Blog

“College Students” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  CollegeDegrees360  If you snapped along to last week’s #langchat snapper, now you can snap for the summary! Participants were eager to discuss four unrelated questions that have been weighing on their minds. They shared their favorite ways to promote and advocate for world language learning. Participants then moved from chatting about advocacy […]

“Ayesha leads a Q&A with author Jay Heinr” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by  THINKGlobalSchool  Welcome back! Last week, #langchat joined forces with #GlobalEdChat for a chat on the importance of 21st century skills for world language students. Instructors first discussed challenges to integrating these skills into classrooms. Participants then considered how to promote life, career, critical thinking, communication, and […]

“IMG47” (CC BY 2.0) by  US Department of Education  Last week, #langchat had some great questions (and answers!) about inquiring-based learning! Participants described what inquiry-based learning looks like and discussed how to design and evaluate a quality end product. Instructors also shared tips on how to scaffold to support student inquiry in the target language at different proficiency […]

“01052016 Tea with Teachers” (CC BY 2.0) by  US Department of Education  Welcome back to #langchat! Last week, participants discussed conflict resolution and collaboration in world language departments. They reflected on what language instructors need and need not agree on, and also weighed in on how to meet common goals and collaborate when colleagues have different methods and […]

“2015-07_SC+_W4_Class_LL -135” (CC BY 2.0) by  jencu  Last week, Langchatters got (inter)personal! Participants considered how proficiency level affects interpersonal task design. Next, acknowledging that learner output is based on perceived need to produce language, they reflected on how to build a feeling of need into task design. Langchatters then discussed their thoughts on ideal group size and make-up […]

“Tomás” (CC BY-NC 2.0) by  jcmejia_acera  Happy New Year from #langchat! Langchatters started off 2016 by discussing how they plan to be an EPIC language teacher this year. Participants shared the goals they ENVISION for 2016, reflected on how they will PLAN a route to each of those goals, talked about how they will IMPLEMENT a goal timeline, […]

   by  Star Guitar  Last week, Langchatters discussed how to motivate reluctant students to embrace the target language (TL). Participants brainstormed factors that cause students to shy away from the TL, and they considered ways to increase learners’ comfort. Instructors reflected on how group or audience size, task design, and assessment could be modified to support […]

   by  rhymeswithbombs  Did you sing along to #langchat last week? Participants shared their thoughts on listening resources in the classroom. They discussed qualities to look for when selecting resources to build interpretive skills and talked about ways to differentiate tasks for students at different proficiency levels. Langchatters also mentioned sources that work best for their […]

Last week, Langchatters responded to the #ACTFL15 theme, thinking up ways to inspire, engage, and transform in the language classroom! Participants discussed what they want to inspire and who inspires them, and they also reflected on how to move from “inspiration” to changes in practice. Langchatters then shared what most engages them as a world […]

   by  Merrimack College  &nbsp Last week, Langchatters were 100% ready to talk relationships in the 90%+ target language (TL) classroom. They started off the hour by discussing features of the best teacher-student relationships. Participants then reflected on factors that affect their decision not to use the TL when connecting with students. Langchatters also thought up […]