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Have you ever felt like getting your students to really use the target language with each other is the hardest thing? You want them to share ideas, agree or disagree, and ask questions. But when the moment comes, silence takes over—or worse, they switch to English.

In this episode, I sit down with my friend and incredible Spanish teacher, Chelsea Lawrence, to talk about a game-changing strategy: Silent Discussions.

✨ What you’ll learn in this episode:

• What Silent Discussions are and how to set them up step by step.
• Why this strategy works so well to lower stress and build success in interpersonal communication.
• Real classroom examples—from connecting the Panama Canal to a local tunnel, to jigsaw activities with biographies and even telescopes.
• Practical scaffolds to support your students: graphic organizers, sentence starters, question stems, and even a “How do you say…?” board.
• What to do after the Silent Discussion to extend the learning with gallery walks, reflections, or presentational tasks.

👉 If you’re a Spanish teacher and are looking for resources to create great jigsaw activities plus Silent Discussions, check out the Biographies to Celebrate Hispanic Women or explore the Panoramas Culturales, where you can assign one article to each group.

Listen now and discover how one big sheet of paper can transform into a powerful tool for authentic student interaction in your classroom.

📌 Resources

• Join the waitlist for Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy → growingwithproficiency.com/academy
• Follow me on Instagram @claudiamelliott
• ​​📑 Discover culturally rich, month-specific resources for Spanish classes in myTPT Store: Growing With Proficiency.

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As teachers, we’ve all been there—you’ve planned the lesson, you’ve given directions, and then… your students just don’t meet the expectations. Blank stares, missing homework, silence after a question. 😩

But here’s the thing: maybe unmet expectations aren’t really the problem. In this episode, I sit down with Becca Silver, founder of The Whole Educator, to explore how shifting our mindset can transform frustration into curiosity—and how that shift can change the way we connect with our students.

This conversation will challenge the way you see those tough classroom moments and give you strategies you can start using tomorrow.

✨ Takeaways

• Why unmet expectations feel so heavy for teachers—and what’s actually underneath them.
• The difference between a “shoulds mindset” and a curiosity mindset in the classroom.
• Simple sentence starters to reframe your response when students don’t do the reading, homework, or show up prepared.
• How a mindset shift can help you maintain joy and keep communication flowing, even on hard days.

📚 Resources & Links

Find all the resources and entire blog post here.

🎧 Related Episodes:

Episode 88 with Dr. Bill VanPatten: Why Input Still Matters

Episode 84 with Dr. Stephen Krashen: The Power of Reading

📌 Resources + Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Join the waitlist for Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy → growingwithproficiency.com/academy
• Follow me on Instagram @claudiamelliott
• ​​📑 Discover culturally rich, month-specific resources for Spanish classes in myTPT Store: Growing With Proficiency.
• September Calendar Talk

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Seguro te ha pasado: das tu clase en español con toda la energía, pero hay un silencio total. Esa desconexión cansa y desmotiva, porque lo que más deseamos como profes es escuchar a nuestros estudiantes usar el español de manera auténtica.

En este episodio hablamos de cómo crear momentos auténticos en clase: oportunidades naturales y significativas para que los estudiantes reaccionen, escuchen y se comuniquen en español sin sentir tanta presión.

Te comparto tres pasos claros para:
✅ Identificar esos momentos espontáneos que surgen en clase.
✅ Hacer visibles las expresiones necesarias para que tus estudiantes las usen.
✅ Celebrar cada intento para que poco a poco las interacciones se vuelvan espontáneas.

Al final, verás cómo estos momentos, aunque breves, sientan las bases para conversaciones más largas, más auténticas y más motivadoras tanto para ti como para tus estudiantes. 🌟

Si necesitas más recursos, haz un clic acá y encontrarás mi blog.

Y si lo que buscas son recursos, te invito a que visites mi página de TPT acá.

Pero si lo que te interesa es todo, recursos, ideas, apoyo y comunidad, hazte parte de Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy, donde encontrarás plantillas, entrenamientos y el acompañamiento que necesitas para enseñar con claridad y confianza.