Did a seminar in Seattle this week (the 5th of 5 this month) for the Institute for Educational Development, a division of the Bureau of Education and Research (BER). 62 enthusiastic attendees. Fabulous group! Saw some old friends and made some new ones.

Woven throughout every aspect of the day was the crucial need for relationships and empathy.

Talked about what works in the world language classroom to make it a place where acquisition happens joyfully and enthusiastically:

• How modern Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory applies to best-practice teaching

• The difference between acquisition and learning in world language teaching

• How to infuse every class with culture naturally

• How to do sustainable classroom management to bring back joy and sanity to teaching

• The surprising effectiveness of call-and-response prompts… and how to use them in multiple ways

• Why you need to start assigning classroom jobs to boost buy-in and give yourself time to do what only you can do in the classroom

• Why and how to use passwords, and which passwords to use to build a culture of respect and care in your classroom

• How to read and send body language signals to encourage subconscious acceptance

• How rejoinders build fluency, camaraderie and buy-in

• How to do “Persona Especial” student interviews—the game changer in the CI classroom—to create community, increase engagement and build fluency

• How to do questioning differently than most teachers. No more: “Anyone? Anyone?” Including tiered questioning according to levels of thinking and questioning for on-the-spot differentiation.

• Why focusing on high frequency vocabulary makes so much sense

• Which high-frequency verbs to use and how to teach them to get students reading

• 3 ways to teach reading that get students reading enthusiastically–even if they “hate to read” in English.