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If you’ve ever wanted your students to feel genuinely excited before reading a novel or watching a movie in class, this episode is for you.

In this conversation, I sit down with Rita Barrett, an outstanding Spansih teacher, to talk about the Tea Party strategy, an engaging pre-reading activity where students become characters from the story before they even begin reading.

Students walk around the room meeting other characters, uncovering relationships, discovering conflicts, making predictions, and communicating in the target language the entire time.

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is this: Tea Party is NOT the moment to introduce lots of new language.

Instead, the focus is on highly comprehensible language so students feel confident speaking, interacting, and listening while building curiosity for the story ahead.

We also talk about:
✨ How to set up a Tea Party step-by-step
✨ What character descriptions should look like
✨ How students create relationship webs and predictions
✨ Why this strategy creates authentic communication and engagement

Rita Barrett teaches Spanish at Portland Adventist Academy in Portland, Oregon. The 2016 COFLT TOY, Rita has been a frequent presenter at state and national conferences and co-hosts a Portland area language teacher PLC. She is passionate about inspiring students to become lifelong language lovers.

Resources Mentioned:
Growing With Proficiency:
https://growingwithproficiency.com

The Spanish Teacher Academy:
https://growingwithproficiency.com/academy

AnneMarie Chase’s Tea Party Blog Post:
https://senorachase.com/2025/11/15/tea-party-round-up/

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Feeling exhausted trying to keep students engaged at the end of the school year? 😅

In this re-released episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, Claudia Elliott shares three powerful low-prep strategies that help world language teachers create communicative, comprehensible, and sustainable lessons without spending hours planning.

If you need great strategies to keep students interacting and using the language, this episode is for you.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✨ How to use anchor charts to co-create vocabulary and ideas with students
✨ Why model texts increase confidence, comprehension, and participation
✨ How Write and Discuss creates compelling and comprehensible input
✨ Ways to support mixed proficiency levels with student-centered activities
✨ Why low prep does NOT mean no prep in the language classroom

These strategies work for Spanish classes, French classes, and any world language classroom focused on language acquisition, comprehensible input, and communication.

Whether you teach novice learners or upper levels, these routines can help you reduce overwhelm while increasing engagement and interaction during the final weeks of school.

🎧 Listen now and discover practical strategies you can use tomorrow!

🔗 Resources & Links:
Join the waitlist for Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy
Follow Claudia on Instagram @claudiamelliott

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At this point in the year, many of us are feeling it. Students are distracted, energy is low, and if we say “read,” suddenly half the class needs the bathroom.

In this episode, I’m sharing a simple sequence I use to turn any reading into an engaging station-based lesson that keeps students reading, moving, and participating without creating more work for you.

Whether you’re using a Cinco de Mayo article, a Panorama Cultural reading, or your own class text, this structure helps students process one shared reading in a way that feels interactive and manageable.

✨ In this episode, I share:

• How to choose the right text (this part matters most!)
• Simple pre-reading activities like predictions, images, and quick movement
• How I structure the “during reading” phase with audio + small groups
• My favorite post-reading stations: matching, sequencing, graphic organizers, and open-ended questions
• Why I duplicate stations instead of creating more
• How one reading can easily become 3 full class periods

🎁 Resources mentioned:

• Free Cinco de Mayo Reading Resource
• Full blog post with classroom pictures + step-by-step breakdown
• Panorama Culturales for more high-interest readings
• Episode 21 if you want more station ideas beyond one shared text

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Are you looking for an interactive and engaging activity to boost your students' participation and build a strong classroom community at the end of the school year? In this episode of "Growing With Proficiency, the podcast," we explore a unique twist on the popular Card Talk activity that my students absolutely loved!

In this activity, I’ll share with you how to turn the simple drawings our students do in card talk into a pair-reading activity plus a gallery walk.

Main Highlights:

• Introduction to Card Talk and its benefits for student engagement and comprehensible input.
• Detailed activity setup with the prompt: "The Best and the Worst in the School Year."
• Step-by-step process from drawing, writing, hallway gallery walk, and class discussion.
• Personal connection and community building through shared experiences.
• Extending Card Talk: Ideas for adapting Card Talk for different thematic units such as clothing, food, and travel.

Resources and Links Mentioned:

• Free Teacher Guide: "How to Shift to A Comprehensible and Communicative Teaching Approach" – growingwithproficiency.com/guide
• Episode 82: Previous discussion on Card Talk with Ben Fisher
• Follow Claudia on Instagram: @claudiamelliott
• Connect on Facebook: Claudia M Elliott
• Join our waitlist for Growing With Proficiency The Spanish Teacher Academy

Thank you for tuning in to "Growing With Proficiency, the podcast." Until next time, keep growing and keep teaching with passion. ¡Hasta luego!

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The end of the school year can feel chaotic: testing, low energy, and unpredictable schedules. So what do you actually do with your students during those final weeks?

In this episode of Growing With Proficiency, I sit down with Allison Wienhold (Mis Clases Locas) to share simple, low-prep end-of-year activities for world language classes that keep students engaged without burning you out.

We talk about how to balance review, celebration, and connection while staying true to a communicative, comprehension-based approach. Whether you need movement, easy games, or meaningful ways for students to show what they’ve learned, this episode is full of ideas you can use right away.

✨ Biggest Takeaways

• Why the end of the year is a different season for both students and teachers—and how to plan accordingly
• How to use conversation cards + movement for engaging review
• Easy ways to turn any activity into a gallery walk or walk & talk
• Low-prep games like:
  • 1-2-3 Jump
  • Team Marker Game (whole-group version)
  • Relay-style Quizlet/Kahoot/Blooket
• A meaningful self-portrait project to make learning visible
• How to talk about future plans and goals with students
• Simple ways to use movies without creating a full unit

📚 Resources & Links Mentioned

• Alison Wienhold (Miss Clase Locas): https://misclaseslocas.com
• Activities with movement (includes question cards, Quizlet Live Relay, 1,2,3 Salta & dancing) https://misclaseslocas.com/10-ways-to-get-you-spanish-class-moving/
• Culture rich movies to use at the end of the year https://misclaseslocas.com/appropriate-movies-for-spanish-class/
• Comprehensible Iowa Conference June 12-13, 2026 in Des Moines, IA https://comprehensibleiowa.wordpress.com/
• End of the Year Activities Blog: https://misclaseslocas.com/lista-lunes-end-of-year-in-spanish-class
• Running out of Time EOY Blog: https://misclaseslocas.com/end-of-the-year-spanish-activities/
• Grab a Spanish Routine Freebie: https://misclaseslocas.com/para-empezar-sample-1-week-freebie/
• Growing With Proficiency Spanish Teacher Academy: https://growingwithproficiency.com/academy
• Growing With CI FB Community
• GWP Blog
• Claudia's Teacher Pay Teachers Store
• IG & Twitter: @claudiamelliott

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Profe ¿te ha pasado esto? Haces una pregunta… y recibes respuestas de una palabra. O silencio. O miradas de “no sé qué decir”. Y tú estás ahí pensando: pero si esto debería ser comunicación… ¿por qué no se siente así?

Porque muchas veces no es que tus estudiantes no quieran hablar o que no puedan, es que no tienen una razón real para hacerlo.

En esta conversación me siento con dos profes extraordinarias — María del Carmen Benítez desde Monterrey, México, y Teresa Jensen desde Omaha, Nebraska — para descubrir cómo un simple intercambio por Zoom entre sus clases lleva siete años transformando la experiencia de sus estudiantes... y por qué estos no quieren que termine la llamada.

En este episodio hablamos de:

• Qué es el modelo 50/50 y cómo funciona
• La logística: Zoom, Google Sheets y cómo se emparejan los estudiantes
• Cómo se eligen los temas de conversación
• Cómo preparar a los estudiantes antes de la llamada
• Los desafíos más comunes y cómo superarlos
• Seguridad y consentimiento informado
• Cómo empezar desde cero

🎧 Escucha el episodio, compártelo con tu comunidad y conéctate con nosotras para seguir creando clases más auténticas y significativas.

María del Carmen Benítez es especialista en enseñanza de lenguas con casi 40 años de experiencia. Actualmente lidera el área de Lenguas Extranjeras en Prepa Tec y es examinadora del Bachillerato Internacional. Ha trabajado en formación docente, desarrollo curricular y proyectos internacionales, además de promover la lectura y la escritura creativa a través de Poetazos.

Theresa Jensen es profesora de español certificada por National Board con 28 años de experiencia. Ha sido reconocida como finalista de ACTFL Teacher of the Year y Teacher of the Year en Central States. Es autora de novelas en español y promueve el uso de historias como herramienta para crear clases más inclusivas, significativas y centradas en la voz de los estudiantes.

Conéctate con nuestras invitadas:

María del Carmen Benítez benitez@tec.mx

Teresa Jensen —https://srajensen.com

Recursos para ti:

Website: https://growingwithproficiency.com

GWP Spanish Teacher Academy Waiting List

Growing With CI FB Community

Blog

Teacher Pay Teachers Store

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SCOLT is definitely one of my favorite conferences, and 2023 was a highlight. That is why I decided to re-release this and because you can get amazing activities you can do tomorrow in your class.

Are you feeling bored and uninspired in your own language classroom? I'm not talking about your students, I'm talking about you. The truth is, we all need new ideas and fresh perspectives to keep us engaged and motivated in our teaching practice. That's why I love attending conferences like SCOLT.

In this episode of Growing With Proficiency The Podcast, I'll be sharing 5 of my favorite strategies and activities that I learned at SCOLT 23. All of the 5 strategies and activities have one thing in common: they not only have the potential to engage my students and promote proficiency, but they also excite me to use them. When I'm excited, that energy transfers right back to my students.

So, if you're looking for ways to shake things up in your class and get excited, hit play and join me for this exciting episode of Growing With Proficiency.

👉 Resources & Links

Growing With CI FB Community

GWP Spanish Teacher Academy Waiting List

Blog

Teacher Pay Teachers Store

IG & Twitter: @claudiamelliott

5EModel Explain

QFT Video

Guess the Movie

Challenge Brain Break

Hexagon Strategy by Bertha Delgadillo

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Interpersonal communication can feel like one of the hardest modes to teach. You plan the activity, set expectations… and then students give one-word answers, switch to their common language, or disengage altogether.

But what if the problem isn’t your activity?

In this second part of my conversation with Chelsea Lawrence, we build on our previous conversation in episode 163 and take a deeper look at what actually makes interpersonal communication work—especially through silent discussion.

After presenting this strategy at SCOLT and trying it in our own classrooms, we saw firsthand how powerful it can be when students have a clear goal and the right scaffolds in place.

In this episode, we unpack what true interpersonal communication requires, how to structure a silent discussion for success, and how to support students so they can stay in the target language and engage meaningfully with each other.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated with interpersonal activities, this conversation will give you a new way to think about them—and practical ways to implement them right away.

✨ Key Takeaways

• Why interpersonal communication often falls flat—and what’s really missing
• The two essential elements of true interpersonal communication: an information gap and a clear purpose
• How silent discussion lowers the affective filter and increases participation
• Different communicative goals you can use (jigsaw, interview, prediction, and problem-solving)
• How to scaffold student questions instead of giving them all the language
• Simple ways to support responses, reactions, and negotiation of meaning
• How to help students stay in the target language without forcing it
• Why this strategy works across levels—from novice to AP

📚 Resources & Links

• 🎧 Listen to Part 1 (Episode 163: Silent Discussion with Chelsea Lawrence)
• 📄 Read the full blog post: How to Build Interpersonal Communication with Purpose in the Target Language
• Website: https://growingwithproficiency.com
• GWP Spanish Teacher Academy Waiting List
• Growing With CI FB Community
• Blog
• Teacher Pay Teachers Store