful coexistence.

How do you bring students to “the fourth P”? Comment below!

Horizontal Conjugation: Re-Reading and Grammar in Context

Rereading a text is a powerful way to increase students’ acquisition, so we have to get clever about giving students meaningful tasks that help them reengage with texts, giving their brains more chances to acquire different aspects of the language. In addition, any discussion of “grammar” or “language structures” needs to be contextualized and connected to the meaning that those structures convey. I love Horizontal Conjugation for hitting these two goals!

Why should you do it? Because Horizontal Conjugation gives an opportunity for another meaningful engagement with a text, while also contextualizing discussions what the “forms” of grammar actually mean. Once you have taught students how to do it, Horizontal Conjugation can go into your rotation for whenever you need a rereading activity that gets you off the “stage” for a while.

When do I use Horizontal Conjugation?

You will want to use Horizontal Conjugation with a text that students are very familiar with, and a narrative works best. These could be stories co-created out of an OWI character, or perhaps scripted stories. You could also conceivably do Horizontal Conjugation with information learned about students in class via Special Person Interviews, or Card Talk. In short, you need a text that is about a person or people, not a general informational text about a topic.

Student familiarity with the language is also key. I would use Horizontal Conjugation during a second or third “pass” at a text, so that the difficulty lies not in interpreting the text (as for a first time), but rather changing the perspective of the text.

How do I do it? – Logistics

Make sure students have a copy of the base text. You might project the text, but having a copy in hand is best. You can also provide a second sheet of paper onto which students can write the Horizontal Conjugation text, but they can always use the bottom half of the page, or the back of a page, if there is room.

How do I do it? – Procedure

  1. Tell students that we will be rewriting the text we have been reading from a different perspective. (Do this in L1 or L2, depending on the level of your students.) Use this to review perspective, which will maybe win you love points from their ELA instructors. “What perspective is this text written from? Hint: it’s ___ person…” Once they have identified the perspective (1st person, 3rd person, etc.), provide lots of examples of that perspective in L1 and L2. “Ah, this is 3rd person perspective because we’re saying HE does this, HE does that. ER geht in die Schule und ER sieht seinen Deutschlehrer Karaoke singen.”
  2. Tell students that we are going to pretend that we are now the character/real person in question, and will be retelling it from our own perspective. Instead of retelling events as if some 3rd person did them, we will be saying “I do this, I do that. I go to school and I see my German teacher singing karaoke.”
  3. Model this for a few sentences for your student. I typically have them translate a line into the L1, ask what that same line would sound like in the other perspective (still in L1), and then ask what that would be in the L2. I then write it up on the board.
  4. After completing a few lines of this together, I reread the new text written in the other perspective, and often have students translate it back one more time just to emphasize that it is in the new perspective. This is a natural time to point out the language features that convey the perspective (verb endings, pronouns, possessives, etc.).
  5. Once students are getting the hang of it with my guidance, I set them to working on it independently, or with a partner.
  6. Once most students have completed, I share how the text should look if fully converted to the other perspective, and usually have students trade their work with a partner for them to check it.

What do I do with it now that we’ve finished?

You have generated a new(ish) text with this activity, so you can do any literacy activities you like with it. That being said, it is also wise to not beat a text to death for fear of boring our students to death, so it’s also okay to move on once the activity is complete.

I sometimes take student copies of the new text for a completion grade, and/or have them put the newly created text into their binders as another text they can read as “review,” aka for more input.

Pro Tips!

  1. Provide lots of modeling! This is a very “language class” activity that takes a second to get your head around – it’s not something we do often out in the world. Thinking aloud about how to change the perspective helps students do this thinking for themselves, which is actually getting them to think about what parts of the language convey the information about perspective. Maybe this will help them notice and acquire these features, or maybe it’s just a good strategy to satisfy any demands for you to “teach grammar”.
  2. Provide a word bank! Students with a lot of language may be able to do this activity more independently without a word bank, but Novices can benefit from having correct forms nearby to help make the changes. This obviously is very helpful if you have stem-changing or otherwise irregular verbs and you want to give students the feeling of success on the first try.
  3. Maybe you don’t do this for some languages! As I was typing this post, I was thinking about Japanese and Chinese, which don’t have subject-verb agreement. If you were “changing the perspective,” it might be just changing out pronouns, and that could feel silly. Horizontal Conjugation works really well to show how verb forms influence meaning, so if this is not an issue in your language…try a different rereading activity!
  4. Retell story in the past tense! An alternative to changing perspective might be changing the tense. If a story is told in the present tense, it can be flipped to the past tense with a prompt like “Imagine this story happened yesterday. How might it sound then?”
  5. Try out plurals! I have seen some teachers use a prompt like “Imagine that the main character has a twin, and they are inseparable!” This forces students to use 1st person plural forms.
  6. Turn it into an opportunity to develop empathy! A story told about someone else puts some distance between the teller and the subject. Reworking something into a first person perspective might be an opportunity to place oneself in the shoes of another person. What are they thinking? What are they feeling? How might they be experiencing their story differently than I would? Why?
  7. Starting this later is okay! The temptation to “teach about conjugation” has historical precedent in how languages are taught: level 1 is for “mastering” the present tense, level 2 is for the preterite/imperfect, etc. Students need lots of written and auditory input of different forms to acquire them, so they will have a more intuitive grasp of this concept the further along they are in developing their linguistic systems. I start Horizontal Conjugations with my level 2 students – and it’s been a great at-level task because they have the linguistic resources to start thinking metalinguistically!

What if I want to learn more?

Here is a blog post from The Comprehensible Classroom about Horizontal Conjugation, with a handy graphic at the bottom to remind you of how it works! This second post describes using student Free Writes as base texts, which would be so fun, and a way to honor student writing. Martina also made this video explaining the process!

Here is Elicia Cárdenas’ great post about how she thinks about grammar instruction in her classroom, and how she differentiates Horizontal Conjugation in her classroom.

Here is a video of Sil Perera presenting to the Northern Indiana TCI Conference explaining Horizontal Conjugation.

What do you think? Do you feel ready to use Horizontal Conjugation? Comment below and send me any questions you might have!

Story-Based Countdown to Halloween – Resources in German!

I am happy to share something I have been working on: a German adaptation of Cécile Lainé’s Story-Based Countdown to Halloween! Six stories, suggested extension activities, and a reading assessment! They are easy to adapt to different levels, too. Just make sure you preview the videos ahead of time. 🙂

Cécile made these materials available at no cost, but she put a lot of love into them. If you want to support her great work, donate what you can at PayPal (cecileflaine@gmail.com) or Venmo @Cecile-Laine.

Story-Based Countdown to Halloween Resources

And if you are my student Sofie, who sometimes reads my blog, don’t look ahead at the resources or else class will be boring for you next week!!!

Program Growth – Some Reflections

As world language programs suffer budget cuts and yearly uncertainty as to how employed each teacher will be, we teachers often ask ourselves:

How do I get students to join my program and stay with it?

This is the beginning of my sixth year at my current school, and since I began as the only German teacher at my school, student enrollments have grown 70%, from 87 students to 148 students. I am very proud of and excited about this, of course, but I wanted to know more about why I was able to get this sort of growth in enrollments. So, I asked students in my upper level (3rd and 4th year) German class about why they were still in German, and had many informal conversations with students and their families to determine what had worked so far. This blog post was born of those reflections.

Below are factors that have been attractive and motivational for my community, and helped grow the German program in my specific context. I would say that some of these factors are out of my control, but some are within my control. Perhaps something I write here will resonate with you, or challenge you.

Orientation Toward College

My student population is very oriented toward college studies, and are very aware that they need about 3 years of language study in order to get into the colleges they are interested in. German is not offered at the local community college that many Running Start students attend, so I get a bump of students in my third year class who are taking college classes, but need my class to stay in German.

College credit is also very enticing to students, as they know it looks good on college applications. Using AP German for that credit was tough because it seems like every university treats AP credit for languages differently (one student needed a 5 in order to get ANY credit at all, for example, while others took 3s and up), and I never had a standalone AP class on my campus. This made it hard to teach toward the AP exam when I also had (significantly more) level 3 students in the same class. I think a stacked class like that is doable, but I struggled with it. So, I sought an alternate arrangement for college credit!

Forming a partnership with a local community college helped secure college credit for my students, and gave me more flexibility in delivery of content. The professor I have been working with loves seeing what is happening at the secondary level in German teaching, and helped me make my upper level classes more college-y.

Extracurricular Activities

My school has a German Club that is very active, and I believe it plays a role in attracting students to my program. Students have said how much they love having a community of friends, and that they have even more opportunities to learn about German cultural products and practices that are hard to cover during normal class times.

The German Club Bundestag (parliament, our group of officers) makes extensive use of the German Club Idea List, a list of potential ideas for club activities that is divided between “anytime” ideas and month/day-specific ideas. This makes planning easier for everyone (me included) and makes sure that we are always doing something together. As much as the students like German Club as a social group, the activities give a unifying purpose that makes them feel like they learned something special by choosing to come to German Club that day. Our Club Time is incorporated once monthly into our school day schedule on a Friday, and we try to host a couple after-school events per quarter.

I have also created a chapter of the National German Honors Society that helps add some prestige to students’ study of German, as members of the Honors Society get special recognition at graduation. I’m trying to plan some more Honors Society-only events that add more fun and privilege to that group.

Proficiency-Based Instruction

Research indicates that moving towards proficiency-oriented language instruction increases student motivation and feelings of confidence, while also helping students attain better oral proficiency than traditional, grammar-and-vocabulary language instruction. We’re talking students that are more likely to stick with programs because they’re learning more. It can feel terrifying to shift away from the safe refuge of a textbook curriculum, but you don’t have to do it alone. Working with colleagues to change your instruction – identifying Can Dos to center your planning, using more of the Target Language in class, having more spontaneous, supported interaction in class, and so on – can help take away the fear and uncertainty. Many hands make light work.

Ultimately, proficiency-oriented language instruction chooses an asset mindset, versus a deficit mindset, in regards to students’ language development. We are focusing on cultivating what students can do with the language, versus what they know about the language, or what “errors” they make in their first attempts at communicating in a new language. That mindset is refreshing and inspiring, and helps learners focus on how they are being successful in their language classes instead of “failing” at this or that verb ending or sentence structure. Success motivates – and students want to stick around where they have been successful!

Choosing activities that increase student joy also increases student attachment to the course, and makes it more likely that they will keep it in their schedule as a bright spot in their day. My students have described German as “a break from my other classes” in the way that it makes them feel.

I suspect that some of this comes from spontaneous, co-created content. This includes creating stories with TPRS, creating characters with OWIs, Special Person Interviews, small talk and chit chat in the language, and any activities where you don’t know how students are going to creatively respond. It is terrifying to jump into a class and not know what content is going to be “covered” in the period based on student responses, but giving yourself as the instructor bail-out moves and skeleton structures to support you while leading these activities can help you still get students lots of language, no matter what. And students find the spontaneity exciting, memorable, and motivating.

Motivation and Inclusion

The through-line of a lot of the ideas mentioned above is an orientation toward that which motivates as many different students as possible, based on their basic psychological needs. I view motivation through the lens of Self-Determination Theory, which I learned about from Dr. Liam Printer. According to SDT, people are motivated by their basic human psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.

Being flexible and responsive to student curiosity and creativity gives choice, fulfilling student needs for autonomy. They help co-create our stories, share their interests with me and their peers regularly, and are provided differentiated activities to show their growth in a way that most speaks to them.

By choosing Comprehension-Based Communicative Language Teaching, I am giving my students a greater chance at developing competence in the Target Language by teaching in a way that is acquisition-supportive and aligned with how their brains actually process language. Partnered with realistic expectations for how acquisition works (and the time that it takes) and regular formative assessment, students get to notch consistent victories in their language classes (which can turn into college credit, more opportunities to create community with others, etc.).

Building relatedness does not stop after the first weeks of the school year. Every activity is an opportunity for personalization and connection to others, building a sense of community. A student once left the feedback, “I feel like I could say something interesting about each person in our class,” and that felt like the greatest indicator that we had taken time as a class to get to know each other well in the Target Language.

This only works if every student builds the belief that they can learn another language, and we treat every student as if they will become a very proficient user of the language. Our vision, our curricular choices, and our practices must all be viewed through a lens of inclusion. How can I make as many students as possible successful in this class?

I can do that by reading IEPs and 504 plans. I can do that by auditing my curriculum to increase student access to windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors in their learning, and challenging them to grow as thinkers and people. I can do that by challenging myself in the ways I think about “difficult” students, and seeking ways to make certain that they are successful.

An inclusive and motivating classroom is a place where youth will want to be.

What factors in and out of your control affect your program growth? Every context is different – let us know about your obstacles and successes in the comments below!

The Marker Game: A Listening Comprehension Competition!

I love using games to provide more input to students – it feels like disguising the vegetables in a meal for a child. And when students are pin-drop silent to be sure to hear every single word of their L2? Those moments are *chefs kiss* in the always-hectic teaching profession. The Marker Game is a tried-and-true for my classes, and I’m happy to share it with you.

Why should you play? Because this game is a great way to review with students, and the competition aspect gets them listening veeeerrrry closely. It also works as a great, no-prep formative assessment!

When do I use the Marker Game?

Play the Marker Game after students have learned about a topic – this could be the information covered in one class period, or over the course of a unit. It’s a review game, and could be a great way to help students retrieve things they have learned over the course of a unit of study. Or, it can just be a way to sneak in more listening input of new language before beginning a Write and Discuss!

How do I do it? – Logistics

It’s called the Marker Game, but really, you just need to have some sort of physical object that students can put on the ground or table between them. I have used dollar store stuffed animals for this, highlighters, markers, my students’ own pencils – so long as the object is easy for your students to grab. (I actually generally prefer my stuffed animals because they are less…stab-y…)

You will also want to think about the statements you will be making as part of the game. You can prepare a list of statements about the topic of study, with some true and some false all mixed together. This can help make sure you hit specific informational points, or use specific language. I have also consulted the texts we have created during Write and Discuss as a source of ideas and inspiration for statements about what we’ve been studying.

Or, you can do what I do 90% of the time, which is: make the statements up on the fly! As I’m often doing this with the information learned in that specific class period, I just refer to whatever images or new language have been up on my board, and work from that. Follow your comfort!

How do I do it? – Procedure

  1. Have students partner up in a manner of your choosing. A group of 3 could also work!
  2. Give each partnership the “grabbable” object, and instruct them in the L2 to lay it on the table/ground between them.
  3. Tell the class in L2 that you are going to make statements about [the topic.]
  4. Tell the class (and demonstrate) that if you say something true/correct, to grab the object and hold it in the air.
  5. Tell the class (and demonstrate) that if you say something false/incorrect, to do nothing. Don’t pick up the object, don’t touch it, etc.
  6. I always start the first play-through of the game by stating in L2, “My name is…Barbara.” If the kids do nothing, I go “yeah woohoo y’all are so smart!” Then, I say in L2, “My name is…Herr Fisher-Rodriguez!” If they scramble to grab the object and hold it aloft, boom! You’re ready to go.
  7. Make a statement about the learned content in L2, verrrrrry slowly. Students often get excited during this game, so slightly lowering your voice is a great way to get them to lean in and hang on every word.
  8. Heap some love on correct responses (either they didn’t raise the object at a false statement, or DID raise it at a true one), and let everyone who answered erroneously/didn’t get the object know that it’s alright, they’ll get it next time. I usually reiterate correct statements, maybe asking for a quick translation, and repeat false statements while shaking my head or saying something like “how silly!” in the L2.
  9. Keep going until your energy is gone, their energy/focus is gone, or you have nothing left to say about the topic at hand! (Though if you want, you can start throwing in even older content to shake things up and keep the review going!)

What do I do with it now that we’ve finished?

Game over! Since this was such a great session of reviewing auditory input, it is a good idea to have that information in text form for students to read, as well. If you don’t have a prepared text, Write and Discuss is a great way to create a level-appropriate text that demonstrates writing conventions, spelling, etc. that you can use for further extension activities. I find that using this before Write and Discuss actually makes it flow better, as the language is fresh in mind and has been repeated quite a bit!

Pro Tips!

  1. Puppy guarding and head bonking are no-nos! Some students, in their competitiveness, try to hover their hands over the object to best their partner. Perhaps indicate where student hands should rest unless they are decidedly reaching for the object. Sometimes, my students also lean their whole body into getting the object (it kind of looks like a football tackle), which can lead to head bonking injuries. You might also indicate that the objective is to grab the object first, not maintain possession after a fumble.
  2. Tally marks! I usually don’t keep score because the moment-to-moment competition is enough to keep students engaged, but if you want, you can have students keep score in whatever way is simplest for you. I sometimes just give a scrap of scratch paper, and then students use the marker from the game to tally their scores as they go. Winners get a sticker, a piece of candy, or just points in my heart and many days of future happiness!
  3. Formatively assess and reteach! Sometimes, students won’t rush to grab the object, or erroneously grab it at a false statement. This is data for me as the teacher! I can then give a quick translation/gesture/drawing of any tricky bits to reteach vocabulary or information, and/or make sure to incorporate the tricky vocabulary/information into future statements during the game to give students helpful repetitions and more chances at success.
  4. Make them work for it! Sometimes, I’m evil and save a huge twist for the end of the sentence (works great in German) so that they really have to be paying attention to meaning and not just listen for familiar words. Make them work for it!!!
  5. Thinking! You can rephrase information so that it doesn’t appear in the same form as it did when students initially learned it. This sharpens listening skills a lot. You can also make statements that require inference from students, based on the information learned, as an extra challenge toward higher-order thinking.

What if I want to learn more?

Here is a post from the Comprehensible Classroom that introduces a team competition variation on the game – students form two lines facing each other, and points are earned by how many players on each team raised the object OR by which team had the majority of the successful object grabs. So fun! (See also Martina’s expert note on why not to use bouncy balls as the object for the game, lol)

Allison at Mis Clases Locas projects the statements on the board, which allows for more reading input and for projecting the correct answers!

Both posts point to Cynthia Hitz as the originator of this strategy, so check out her blog!

What do you think? Do you feel ready to play the Marker Game? Comment below and send me any questions you might have!

Calendar Talk – Keeping Your Fingers on the Pulse of Classroom Cultural Life

Calendar Talk often comes up in conversations about “essential” techniques, and for good reason: it can be a fantastic way to participate in the lives of your students, and provide windows into other cultures! The class is able to share about important events and moments in their lives, and the teacher keeps their finger on the pulse of what is current and important to the students in their class. (The older I get, the more I find myself thinking, “The what? Why is that cool? What are they doing? My lower back hurts. This is just a rehash of the 90s. What is happening.“)

Why should you use Calendar Talk in your classroom? Calendar Talk allows everyone to talk about the things that matter in their lives lately, while also providing an opportunity to learn about and connect to important dates in other cultures, and can thus build deep, powerful connections between classmates and the instructor for maximum joy and acquisition.

When do I use Calendar Talk?

Calendar Talk is a very flexible technique: it can be incorporated into instruction as just part of an opening (or even closing) routine, or it can be a standalone activity itself. In any case, Calendar Talk generates a lot of language that is personalized to the class.

As for when in the school year to use this technique: literally whenever! I find myself starting the year with it because it can be a very safe activity, but I find my use of it ebbs and flows based on student (and instructor, hello) interest. But then, it can be a great palate-cleanser between lots of new activity types, units, or at points in the year when everyone just needs a win (and some connection to go with it). It can be the comforting home base to return to when the class has taken the midnight train to Crazy Town. (This never happens to me, what are you talking about…)

How do I do it? – Logistics

First, get ye a calendar! You want to find a format that works for you.

I typically draw a calendar grid onto a large piece of butcher paper or a giant Post-It. You want it to be big enough to be visible to students and also usable for an entire month. I have joined the legions of Mr. Sketch-addicted teachers to draw and mark the calendars. I find that you can use one calendar for all classes, though sometimes classes get a lot of information out onto the calendar OR feel a strong sense of ownership that might require you to get separate calendars for certain classes. Take into account cost and materials and do what makes sense for you.

Much more economically friendly is just printing a blank calendar template from online onto printer paper, and writing on it using a doc cam. I typically search “[month] calendar” in the Target Language to see if I can get relevant cultural celebrations already built into the calendar, and because the format is often different from US-American calendars. (German calendars, for instance, start on Mondays, not Sundays. Culture!)

If you want to go a digital route, get a template that is easy to use and reuse. During distance learning, I used this free calendar I found online (in German and in Spanish) with easy to copy/paste graphics to move around the calendar pages. It is also easy to make copies of pages so that each class can have its own calendar, and you could even link the calendar slide in view-only mode to a course website.

An alternative for both of these is to just use Small Talk Slides that can help cover the same sorts of information, but without the same calendar visual. A disadvantage is that the actual calendar page serves as a visual scaffold and memory bank – I would venture a guess that most students have seen a calendar and would have its format as a starting point for understanding – but an advantage is that having a closed set of choices can help students be more expressive and not be intimidated by trying to come up with what’s going on in their lives lately, in the L2, when they might not feel quite comfortable doing that. (But also: accepting relevant L1 as part of Calendar Talk can help lower the affective filter, and if you can just rephrase into comprehensible L2, students can acquire personalized, highly relevant vocabulary.)

Pick a format that feels easy and workable for you and your classroom context! And if you have found any sweet templates in your internet browsing, please share them in the comments.

How do I do it? – Procedure

  1. Display the calendar of your choosing so that all students can clearly see it. Or, if you want, you might just draw out the calendar live in front of your students, narrating what you are doing in the L2. “I am going to draw a calendar. I am drawing a line, a line, etc. Hmm…let’s think. Monday…Tuesday…Wednesday… What month is it? Oh, it’s September!” etc.
  2. Introduce the calendar in language at your students’ level. This can range from: “This…is… a calendar! Look…at the calendar! Wow! Let’s talk…about the calendar!” to “Today, we’re going to talk about what is going on in your lives lately, and what’s going on at our school. Let’s also learn about what’s going on in [Target Culture community]!”
  3. To ease into the activity, it can be nice to start with just the date, and the weather. For upper level students, or level 1s who are familiar, just asking “What day is today? What is today’s date?” gets the job done, where beginner students will need more scaffolded questions. You might point at the relevant spots on the calendar and ask this-or-that questions, like “Is today Tuesday…or Wednesday? Is tomorrow Wednesday…or Thursday? Is today or tomorrow Tuesday? Ah yes, today is Tuesday, and tomorrow is Wednesday.” Writing new-to-your-students vocabulary on the board in L1 and L2 can help support making this early-in-the-year activity 100% comprehensible. Writing words like “today” directly onto the calendar can help with this, too.
  4. Then, you can move on to the weather! Beginning with “How is the weather?” you might offer choices again (“Is it sunny…or cloudy?”) with visual supports (drawings or writing in L1 and L2), show the class a list of options, or with students who are ready, just let them answer however they can. You can draw that onto the calendar to record it and scaffold understanding.
  5. If students are familiar with Calendar Talk, everything before this was just the warm up…here’s where it gets interesting! Now, ask the class if there is anything important or interesting happening today, or this week/month. Anything! This can be birthdays of students or their family members, sports matches, performances, school events, holidays – anything! It is likely that students will offer these ideas in L1 – that’s totally okay. You can just let them share, or set a limit for how much L1 you accept, and then rephrase their sharing into comprehensible L2. Aim to use high-frequency vocabulary in doing so – leaning on the Sweet 16 verbs and writing new vocabulary on your board – so that your students can use and reuse that language when talking about their own lives. “Oh! Soandso…has a football game…on Friday! Does Soandso have a football game or a football practice on Friday? etc etc”
  6. Ask lots of natural follow up questions to what students share. “Where?” and “With whom?” are great questions to get more information out of a student’s sharing, and these added details allow you to see a fuller picture of your students’ lives. “Where will you play the football game?” can lead into discussions about how students get to and from their sports practices, how much time they invest in their extracurriculars, and so much more. “With whom do you play video games?” can easily lend itself to a discussion about favorite games and genres, the trials and tribulations of online gaming lobbies, what gaming systems they had when they were younger, and if students have favorite streamers they like to watch play. Generally relying on question words (which I always have posted in my classroom) gives you a lot of ways to go with whatever students share, but also – follow your own curiosity! Especially if you don’t know much about a student’s hobby, this gives them a chance to teach you something. All the while, check frequently for class comprehension, and ask processing/circling questions about what is learned.
  7. See if you can connect events and happenings to as many students as possible. If you’re discussing a birthday, poll the class on who has birthdays in what month, if it’s better to have a birthday during the summer or during the school year, how old everyone in class is, who’s the oldest and youngest, etc. (We had a student in one class last year that we affectionately dubbed “Grandpa” because he was an older junior in a class of freshmen, and the next oldest student was “Uncle Soandso.” I, of course, was “Great Grandpa FishRod.”) Sharing about video games or sports can lead to questions about who also enjoys playing, or who just watches, or who has a sibling who plays. The discussion is never just about any one kid – it always can involve the whole class. Any new words are going up on the board, and getting repeated in processing/circling questions frequently throughout.
  8. Discuss upcoming events for as long as students maintain interest and attention! This is something you will just have to feel out. Sometimes, students are quiet, but engaged, and you can continue discussing for a while. Sometimes, the rambunctious sharing energy is too much, and you just have to move on. Sometimes…you just want to get to the next activity. Move on when you’re ready to move on!

What do I do with it now that we’ve finished?

At the end of a session of Calendar Talk, I try to review the new information we just learned about our classmates. This can be as simple as oral questioning, or could be playing The Mysterious Person game. This can help students acquire more of any new language through more comprehensible repetitions, and give you a chance to shine the spotlight one more time on the students in your class.

I also like to make sure I have saved what is learned on the calendar in some visual way. Whether it’s writing key words in L2 (“Football game” “New video game” “No school” “Tech week”) onto the calendar, or just drawing little icons to jog everyone’s memory, recording what was learned onto the calendar visual stamps the lives of your students into an important classroom document. This can serve to remind you later to check in with students about things they mentioned: “Hey, how was the track meet? Where did you end up going to eat on your birthday?” Nothing makes someone feel more special than getting checked up on.

The visuals on the calendar can also serve as great scaffolds to start a Write and Discuss text. This gives students a chance to see more complete written sentences, and notice anything interesting about how the L2 is written. This can also serve to reinforce any new vocabulary that came up spontaneously during the sharing from your students’ lives, which ends up creating a sort of personalized vocabulary list for your class.

To round out the experience, you might also administer a Quick Quiz as a formative assessment. This can give students even more repetitions of new, relevant vocabulary, and can be a real confidence booster.

Pro Tips!

  1. It is not about teaching calendar stuff! Sure, we can use the calendar to learn the words for “today, yesterday, tomorrow,” the weather and numbers, etc., but the calendar is really a springboard for asking students what else they are doing in their lives besides just being your students, and how they are doing in their lives. If we focus on the “calendar vocab” instead of on the lives of our students, we are missing out on opportunities to learn more about their lives, connect with them, and connect them to each other. Calendar Talk is about building community, and discovering the cultures of your class.
  2. Share from your own life! Don’t be afraid to put events from your own life on the calendar, because you are also a member of your classroom community. As much as you feel comfortable sharing, this can help build even more connections between you and your students.
  3. Favorite day of the week! I have learned some fascinating things by asking the class what their favorite days of the week were. Many students pick weekend days, with specific reasons why one day is better than another, but sometimes students will pick a weekday for an interesting reason. One student picked Thursday and told me that it was because it was the day her favorite webcomic dropped new panels. Glad I asked instead of just saying “we all love Saturday, right?”
  4. Find the style that suits you! Some teachers feel comfortable with sprawling discussions that can take from 10 minutes to the entire period, and feel comfortable managing the flow of new language into the activity. I try to ride the energy of my class, which is variable every day, and feel comfortable improvising a bit as students share their various life events. Some teachers want to keep an activity like this more controlled. In that case, offer choices that students must choose from, as opposed to leaving things more open. “Who has a game this weekend? Do you have a football game or a lacrosse game? etc.” And if you are ever feeling so overwhelmed that it isn’t feeling worth it: move on! It’s okay! You can always try again.
  5. Day of the Day! There are tons of declared holidays around the world, some interesting and historical, some just wacky. Writing them into your class calendar and discussing them with your students as a way to personalize the calendar can be really rewarding and fun. You can use this excellent website for ideas, or look at calendars in your Target Language to see if anything comes up.
  6. Make cultural connections! Keeping an eye on current events and holidays in your Target Culture(s) can make Calendar Talk a natural opportunity to introduce more of the Target Culture(s) into your classes! Write them onto the calendar ahead of time to remind yourself, and open discussions that allow students to make cultural connections and comparisons. My students have always been interested in holidays that offer time off of school in the Target Culture (haha!), elections, regional festivals…
  7. Make connections with people from the Target Culture(s)! It can also be fun to introduce celebrities from a Target Culture, perhaps on a day when they did something significant, or on their birth or death days.
  8. Hire a meteorologist! Once discussing the date and weather loses its luster for the whole class, you can hire for the class job of “Meteorologist.” This person can stand up at the beginning of Calendar Talk, sometimes to the applause of their peers, and briefly report on the date and weather. One of my students used to run out the door to get the absolute best read on the current weather and return in a dramatic burst, and another used to give some sort of encouraging message to the class to start the day. Great fun!
  9. Look up the weather in Target Culture locations! While you’re on the topic of weather, it can be fun to look up the weather in other cities around the world. This naturally allows you to make comparisons between your city and the other city or cities, and might also teach your students about Fahrenheit and Celsius! You might find a link to a weather website in the Target Language – I always use wetter.de and show students the capital cities of the German-speaking world, as well as the city where I used to live.
  10. Do it however you like! This blog post is informed by years of practice and learning from other teachers, and I’m hoping it offers you lots of options for how you might go about doing Calendar Talk. But! Don’t feel like you have to do it all. Again, Calendar Talk is only kind of about the calendar. Mostly, it’s about learning more about your students’ lives and cultures, and connecting them to each other and you. If you focus on that, you can’t go wrong.

What if I want to learn more?

Here is Claudia Elliott’s post about why she uses Calendar Talk, including a video of her doing it with a Spanish 3 class. She also has a whole episode of her fabulous podcast on the topic!!

This is Maris Hawkin’s post about Calendar Talk, which comes with some very helpful linked resources!

I also loved this post from Spanish with Stephanie that includes lots of great resources and examples.

What do you think? Do you feel ready to use Calendar Talk? Comment below and send me any questions you might have!

Classroom: Managed – Physical Skills to Practice and Refine

I have been thinking about the school year beginning soon – I still have about three weeks to get my last bits of rest in, and plan for my best year yet. In addition to thoughts of curriculum and activities, I have been thinking about classroom management, and how to always be improving my skills.

It’s easy to think that classroom management is either something you have, or something you don’t, and that this is based somehow around your personality. Some teachers just look like naturals, and teachers who share online don’t often share their management struggles. But with time, experience, and practice, I have joined management expert Jon Cowart in finding that classroom management is actually a skill set that you can develop, and having solid management is essential to making all the amazing curriculum and activities happen.

Classroom management encompasses so many different things, including teacher-student relationships, student-student relationships, physical classroom setup, the way we phrase our instructions and expectations, how we respond to student behaviors, etc. In this post, I want to focus on some physical skills – how we use our voices and bodies – that have helped me feel like I am managing a more positive, productive classroom with clear, learning-supportive expectations.

Breathe: This is Classroom Management Skill #1 for me. No matter what is happening, taking a moment to take a deep breath is how we can calm any nerves or annoyance that we are feeling, and access our best, most responsive selves. Consciously breathing deeply slows us down, and makes us more present to the real people in front of us. This can be the difference between snapping at a student in a way we later regret, and communicating calmly how an expectation has been broken, and how best to move forward. Breathe. Do it now while you’re reading, even!

Plant Your Feet: In my home life, I’m always pacing around the house to get out all my nervous energy. In front of a classroom, this pacing and constant movement can be infectious, and distracting. To lend gravity and focus to what we are conveying to students, we can plant our feet squarely on one spot as best we can, not move from that spot, and just turn our bodies from left to right to scan the entire class. If we want to move to a new position, we can use it like punctuation: landing where we’re going at the end of a statement, and then continuing our next idea from that new planted spot. This helps bring physical cohesion to the words we are saying.

Speak Slowly: Taking time to breathe can slow our bodies down, which can help us also speak more slowly. Speaking slowly increases the chance that students will comprehend what we are saying, regardless of language. This can also decrease the frustration at lack of “keeping up” that can lead to disengagement. It’s good for management, and good for making sure students are getting the comprehensible input they need for acquisition! We need not speak in an exaggerated or unnatural way, just slower than our conversational speeds. Think how comforting the cadence of Mr. Rogers is, or Miss Rachel! (This one is particularly difficult for me, being a Hyper Speed Yapper.)

Look Into Your Students’ Eyes: In public speaking, we are often told to look just above the heads of our audience to help with nerves and delivery. If we take the time to look all our students in their eyes, we can often stop disruptions before they start. How often do students really feel seen at school? I try to look every student in the eye at least once per class, which gives me space to smile, nod, encourage, show interest, raise my eyebrows preventatively – so many small gestures that are not invasive for their peers, but let kids know that we are present with them.

Proximity: I think proximity often does get talked about in relation to classroom management, but it’s worth reiterating. I use it in a spectrum, beginning just with eye contact with a student that is beginning to interrupt others’ learning. Then, I turn my body to face that specific student, while still addressing and teaching the whole class. Then, I move slowly toward the student in question, building in pauses and planting my feet for a while in one spot to see how close I will need to get to redirect the student. All the while, I am making eye contact more frequently with the student, even as I continue to just teach class. Sometimes students catch on and change their behaviors before I even move very much in their direction. If I make it all the way to a kid, I bend over or crouch so I am closer to their seated level, and quietly tell them what I want them to be doing at that time. This sounds something like, “Right now, we are answering questions about the map in German.” Or, “We can respond to the video with rejoinders or words in German.” Always seek the least invasive interaction, as best you can, and describe what you want your students to actually do (versus not do).

Self-Interrupt: If a student starts talking L1 while we are talking L2, we can simply stop talking immediately. The break in classroom “noise” often snaps loudly in students’ attention, and if we can patiently hold the pause in whatever we were saying until it is clear that we are responding to talking out of turn, then we can reinforce how we will focus and participate in class. I am usually turned toward the L1-speaking student in question, and once they stop, I carry on with whatever I was saying in L2, after a pause. Adding a smile back at the student who changed their behavior a few seconds later can convey, “That was an oops! Thanks for getting back on board.” Of course, if a student doesn’t respond to this intervention for whatever reason, use proximity or an attention-getter to redirect that particular student.

Respond Every Time: Every time a student does something that disrupts their peers’ learning, and especially if their actions serve to belittle, demean, or intimidate other students for any of their preferences or identities, we must respond. Even just stopping what you were doing and saying, “That is not how we behave here” or “We don’t talk like that here” is better than no response at all. Much of classroom management is setting boundaries for what we accept as part of the classroom culture, and we are the leaders in that boundary setting. Choosing to act, rather than to just look the other way, models to the rest of the class how we can positively deal with offensive, interruptive, or just plain annoying behavior, and can convey a commitment to protecting students with marginalized identities. It’s never “just a joke.” Respond. Every. Time.

Address the Class But Look at the Student Who Needs Support: When a student has done something offensive or demeaning, it is tempting to direct all your righteous indignation right at them. It can be more powerful to turn to the whole class and remind the whole class of the classroom/school expectations (“At our school, we show respect for the differences of others” etc.), and then look the offending student in the eyes to make clear that we registered their behavior and are responding to it. This can prevent a bigger interruption should a student try to engage in a power struggle, and gives you both time to cool down until you can request a follow-up with that student later in the period.

Give Instructions, Then Freeze: This is a small thing that has had a huge impact for me. When students are about to begin a task in groups, or independent work, I make sure the instructions are understood clearly, with lots of comprehension checks. Then, I say: “You are going to do XYZ starting in 3…2…1…Go!” Then I freeze. And I stare at them. All of them, in the eyes! This conveys, “No, really, get started,” and allows you to very quickly see who needs more support or resources to get to the task at hand. If I start myself moving too quickly after giving the “Go!” signal, it takes students longer to start, and I miss out on formatively assessing who feels confident to dive into the task straight away.

Demon Voice: This is goofy, but sometimes, if a student is not following expectations while I address the whole class, I will just say their name quickly in a deep, dark demon voice, and then continue on with my normal voice toward the rest of the class, saying whatever I was trying to say. It is usually just surprising enough to help the student readjust toward the classroom expectations, and can get some smiles and laughs, as well. Make sure you have good relationships with your students before you try this, though, because it is admittedly…wacky. 🙂 “Alright, everyone. Today, we are going to JOANN be learning about sports in German-speaking countries. (smile and wink)”

Practice: Teaching is Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. There are so many microhabits that make up the art and science of teaching, and it can feel very overwhelming. But! Olympic runners did not get down the mechanics of a technically strong start that transitions into a technically strong stride on the first go. They practiced, failed, tried again. So, with all these skills and the myriad other skills I didn’t mention here, it just takes time and practice to get them to work to their best. Have faith, gentle reader. You’ve got this!

What other physical skills do you consider essential for classroom management? Comment below!

90% Target Language: How to Work Toward This Core Practice

ACTFL recommends that teachers and learners aim for 90%+ of class time to be spent in the Target Language, and lists the facilitation of Target Language usage as one of its six Core Practices. Comprehensible Input is the sine non qua of language acquisition, of course, so in my view, Target Language usage is something we constantly need to be reflecting on as part of our teaching practice. Approaching that 90% has been a goal of mine for years (indeed, I made visiting as many sessions about 90%+ TL the focus of my attendance at ACTFL 2017 in Nashville), and I am finally getting to a place where I am feeling pretty good about my abilities to execute this Core Practice. Part of that is recognizing that 50% days, 70% days, 99% days, and 20% days are all okay, too, and part of the natural ebb and flow of working in a very human profession.

I have been reflecting a lot on how I have been working on this in my own classroom, and what I think are some key pieces in getting to 90%. I imagine this will be an evolving set of reflections, so let’s get started with where I am right now:

Trust

I really think one of the keys to getting to high levels of Target Language is building student’s trust that you will help them understand the TL at every step along the way.

This begins with an explicit commitment to students: “I want you to understand everything that is going on in our class, and I will do my best to make everything clear to you.” As an example, Cécile Lainé demonstrates this commitment with how she introduces the physical signal students give when they have not understood something: she asks students to make the audible signal (fist against open palm, snapping, tongue clicking, etc.) “when I say something and you don’t understand because I’m confusing you” so that she can “stop and help.” Students are also prompted to support their classmates by joining in making the designated sound – so if one student makes the noise because they don’t understand, everyone else also joins in to make sure that they can all get it.

This shows that she sees her primary goal as making sure every student understands, and that no student will be singled out for not understanding, no matter the reason. Students do have to show up and listen – and make the signal to show lack of comprehension – but their teacher is verbally committing to trying to be as clear as possible. If the teacher then celebrates the use of this signal, and clarifies spots where they confused students, that trusting relationship is built through words and actions. (Watch this video by Cécile to see the setup of these strategies in action – she is a master.)

You can also build trust by watching the eyes and faces of your students as you teach, and responding to blank or confused looks. If we explicitly verbalize, “I saw what looked like confusion to me, and I want to make sure everyone has got it so we can all learn together,” and then rephrase/restate/add a gesture or writing/etc., students will see that you are making good on your commitment to teaching them as clearly as you can. With a trusting relationship, teacher and learners can push each other to ever-higher levels of Target Language usage and skill.

Our Mindset

Sometimes, we as teachers don’t trust ourselves to make high levels of TL usage happen, and/or we don’t trust that our students will rise to the high expectation of 90%+ TL usage. On the Language Lounge podcast, guest Marnina Falk reminded listeners of an essential mindset for us while working towards this goal: everyone can learn an additional language, and with the right supports, everyone can thrive in a class with high levels of TL usage. I remember a presentation I went to at WAFLT with Paul Sandrock where he shared research showing that students expect high levels of TL usage in their classes, but the teachers are the ones who back away from it out of fear! Perhaps we need to make it into daily affirmations: I can maintain an atmosphere of high TL usage – my students will thrive hearing lots of TL!

“You are understanding”

Language classes are so different from content courses, and carry an air of mystique and difficulty (perhaps because of previous generations’ lack of success with older methods). It is essential that we give our students early confirmations of their success in a high TL usage environment. This can be Quick Quizzes where we confirm that students have been comprehending the content of the day and ending class on a positive note, or just being clear during frequent comprehension checks: yes, you are doing the work of acquiring a language! You ARE understanding! I don’t think it’s out of bounds to just tell this to our students directly, in L1. We want to develop an inner voice in our students that says: I can do this, I AM doing this. Frequent formative assessment helps us share with students the path of proficiency so they can continue walking it.

Having Communicative Goals

If your goal is to teach and assess student knowledge about the grammatical forms of your TL, it is likely that you will use a lot of L1 to talk about linguistic terms. At the end of the course, students may have heard TL, but they will mostly have learned about the language, rather than having used the language.

If we want students to use the language, and we want to use it ourselves, we need to set communicative goals. These can be psychosocial (building relationships), cognitive-informational (obtaining information for some purpose), or entertainment.

We can learn about our classmates, their families and cultures and experiences, and the target culture(s), and also share how we are doing, what our preferences and opinions are, and also just have fun. I think the ACTFL Can Do Statements do a good job at reminding us that language is for DOING things, so having clarity about what function(s) we are trying to elicit helps make planning for target language usage – modeling, selecting useful vocabulary, questioning, etc. – much more effective and targeted.

Don’t be afraid of English

Some ACTFL publications take a hardline stance on English usage and basically tell you “don’t do it unless the building is on fire and you have to evacuate quickly.” I disagree with a hardline stance like that. (Obviously, uh, use L1 if the building is on fire, of course.) I read research somewhere (and am of course not finding it while I’m writing this, so thanks in advance to anyone who can send it my way!) that regardless of how hard we try to get learners to associate an L2 word with a wordless concept (vs. a related word in L1), they are still going to internally link new words to L1 meanings, anyways.

What this means to me is that sometimes, I can draw a picture on the board or do a gesture that makes an L2 word’s meaning clear, and sometimes, I’m just going to write the word on the board in L2 and L1 (usually in different colors to be clear what belongs to which language). I’m not afraid of that! If I am committed to using that new word in the service of some sort of communicative goal, I’m going to use it in the L2, and the time spent establishing the meaning of the word in L1 will not have dragged at my 90%+ TL goal too much.

I feel the same way about comprehension checks. Especially early in lower levels, I want to give the feeling of accomplishment and being-in-the-right-place to my students early, and often. Asking “what did I just say?” in L1 and hearing a confident choral response gives me the feedback that students are with me, and when I affirm that to my students, they know it for themselves, too. I find I use this sort of comprehension check less frequently as students move up in levels, but that’s because they have confidently acquired enough language to be more functional in the TL.

Instructions can be the same way. If a quick explanation serves to get us all back into the TL to do a new activity or procedure, then giving it briefly in L1 works for me.

We have to be practical in our use of time in class, because we don’t have much of it, so we are mostly going to be in L2. But! Sometimes the quickest way to get to more L2 is through a little detour into L1. Reading Justin’s post about the role of the L1 in a class really clarified this for me.

Model everything!

If you want students to do something, you can show them how to do it by narrating your own actions in the Target Language. If you have a movement prompt, model thinking about how you would respond to it, and then moving around your classroom to indicate your answer. If you have a new game or partner activity, either have the class be your partner to model, or pick a student you suspect will catch on quickly. You can play with this and just do classic TPR, too, modeling commands and then fading the modeling. Then: you can review any instructions with text on the board as a review before setting students to the task.

Rejoinders

Learners want to feel connected to others and not feel isolated in class. This can express itself with verbal outbursts in the L1 that have the power to derail class, but can actually be a positive sign: they WANT to be a part of the classroom community and contribute their thoughts! But how can we get them to do that without opening a floodgate of L1?

Using rejoinders in the L2 – short phrases that indicate your reaction to something happening – can give students tools to participate and share that connectedness, while also keeping it in the TL. You can teach students maybe 2-3 at a time, perhaps with accompanying gestures that get the meanings of the rejoinders across, and make a point to find situations to use them in your class for about a week or so. Any time a student uses one, I always try to respond with positivity and excitement – because “using these phrases really makes you sound like an [L2] speaker!” I sometimes also prompt students by asking: “What would be a logical reaction to what Soandso just said / what just happened?”

When students are shouting out “What a bummer!” and “How cute!” and “Awesome!” in the TL, it really does feel like you’re helping grow their abilities as L2 speakers, and makes it a sort of a game – in the Target Language! My students in particular like to use them ironically while staring me dead in the eye, and I mock outrage at their callousness. “Soandso has mountains of homework, and your reaction is ‘How lovely!’??! You monsters!” Boom: play, in the Target Language.

I learned a lot of what I know about rejoinders from Grant Boulanger, and offer you some rejoinders in German, if you should need them. I print rejoinders on card stock, two to a sheet, and hang them with magnets on an awkwardly-shaped portion of whiteboard. When students have a good grasp on them, I “retire” them, pinning them above our smartboard, where they become a visual reminder of our growing linguistic repertoire.

Non-verbal or single-word responses

Sometimes, we don’t need students to respond with words. They can respond with their movements! The “I don’t understand” signal from above comes first to mind. Students can also point at an option they prefer, or at an object (or sometimes person) in the room. They can stand up and move to Four Corners to share their opinions and experiences, or form a continuum. They can clap to agree, snap to disagree – or any variation on that idea. They can stand up to indicate “Me too!” All the while, we as the instructors are providing lots of rich input, interaction, and guided conversation.

Sometimes, it is also totally okay for students to give single-word responses. These could be choral responses to circling questions, making a choice after you provide a this-or-that question, or saying the name of a brand or place that they are familiar with in response to your prompting. These all require us to plan ahead to provide logical choices, and the more couched they are in TL sentences (“I like to eat chocolate/vanilla/strawberry ice cream” vs. just “chocolate/vanilla/strawberry”), the more input we can facilitate in the TL while also getting more information about and personalizing to our students.

“May I speak English?”

Above my whiteboard, I have the phrase “May I speak English?” in the TL on a small poster. I teach students what it means in English, and then use it myself whenever I need to tell the students something in English. This establishes an environment where we are working to have class mostly in L2, and will show deference to others’ goals of using class time to really practice the L2 by asking permission to speak L1. The more I do this, the more students ask for permission!

Sometimes they forcefully say “no” to my requests – and I go okay! And try to convey what I needed to convey in L2. Sometimes I gently say “no” to my students – but mostly if I suspect they are trying to tell a derailing anecdote in L1. And sometimes, when I “allow” students to use L1, I also give them a guideline for how much. “Yes, but just one word.” “Yes, but just one sentence.” “Yes, but you have five seconds.” This makes it a fun game, and I can see if there needs to be further questioning afterward beyond the imposed limit.

Go slow

Here’s some research I found forever ago: the average high school student processes their native language at about 140-145 words per minute. On the other hand, the average adult speaks at about 170 words per minute. There seems to be a mismatch here – we’re talking faster than our students’ brains are ready for, and that’s just in the L1!

If we want our students to understand what they hear in the L2, which empowers us to use even more of it in class, we need to be modulating our rate of speech. This certainly does not mean talking comically slow, but slowER, with more pauses between chunks and ideas. This can really make the difference between students understanding and not understanding what you are trying to communicate. We might also emphasize certain new words or sounds with our voices to draw attention to them and help students make more form-meaning connections. (This can be especially true in languages where endings indicate who is being talked about, and/or when.)

This also doesn’t mean speaking slowly…forever. As students are more familiar with the language, they can process it faster and faster. Part of the fun for us, then, becomes slowly increasing our rate of speech over time (sometimes within the same class period), and watching students come more confidently along for the ride. Then, when they encounter audio or video texts where the speakers are not worried about slowing their rate of speech, they feel more confident to tackle them – because they had slow listening “practice” to start.

Other resources

So many have had thoughts on this, and I will gather more resources here over time. That said, a huge influence for me (and an absolute gold mine of ideas) has been this post from the Comprehensible Classroom: How to Teach So That They Understand. Check it out!

Celebrate!

If using a lot of TL in your class goes well: great! If it goes less well: return to your principles and skills of L2 usage and see what moments in class you fell out of L2 use. Collaborate with a colleague on ideas! You might also film yourself and check your rate of speech, use of visuals, questioning, etc., while also keeping an eye on how your class reacts to you.

But overall: celebrate. You’re working towards a core practice in our field. It’s going to be tough at times, but it will most certainly pay off for you and your students.

What other reflections do you have about Target Language usage in language classes? Share in a comment below!

Volleyball / Ping-Pong Translation – Partner Reading for Scaffolded Success

To get our learners lots of input, we need to find ways to have them take texts and read, reread, and reread again! I love throwing a Volleyball Reading (which I call Tischtennis, or “table tennis” in German) to get me off the stage for a while, give students a chance to read the L2 aloud, and help their partners toward shared success. I use it enough that I can just tell students who to partner up with, say “Read the text Tischtennis!”, and they will hop to it without second thought. (I did it once during an observation, and the observer was impressed at the transition speed, and that the whole class was reading the L2 and working together!)

Why should you do it? Volleyball Translation is a great way to do a first, or second, or even third pass at reading a text, and allows students to do some partner work so you can make your next pedagogical decision. We all need that time off the “stage!”

When do I use Volleyball Reading?

Like I said above, you can use Volleyball Reading on any encounter with a text your class is reading. Maybe you’ve given a lot of auditory input on a topic, and students are ready to read the new language in text form for the first time. Maybe you’ve already read and discussed a text as a class, and want to give students some time to confirm their comprehension on a second pass with the text before moving on to extension activities. Maybe you’ve just co-created a Write and Discuss text as a class, and want students to reread the new text one more time. Or maybe – honestly – you want to buy yourself a couple minutes while you take care of whatever business comes across your Teacher Life / Human Person Life in the middle of a class. All you need is a text, and you can throw in a Volleyball Reading!

How do I do it? – Logistics

Students need access to a text (on the board or in hand), and to be partnered up in the manner of your choosing. Having one group of three sometimes happens, but everyone else should be in pairs. I like to display the instructions for the procedure to students as the activity is taking place, though they usually don’t need them the second or third time using it.

Here’s what my students see when we’re doing this activity!

How do I do it? – Procedure

  1. In the partnerships, designate who will begin – aka a “Partner 1.”
  2. Partner 1 reads the first sentence of the chosen text out loud in the Target Language.
  3. Partner 2 translates the sentence their partner just read out loud into English. Partner 2 then continues on by reading the next sentence in the text in the Target Language.
  4. Partner 1 translates the sentence Partner 2 just read out loud into English, and continues on by reading the next sentence in the Target Language.
  5. Students continue on, alternating reading aloud in the two languages, until they have finished reading the entire chosen text. (Or, just set a time limit, if you need/want!)

What do I do now that we’ve finished?

You can always follow a Volleyball Reading with asking questions about the text to confirm that students have understood the text well, to personalize the information in the text, or to extend student thinking about the topic.

You might also “park” on any new or troublesome vocabulary to give students more exposure to the new language by asking more personalized questions and/or comprehension questions related to the text.

Students have just finished reading a text, so you have the choice to assess, extend, or just plain move on!

Pro Tips!

  1. Model with a student first! As with any new procedure, we can help students do it more correctly the first time by modeling our expectations and what it looks like. Pick an outgoing student, and have them be Student 1 and read the first sentence of the text aloud. Model translating, and then reading the next sentence in the Target Language, and go back and forth until your class seems to get it. You could even model by having the entire class be Student 1, with you as Student 2! Seeing it in action helps students put it into motion quickly and accurately.
  2. Encourage partners to help each other out! Students are definitely encouraged to help each other when needed, whether it be pronouncing a word in the L2, or getting an accurate translation into English. If both partners can’t figure out a word or phrase, they can ask another partnership nearby for help! Students are encouraged to be resources for each other’s learning.
  3. Switch partners! For shorter texts, working with one partner is just fine. For longer texts, having students find a new partner using a procedure of your choosing can help give them a brief break and reengage with the text. One procedure I like is having the new partnerships show each other the spots on the text that they had read up to with their previous partner(s), and start reading the text at the spot closest to the beginning of the text, or the “earlier” stopping point. This means that any “slower” readers will still get to read the entire text, and the “faster” readers can provide confident support on text they have already read and processed before.
  4. Start from the top if you finish early! Some partnerships blaze through a text, while others need a little longer to work through a text. Have fast finishers start again from the top if they finish early, or maybe start writing comprehension questions about the text (you could say that you want to use them for a Quick Quiz!). Anything to keep students engaged with the language longer!
  5. Write common stumbling block words on the board! Because all students are working simultaneously and supporting each other, you have time to circulate through your classroom and listen for spots in the text where students are getting stuck. (Or just cheer students on if they are rocking it!) If I ever hear more than one pair stumble over the same section, I figure out the word/phrase that is tripping them up, and write that on the whiteboard with a translation or illustration to help the class.
  6. Review tough spots with the class using oral questioning! Any words that I write on the board to support struggling students can become quick targets for further questioning once we reconvene as a class. If many students struggled with a new word or phrase, I can give students more input with that vocabulary by asking comprehension and personalized questions using those words, making sure to point and pause at the words and their translations on my whiteboard to ensure comprehension.

What if I want to learn more?

Here is a blog post by the Comprehensible Classroom about Volleyball Translation. This post starts an interesting discussion about the use of translation in the language classroom, and how translation activities may move us away from the fabled 90%+ Target Language goal. I find that I use Volleyball Translation for brief enough periods that it doesn’t detract from my overall goal to use as much Target Language in class as possible – but it is always important to consider the When and Why of L1 use in our classes!

This is Chris Stolz’ take on the activity. I agree that we definitely don’t want to do it too frequently, and it loans itself best to reviewing to build confidence.

Here is a post by Señorita Spanish about two ways to read with students, including Volleyball Reading. I love the clear examples, and reminding students “3 Before Me” – ask your neighboring peers for help before stopping to wait on help from the teacher!

Lance Piantaginni introduces a variant on Volleyball Reading called Silent Volleyball reading here. This can help lessen any anxieties about pronouncing the Target Language, although I find that Volleyball Translation is a great time for students to try out pronouncing more of the language for themselves in a low-stakes environment.

Here is Keith Toda’s post on Volleyball Reading. He discusses a variation on grouping / partner-finding that I found neat!

What do you think? Do you feel ready to use Volleyball Reading? Comment below and send me any questions you might have!

Introducing Our New Podcast: “SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone”

Hi all! My colleagues Bill Langley (he/him), Bryan Smith (he/they), and I have decided to start a new podcast, and that podcast is called “SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone”.

Join us for our first episode Monday, July 29, 2025 as we gaslight (reflect on our teaching successes and failures), gatekeep (read and interpret SLA research), and girlboss (share successes) in our language teaching.

I respect Bill and Bryan as teachers and leaders so so much, and am so excited to talk to them in this format about the stuff we’re thinking about all the time! We are hoping to release regular episodes throughout the school year, so wish us luck in our new endeavor. And please, send us messages about the pod! We’d be happy to hear from you.

Check us out! Click here to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.