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What if one simple routine could help students see, understand, and feel more confident with the language they have already experienced?

In this episode, I sit down with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez to explore how Write and Discuss, choral translation, and pop-up grammar can help students make sense of the language they are hearing and reading while keeping meaningful communication at the center.

Ben walks us through the process step by step: beginning with a highly comprehensible or co-created text, translating it together as a class, briefly highlighting one grammatical feature, and then returning to meaningful communication.

We also discuss how choral translation can serve as a quick formative assessment, how to plan pop-up grammar when you have a grammar-heavy curriculum, and why noticing a structure does not guarantee immediate language acquisition.

This episode offers practical classroom strategies for world language teachers who want to address grammar while keeping communication, comprehension, and proficiency at the center.

✨ Takeaways

• Why students need to understand the meaning of a text before focusing on grammatical form
• How to create a highly comprehensible, personalized text through Write and Discuss
• A step-by-step process for introducing choral translation
• How choral translation can reveal gaps in comprehension and serve as a formative assessment
• How to plan brief, student-friendly pop-up grammar without turning it into a full grammar lesson
• Why noticing grammar may support students, but does not guarantee immediate acquisition or accurate production
• Ideas for returning to meaningful target-language communication after the grammar “pop”

📚 Resources Mentioned

• Choral Translation and Pop-Up Grammar: Discovering How Form Contributes to Meaning by Ben Fisher-Rodriguez
  Read Ben’s original article
• Mr. Fisher Says
  Explore Ben’s website
• SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez and Bill Langley-Bostick
  Listen on Apple Podcasts
• The Perfect Low-Prep Activity for Any Day in Our World Language Classes with Ben Fisher-Rodriguez
  Listen and read more
• How to Build a Sustainable Language Class with Routines
  Read the related blog post

Listen to the full episode and share it with a world language teacher who is trying to balance a grammar-focused curriculum with a more communicative, proficiency-driven classroom.

And if you need more support, check this out:

• Blog
• Growing With Proficiency on Teachers Pay Teachers
• Join the waitlist for Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy

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.