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Every world language teacher knows the power of music — but how do we move beyond karaoke Fridays and make songs truly comprehensible and meaningful for our learners? 🎵

In this episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, host Claudia Elliott sits down with veteran teacher and blogger Kara Jacobs to unpack how she turns authentic songs and music videos into acquisition-rich, culture-centered units. Together, they explore how to create stories around songs, use visuals to support comprehension, and design lessons that engage both novice and heritage learners.

You’ll learn:

• How to choose songs that are compelling, not just grammatically useful
• Simple ways to make authentic music accessible for every proficiency level
• How “triple input” — audio, visual, and text — boosts comprehension

Why translation and storytelling can deepen students’ cultural connectionWhether you teach Spanish, French, or any other language, this episode will leave you inspired to use music as a powerful tool for communication and connection in your classroom.

🎧 Tune in, take notes, and start making songs comprehensible!
Subscribe to Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast wherever you listen, and join a community of teachers transforming language classes through acquisition, proficiency, and culture.

Resources:

Free resources created by Kara Jacobs

Acquire & Inspired PD Opportunity with Kara and AnneMarie Chase. Details are available HERE.

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There’s never a bad time of the year for a good game. Whether it’s November, May, or that wild week before a break — a well-chosen game can transform your classroom energy and boost your students’ confidence to use Spanish.

In this re-release of one of the most-loved episodes of Growing With Proficiency, the Podcast, I sit down with Christina Margiore, a high-school Spanish teacher from Long Island (you might know her as @supersenora), to talk about how she uses games to lower the affective filter and get students speaking — authentically, joyfully, and without fear.

Christina shares four classroom-tested games that help students forget their nerves and start communicating:

🎯 Taboo with a twist — students describe in Spanish, no acting, no English, building real circumlocution skills.

💬 Heads Up! — small-group chaos that gets every student talking at once (and loving it).

🕵️‍♀️ Guess Who – ¿Quién es quién? — the childhood favorite reborn for practicing questions, adjectives, and cultural knowledge.

✍️ Collaborative Story Writing — creative writing meets competition, perfect for transitions or Fridays.

🌟 Big Takeaways

• Games are not just fillers — they can be powerful tools for output and confidence.
• When students play, they can naturally produce language, take risks, and forget they’re using target language.
• You don’t need dozens of new games — just master a few that work, and repeat them with variations.
• Building fun and community in class keeps students motivated all year long.

💌 Bonus Freebie: Grab the Language Booster Tool Christina and I created to help your students keep using Spanish outside the classroom → Download here

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Are you searching for low-prep games perfect for this busy time of year? Look no further! In this episode, join us as we welcome two incredible educators from Colombia, Profe Valentina and Carolina Gómez. They're here to share five engaging, low-prep games that are ideal for any classroom setting. These games are designed to boost engagement, foster community, review content, and add some fun to your daily routine. Who doesn't need a little extra fun, right?

In this discussion, Profe Valentina and Carolina also dive into the significance of establishing routines and modeling effective game play in the classroom. Plus, they offer advice on troubleshooting common challenges, such as when classes or individual students are hesitant to participate in game activities.

Tune in now and be part of this great conversation with my paisanas!

Key Takeaways:

• Establishing Effective Routines: Learn how to set up routines that make game play smooth and beneficial.
• 5 Engaging Classroom Games: Discover games you can seamlessly integrate into your lessons at any time of the year.
• Adapting Games for Different Levels: Gain insights on how to modify games to challenge and engage middle and high school students.
• Consistency in Game Play: Understand the importance of playing the same game repeatedly to enhance the use of the target language in your classroom.

Don't miss this opportunity to add these practical, fun-filled games to your class. Subscribe and share with fellow educators looking to uplevel their language classes!

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Guest Bios:

Profe Valentina was born and raised in Colombia and has been teaching Spanish for over 16 years. She has experience teaching students from Pre-K through 8th grade, but her passion lies in elementary education. Valentina's language teaching approach aligns with the latest second language acquisition theories and incorporates culturally responsive practices. Her workshops and presentations are as creative, dynamic, and enthusiastic as her classes.

Carolina Gómez is a Colombian language educator with over 20 years of experience. She holds a B.A. in Languages and Education from the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, and a Master's degree in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She is currently a PreK-3 Spanish teacher at an independent school in Cambridge, MA. Carolina combines her passion for teaching her language and culture through stories in the classroom. She enjoys connecting and creating a community with other educators through her blog "Fun for Spanish Teachers," different social media outlets, conferences, and workshops.

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Resources:

Carolina’s blog: https://funforspanishteachers.com/

Carolina’s IG account: https://www.instagram.com/funforspanishteachers/

Valentina’s blog: https://profevalentina.com/

Valentina’s IG account: https://www.instagram.com/profevalentina/

Teacher Guide: How to Shift to A Comprehensible and Communicative Teaching Approach
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Have you ever noticed that some students struggle to see their progress in an acquisition-driven classroom?

When your lessons focus on comprehensible input and communication, progress can feel invisible to students used to “right or wrong” answers. That’s why Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) can be such a game-changer.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Claudia Fernández, one of the leading voices on TBLT, about how this approach helps students engage in authentic language use to achieve a real communicative goal.

You’ll hear strategies for bringing TBLT into your classroom while keeping language acquisition and connection at the heart of instruction.

Key Takeaways

• A task isn’t just an activity. It has a clear communicative outcome that mirrors real-life language use.
• Authenticity builds motivation. Students feel successful because they accomplish something meaningful.
• TBLT aligns with CI. It naturally supports acquisition through input, interaction, and purpose.
• You can adapt it anywhere. From textbook classes to upper levels, TBLT fits any context.

Why It Matters

Task-Based Language Teaching bridges the gap between knowing about language and using language.
It helps students experience the power of communication — not just as practice, but as a purpose.

Recommended Resources for Teachers:

Bill VanPatten – The Nature of Language and While We’re on the Topic

Martin East – Foundational Principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (Free online)

Daniel O. Jackson – Task-Based Language Teaching: A Concise Introduction

Florencia Henshaw & Maris Hawkins – Common Ground

TBLT Task Bank – Community-shared tasks by level and theme

Growing With Proficiency The Podcast Playlist about Acquisition, Language and Communication.

More 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 my TPT Store: Growing With Proficiency.

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Does comprehensible input still matter at the intermediate level? Absolutely. In this conversation with Gary DiBianca, he shares how he “levels up” intermediate classes by centering CI, intentionally modeling structures students can recycle (time frames, connectors, question stems), and layering authentic resources that stretch comprehension without overwhelming learners.

You’ll hear:

• What changes—and what doesn’t—at intermediate: same CI foundation, deeper themes, tighter recycling, and clear routines.
• Goals that motivate growth: build confidence, boost spontaneous output, and move toward Intermediate High targets while honoring each student’s starting point.
• Planning that works: start with an anchor text/story written for learners, then layer authentic materials (infographics, short news videos, songs, podcast clips) and guided discussion.
• Intentional structures > grammar dumps: model multiple time frames (present, past, future, would), connectors/transition words, and question formation inside meaningful input; zoom in on form only when it serves comprehension.
• Keep it fun: why story-asking and playful tasks still matter at upper levels.
• From input to output: scaffolded discussion days, visible vocabulary, sentence starters, and rubrics that cue learners to agree/disagree, ask follow-ups, give examples, and actually move the conversation.

Try tomorrow: run a Cultural Picture Talk for Intermediates. Model the language you want to hear later—then watch output grow.

Resources mentioned:

Gary DiBianca Resources

Socratic Seminar: Gary DiBianca

More 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 my TPT Store: Growing With Proficiency.

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En este episodio en español de Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, converso con la Dra. Marta Silva sobre un tema esencial para profes de español: cómo enseñar a estudiantes de herencia. Exploramos la diferencia entre clases de herencia y de segunda lengua, y por qué es clave replantear nuestros objetivos, pilares y rutinas para apoyar a estos estudiantes de manera auténtica.

En este episodio descubrirás:

• Los 4 pilares de las clases de herencia: sostenimiento de lengua y cultura, comunidad, identidad socioemocional y excelencia académica.
• Una rutina semanal clara (lunes de noticias y progreso, martes de lectura, miércoles/jueves de escritura y video-respuestas, viernes de plática comunitaria).
• Estrategias prácticas para clases mixtas donde hay estudiantes de herencia y de L2 juntos.
• Cómo evitar errores comunes como “corregir” la herencia lingüística en lugar de valorizarla.
• La inspiración del programa Latina Leadership, un modelo de comunidad, orgullo e impacto académico.

Si enseñas español y tienes (o tendrás) estudiantes de herencia en tus clases, este episodio es tu guía para empezar con claridad, propósito y corazón.

Escúchalo ahora y compártelo con un colega que también necesite estas ideas.

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Why am I re-releasing this episode? Because after a few weeks back in the classroom, I felt it again — that weight of doing everything myself: picking up pencils, erasing the board, answering endless “what did I miss?” emails. And I remembered… this episode holds the solution.

In this powerful conversation with Annabelle Williamson (La Maestra Loca) and John Seifert, we dive deep into classroom jobs — not just what they are, but why they matter. Annabelle and John share:

• Their favorite jobs and how they transformed their classes.
• How to implement jobs step by step (even mid-year).
• Troubleshooting tips to keep the system running.

Whether you’re the “least type-A teacher ever” (like Annabelle) or highly structured (like John), you’ll find a way to make class jobs work for you.

If you’re feeling tired, stretched thin, or just looking for a way to re-energize your class culture, this episode is exactly what you need right now. Listen now.

Class Jobs Course

John’s Blog

Annabelle’s Blog

More 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 my TPT Store: Growing With Proficiency.

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Silence in the language classroom doesn’t mean students aren’t saying anything. Silence is information.

In this episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, we explore why silence can be a valuable source of information and how teachers can use it to foster curiosity, lower risk, and create more meaningful engagement.

You’ll learn:

• The 3 main reasons students don’t respond to questions
• How to make your questions comprehensible and accessible
• Low-prep strategies that lower response risk and boost participation
• Ways to connect unit content to your students’ lives without rewriting your curriculum

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 161 with Becca Silver: Moving Past the “Shoulds”
• Episode 157 with Dr. Karen Lichtman & Jason Fritze: Three Key Skills for Teaching Acquisition
• Episode 54 with Paulino Brenner: Asking Better Questions in the Language Classroom
• Episode 88 with Dr. Bill VanPatten: What about Output?

If you’re ready to reframe silence from something frustrating to something informative, this episode will give you practical tools and a new perspective to bring into your classroom tomorrow.

More 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 my TPT Store: Growing With Proficiency.