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Have you ever started a story with your students and felt like everything was going beautifully until you noticed the glazed expressions, delayed responses, and side conversations beginning?

It is easy to assume the story is boring or that students simply do not care. But a drop in engagement does not necessarily mean the story failed.

In this episode, I sit down with world language educator, author, and presenter Eric Richards to explore how we can use stories and reading to support language acquisition while keeping students engaged.

Eric shares how he builds engagement through two essential elements: confidence and curiosity. We also discuss how to make stories more comprehensible, recognize when students’ attention is beginning to fade, and respond with quick resets instead of falling into what I call the judgment trap.

This conversation is filled with practical, low-prep strategies you can use with any story, reading, proficiency level, or curriculum.

✨ Takeaways

• Why comprehension itself can make a story compelling for beginning learners.
• How confidence and curiosity help students continue listening and reading.
• Simple ways to add movement, drawing, personalization, and interaction.
• What to do when you notice student engagement beginning to drop.
• How to check comprehension without turning every reading into a test.
• Why the response students give should match the purpose of the activity.

📚 Resources and Links

• Read the complete blog post and find all the resources
• Visit Eric Richards’ website and blog
• Explore Eric’s professional development and classroom resources
• Jim Trelease’s Read-Aloud Handbook, Eighth Edition
• Join the waitlist for Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy
• Follow Claudia on Instagram: @claudiamelliott

🎧 Listen now and discover how stories can become a vehicle for language acquisition, connection, curiosity, and cultural competence—poco a poco.

Profe de español,

Grab this free resource and bring into your classroom 5 fascinating and comprehensible leyendas Latinoamericanas.

Go to growingwithproficiency.com/leyendas to grab your free copy.