Why I’m not preparing my students for the “real world”

We often hear education experts tell us how important it is to design learning experiences for our students that will prepare them for the "real world." And teacher blogs, conference presentations and tweets are also full of strategies they have developed and implemented to prepare their students for the "real world." By and large, they are good strategies worth exploring …

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Yes, they CAN understand native speakers!

I often hear teachers say that authentic videos featuring native speakers (and intended for viewing by other native speakers) are too difficult for our language learners to use as listening practice, let alone listening assessment. And yet, I think we can all agree that we would like to have our students listen to "real" products …

Say what? 3 tips to help novice speakers SPEAK

Novice language learners CAN speak spontaneously given appropriate supports and practice!

What (my) novice language learners need

Novice language users can produce meaningful, realistic writing. See two examples completed by my novice-mid and novice-high students in French 2 in this post.

And the single best tool I recommend to other teachers is….?

I'm often asked what my favorite educational technology tools are. The question usually goes something like this: "With all of this emphasis on education technology and 21st century teaching and learning, what is one tool you would recommend to other teachers?" My response? Selectivity Before you rush off to the app store or to your computer to try selectivity.com …

Rich, Relevant, Rigorous….and completely redesigned

I have always been passionate about providing a rich, relevant and rigorous education for all learners. In addition to always practice what I teach in my work with students in my French classes, I also try to help other teachers reshape their approaches to education through my blog and through my professional learning programs at conferences and …

Three reasons why I blend but don’t completely flip

After having spent a couple of years reading numerous blogs on "flipped" learning, seeing posts all over social media espousing the benefits of flipped learning, and watching a few videos of how other teachers in all subjects are flipping their instruction, I decided to at least start experimenting. But before I could flip or blend, …

Tips for working with large (language) classes

The other day, a friend wrote me and some other French teacher colleagues on Facebook asking how to handle large classes in the lower levels. Over the course of my Facebook conversation with her, I realized I was sharing some tips that could be appropriate to a lot of teachers’ situations. Not all of the …

Check out teaching activities created in MentorMob and EdCanvas

UPDATE: since publication, both tools have changed their name and also their Web addresses.  MentorMob is now LessonPaths and can be found at http://www.lessonpaths.com. EdCanvas is now Blendspace and is found at http://www.blendspace.com. After completing my "Side-by-Side" post comparing online thematic content curation on MentorMob and EdCanvas, I ultimately chose to create student learning experiences …

Side by Side: comparing EdCanvas and MentorMob for curating online content for students

This week, my students in French 2 are continuing their study of food and nutrition. In order to further their study and take it beyond lists of foods to memorize, I wanted to use an article I tried with French 2 last year. The article, Ten Things You Need to Know About Hunger, 2013 comes from …