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I’m re-releasing this episode today because Silent Discussions have become one of the most powerful activities in my classroom. Recently, during a formal observation, my assistant principal watched my students fully engaged in a Silent Discussion for almost 30 minutes—reading, asking questions, responding to each other, and learning from their classmates.

If you’ve been looking for a strategy that truly gets students interacting in the target language, this episode is a great place to start.

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 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.

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Website: https://growingwithproficiency.com

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Dictation is one of those classic activities many of us use in our language classes—but sometimes it can feel repetitive or not very communicative.

In this episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, I talk with Latin teacher Keith Toda about how a simple tweak can transform dictation into a purposefully communicative activity. We discuss how dictation supports comprehensible input and how we can add curiosity and interaction to make the activity more meaningful for students.

If you’re looking for a low-prep strategy that slows down your pacing, increases focus, and encourages communication in your world language classroom, this conversation will give you ideas you can try right away.

Takeaways

• Why dictation still supports language acquisition
• How to make dictation purposefully communicative
• A simple prediction twist that sparks discussion
• How to mix dictation with quick personalized questions (PQA)
• How dictation can prepare students for reading or video input

Resources

📖 Read the blog post: Dictation + Communication: How to Make Dictation Purposefully Communicative

🌍 Keith Toda – Toda-lly Comprehensible Latin
https://todallycomprehensiblelatin.blogspot.com

🎙️ Related Episodes
Talking Language Acquisition with Dr. Bill VanPatten (Part 2)
Talking Language Acquisition with Dr. Bill VanPatten (Part 1)
Beyond Exposure: Comprehensible and Meaningful Input with Dr. Florencia Henshaw (Part 1)
Making Our Classroom Communication Driven

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Join host Claudia Elliott in this insightful episode of 'Growing with Proficiency, the podcast,' as she delves into the importance of listening comprehension and skills in world language education with special guest, Marta Yedinek.

Discover innovative strategies and the story behind the renowned podcast 'Cuéntame,' designed to aid Spanish learners. Claudia and Marta discuss methods to prepare students before, during, and after listening activities, offering practical advice for language teachers to implement in their classrooms.

Learn about Marta’s hands-on experience in adapting her podcast to meet the varying needs of her students and takeaway actionable tips to enhance your teaching approach. Don't miss out on this engaging conversation that promises to inspire and support language educators in cultivating proficient and culturally competent learners.

00:00 Introduction to Growing with Proficiency

01:09 Meet Your Host: Claudia Elliott

01:45 Special Guest: Martha Yedinek

01:50 The Importance of Listening Skills

03:11 Creating the Cuéntame Podcast

05:46 Strategies for Effective Listening

08:05 Using Podcasts in the Classroom

11:21 Practical Tips for Teachers

13:16 Engaging Students with Listening Activities

23:16 Reflection and Continuous Improvement

30:09 Final Thoughts and Resources

Meet our guest:

Marta Ruiz Yedinak is a National Board Certified Spanish teacher, Kohl Fellow, and a WAFLT New Teacher Award recipient. She is a passionate provider of comprehensible input and a firm believer of teaching students, not curriculum. She loves sharing with other teachers by presenting at various language conferences such as ACTFL, WAFLT, CSCTFL, FLAND, MittenCI, iFLT, and CIMW, a conference that she co-directs. Marta works for the Ripon Area School District. She is the author of “La princesa y el guerrero”, published by Wayside, and the producer of ¡Cuéntame!, a podcast for Spanish acquisition.

Resources mentioned in the podcast:

Cuéntame Podcast

List of all the episodes of Cuéntame

Facebook community of Cuéntame

More resources:
GWP Spanish Teacher Academy Waiting List
Growing With CI FB Community
Blog
Teacher Pay Teachers Store