Shelly Ironside

Just got an email from a former student who is going to study in Rome next semester saying her Italian journey started in my class. And another former student might be there with her. 😁

Yes I thought it was interesting knowing that in my opinion ACTFL core practices and CI diverge on certain points. My colleague is reading it too for her Master’s program. (Catherine Ritz is the dept head) so fun to be able to discuss with her.

Excited to have found a bargain graduate class through The Teaching Channel that uses Proficiency Based Instruction by Catherine Ritz & Christina Toro as a text. The class is called Unlocking WL through Comprehensible Input. Can’t wait to dig in. #LangChat #SLAyyy

Great post. Very true. Haven’t looked at the menu yet but I sent it to my work email. 😅

I had three real Ava’s in one class. I enjoy the middle schoolers too! Although I sang and chanted so much with 6th grade that I almost lost my voice.

I have not read this book, but your comments are piquing my interest! My experience with leveled readers has been good and empowering for my students. Although I have always used authentic resources, they are rarely 95% comprehensible. Some work, but you can't build a whole lesson plan with them.

Showing examples of students who have succeeded because of their self motivation, and what strategies they used. I like to show the video of the teen polyglot. It’s dated but it leaves an impression. On my quarterly reflections there are some concrete goal ideas.

I am embarrassed to remember that 10-15 years ago I gave quizzes where I graded adjective agreement and verb forms. I am doing more interpretive / translation quizzes which allow for students to show what they know.

I have been doing these for a few years but would love to know some more juicy questions. I have used the same questions and it def helps them master the basics, but I felt like it was getting boring. Tx for the new ideas (guess answer, what are you afraid of)

Great idea!

You could point her in the direction of all the great podcasts talking about back to school. Even after 17 years I find myself doing that to prepare for the beginning of the year. I like Claudia Elliot’s or Liam Printer’s.

Listened to this on my drive today - required listening for trying times.

I admire you doing daily notes. At least the activities that bomb usually stick in my mind!

I wrote a thoughtful, reflective response to the blog post, but before posting I scrolled up and filled in the "add my name to subscription list". When I scrolled back down it had deleted my response. I can't try to remember it all. Sorry! But thanks for sharing. Frustrating technology!

Fondue?

I hadn't heard this term before, but I do many of these things to reduce student anxiety about speaking, and I haven't really had problems with participation. We do lots of pair and small group speaking after modeling, and I never make students present in front of the class. They do record for me!

Google Often Failed At AI, But They Have Hit It Out Of The Park – For ELLs, At Least – With New “Storybook” Google has struggled mightily in developing Artificial Intelligence tools that are actually useful. In my opinion, at least, NotebookLM has been the only thing they’ve come up that act…

Google Often Failed At AI, But They Have Hit It Out Of The Park – For ELLs, At Least – With New “Storybook” larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2025/08/05/g...

Thank you so much! Great resource!

The Invention of “Sesame Street” Renata Adler’s 1972 review of the program that revolutionized children’s television.

“Small children from poor or middle-class families who watch ‘Sesame Street’ do better on cognitive tests and in first grade than children who do not watch it,” Renata Adler wrote, in 1972.

#booksky

Reminds me of when I learned the word fon (hairdryer) in Italian. My Italian friend explained it was the noise the hairdryer made.

Wellesley showed up!

It's Time to Cut Ties With Trump Supporters I really hate this.

It’s time for people of faith, morality, and conscience to hold the people in our lives accountable for their willing partnership with this filth.
We need to sever ties with our family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who still support him.

johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/we-may-nee...

Talking Our Way Forward How to have a conversation with a political enemy.

This is a terrific little piece, whose lessons are pretty much in line with what behavioural scientists have figured out: www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/talking-ou...

I usually do the circling after a story - not every day. I do about 6 main questions and 4 repetitions per question - did they eat chicken, did they eat pasta, did they eat chicken or pasta, what did they eat? They answer as a group. Works well.

I think emphasizing repetition and high frequency vocab gets through to them. That the sentence doesn’t need to be perfect to communicate.

I did this myself today - explained they needed to hear the words 16 times to internalize and understand words in context - hence the value of stories & circling.

I was shocked they didn’t put it on the front page. Buried!

What I Learned from Paul Nation’s Webinar on Word Frequency and Vocabulary Learning When we talk about teaching languages, it’s easy to get caught up in the grammar structures, the tenses, or the ever-growing pressure of exam specifications. But again and again, I find myself coming ...

#langchat Great article about vocabulary / readers
www.fraubastowmfl.co.uk/post/what-i-...

Boston #handsoff