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Growing With Proficiency The Podcast
Welcome to Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast! Are you a World Language teacher who is looking for ideas, strategies, activities, and inspiration to create a World Language class where you and your students enjoy using the language to learn about the world and each other? Do you want to transform your class into an acquisition-driven instruction space where you intentionally provide a ton of comprehensible input?
If you are, you're in the right place.
Let's start this journey together. Head over to IG, and send me a DM @claudiamelliott to let me know what topics you would like me to cover in an upcoming episode.Join my free Facebook community, Growing With C. Also, check out my blog to start discovering some of these ideas and strategies at growingwithproficiency.com
Growing With Proficiency The Podcast
Episode 124: Silent Sustained Reading: How to Make It Work
What if you could easily add more reading to your classroom to support language acquisition and cultural competence without overwhelming yourself with extra work? Research shows that reading is one of the most effective ways for students to grow in proficiency. So, how can we make time for it in our busy classes?
In today’s episode, we dive deep into Silent Sustained Reading (SSR)—a simple, yet powerful strategy to boost your students' reading skills. You’ll learn how SSR works, why it’s so effective, and how to make it work for you and your students. I also share tips for building a library on a budget, keeping students accountable, and creating a routine that gets results.
And don’t miss our new segment, “The Tool or Activity of the Week,” sponsored by Growing With Proficiency – The Spanish Teacher Academy!
Episode Highlights:
- What is Silent Sustained Reading (SSR)? Learn what SSR is, why it’s so effective for language acquisition, and how it fosters a love of reading.
- Building a Library on a Budget: Tips on creating a diverse and accessible library for your students, including asking for PTA funds, using DonorsChoose, and creating your own books.
- How to Make SSR Work for You: Practical strategies for when to implement SSR in your classroom, setting up reading logs, and using choice boards to engage students.
- Keeping Students Accountable: How to ensure your students are really reading and engaging with the material, without the need for grading or additional assignments.
- Translation Race: This week's “Tool or Activity of the Week”—a fun and competitive game that encourages translation practice and gets students involved while adding a little luck to the mix.
Tool or Activity of the Week: Sponsored by Growing With Proficiency – The Spanish Teacher Academy
This week’s highlighted activity is Translation Race learned from Nelly Andrade—a fun and interactive way for students to listen to sentences, comprehend, and translate in groups, with a lucky dice twist to keep things exciting and level the playing field.
Resources and Links Mentioned:
- Growing With Proficiency – The Spanish Teacher Academy: Join the waitlist to be the first to know when doors open at growingwithproficiency.com/academy.
- DonorsChoose: https://www.donorschoose.org/
- Revista Literal by Spanish Martina Bex
- Le petit journal by Toward Proficiency
- Bryce Hedstrom resources
If you’re ready to get reading in your classroom and boost your students’ language acquisition, this episode is packed with tips to make it happen. Be sure to try Translation Race this week and share how it goes with your class!
Join the Growing With Proficiency Spanish Teacher Academy! 🎉 Transform your Spanish classroom with a comprehensive, engaging curriculum, a comprehensive hub with more than 80 classes with practical strategies to build an acquisition-based class, and more. 🚀 Gain access to training, resources, and a supportive community of educators passionate about language acquisition.
👉 Sign up today at growingwithproficie
