How Languages Are Learned by Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada is probably one of the best-known books that gives an overview of the research on language acquisition. Its latest edition—the fourth edition—was published in 2013, so it combines information about some of the early, foundational research studies on language acquisition along with some more …

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It's almost 2021! Here are three easy ideas for class activities to start off the new year: The Year in Photos This is more of an idea to reflect and look back on the previous year, but it can also help your students to think about and make predictions for the upcoming year. Like every …

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I love using pictures in class, and I've been trying out some new activities recently with pictures. Here are two of the ideas I've been using: "Find the Object" Pictures Someone recently posted this picture online and challenged people to try to find the cat hidden in the picture: If you can't find it, you …

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I try to use gender-inclusive language when possible in my own speech (though I'm definitely still working on it!), but, until recently, I had never talked with my students very directly about the topic or taught an entire lesson about it. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been more intentional about using gender-inclusive language …

Continue reading Singular “They” & Latinx: Talking to Students About Gender-Inclusive Language

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests, I’m trying to do more to explore how I can become more anti-racist in my teaching. I’m hoping to write more about this topic in future posts, but I wanted to start off with a book recommendation. I recently read the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by …

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