I have documented the learning journey of a group of learners of Spanish as an additional language for almost two years. I am aware of the contexts in which they have been asked to use the language to express different ideas. I have a great amount of oral and spoken work that showcase the variety of texts they are able to produce. I am familiar with the language errors they continue to make and, likewise, I celebrate the creativity with which they use language freely.
The awareness/knowledge I have of them is not the result of a placement or an on-demand test, but the product of teaching the development of their language skills. The performances in which they have participated allows me to understand their strengths as well as the challenges they face.
Therefore, when designing another stage in their language learning journey, there is a series of language knowledge and understandings that I know they have, and I cannot ignore it as we move forward. As I started to entertain approaches to design my following unit of inquiry I paused and thought about how I could use their
I stopped associating time tenses or grammar in general to specific topics a long time ago. I now firmly believe that to help students to mix new language with what they know I need to consider pathways that allow them to recycle, integrate and to expand.
As we continue to develop our linguistic skills, move forward with the strengths of the understandings we have mastered and with the shortcomings of those language errors we can’t prevent yet. Therefore, when designing a new unit of inquiry, it is crucial to reflect on the explorations that will give students the opportunity to continue to work on those shortcomings while still developing their language skills.
After deep consideration of the work samples that I have collected, I decided to move forward by choosing where to place the emphasis. I reasoned that since students already knew how to structure different types of statements and to organise them in different formats / texts, I could focus on message creation and meaning nuances. The following table summarises my choices:
The images below showcase the engagements in the first two sessions when the unit was launched. Notice how students’ past understandings alongside an initial new awareness are used to begin to generalise or, otherwise, begin to construct a new more complex understanding.
The interplay between prior and new knowledge and understanding supports the opportunities for transfer in which students may be successful. Strong clarity of such interplay helps us, facilitators, to be more action-oriented coaches, more dedicated language-use partners, and more creative language inquiry designers.
I firmly believe that honouring past and new knowledge and understandings paves the way for transfer to near, familiar, unfamiliar and unlikely contexts.
I believe that the power of intentionally organizing learning experiences in didactic sequences cannot be overstated. Lately, I have delved into the intricacies of the way concept nuances language learning experience and text production, and I have discovered how it not only enhances language proficiency but also unleashes the creative potential of students.
Learning an additional language is a breathing entity that gains depth and meaning when we use language creatively to express ideas in diverse contexts. By providing students with a rich tapestry of situations in which to use vocabulary and grammar structures, we go beyond rote memorization, inviting them to apply their understandings in purposeful and message-oriented ways.
A key question I have consistently wondered refers to the ways in which we can foster creativity in language learning. When students are encouraged to use language for different purposes and to achieve varied goals, they not only internalize linguistic structures but also harness their imaginative capacities. From taking part in situational transactions, to expressing and discussing points or views, to communicating concrete messages to specific audiences, the language becomes a tool for expression and exploration.
A fundamental aspect of organizing learning experiences around concepts is the nuanced focus on varied contexts. By exploring different concepts, students observe patterns in the ways ideas can be expressed. This not only deepens their understanding of the language but also allows them to make connections, drawing from prior knowledge and experiences.
Crucially, this intentionality enables the emergence of opportunities for differentiation in learning journeys. Recognizing that each student is a unique learner with distinct interests and aptitudes, I have been able to tailor experiences to attend to the challenges they show readiness for. Some may thrive in creative writing exercises, while others may excel in debates or discussions. The beauty lies in the adaptability of the approach, which has allowed me to provide the right level of challenge for each learner.
Using concepts to design teaching and learning with high quality communication in mind has increased my students’ engagement. Students are not constrained by a predetermined set of linguistic boundaries but are instead encouraged to communicate ideas in an amplified manner. They become adept at using language to express nuanced thoughts, explore complexities, and navigate a variety of scenarios both spontaneously or on a “challenge basis”.
As students incorporate varying degrees of complexity in the language they use they define their own challenge. In doing so, they not only acquire language skills but also develop a deep sense of ownership and agency over their linguistic development.
Concept-based language teaching has been a powerful model for additional language learning, fostering creativity, differentiation, and effective communication. Organizing learning experiences around diverse concepts has empowered students to observe patterns, make connections, and draw from their rich reservoir of prior knowledge.
In this dynamic and engaging environment, language becomes a living, evolving tool—one that students wield with confidence, purpose, and an innate understanding of its limitless possibilities. The image below showcases moments from an inquiry in which students had to demonstrate whether they knew their city or whether they lived in a bubble.
Their learning experiences ranged from asking and giving information about places of interest in the city, to explaining why specific places are important or popular, to comparing the significance of places in different cities, to creating persuasive texts to highlight why people should visit a city, to rehearsing podcast scripts to practice articulation and intonation, to spontaneously take part in a simulation of the episode of a podcast in which they describe the amount of experiences a visitor can have in a city.
Using concepts to frame inquiries to design meaningful and relevant teaching and learning that aims to create memories has made me shift my thinking concerning processes such as reading. Also, when filtering decisions and beliefs through the lenses of intention and purpose, the rationale for such shift becomes evident to me.
Before you continue reading this blog post, take a moment, pause, and reflect on the following questions, considering varied factors that influence the development of reading skills, the reading experience, and the reasons for reading in an additional language class.
What challenges do your students face when reading different text types?
In what ways does the “assessment of comprehension” stage limit the impact reading can have?
What do you know or what have you noticed about how student experience reading at different language levels?
What other purposes does reading have other than assessing comprehension?
[This one will sound as Cher’s Believe] Is there learning life in reading after the fluent execution and coordination of word meaning retrieval and text meaning and message comprehension?
The knowledge and skills we, language educators, bring to the design and delivery of reading experiences matter. The kind of readers we are, and the reading strategies we consistently use because we understand the metacognitive processes that take place matter too.
I believe that there are many facts, opinions, and claims that we know about reading. Likewise, I am aware of the experiences supported by best practices that work if we give them a chance. To explain the point I want to make, I would first like to be aware of how I see this.
In brief, the point that I want to make is that the life the reading experience should not be limited to factual comprehension and to point out the parts of a text. I believe that solely focusing on that does not support the aspiration of shaping learners as readers but as individuals who can answer questions for exams.
I love seeing students using the vocabulary and ideas presented in the texts I offer them when they participate in different interactions, when they prepare presentations for different audiences, when they produce different texts, among other experiences. I love seeing students going back to the texts I have given them to look for ideas on what to say about different topics. When I witness this, I realize they have understood my purpose.
For this reason, for students to construct that understanding, we can intentionally and explicitly:
design units of inquiry that include a variety of texts that represent relevant ideas that can authentically be uttered in the contexts that we are using.
consider developing teaching and learning routines through which we take the time to bring students’ attention to model sentences in different parts of the text.
choose texts that will have a purpose beyond the comprehension stage, and that extend the life of the reading experience- hence confirming the investment we made when reading.
As language educators who teach reading and do not limit our efforts to responding to factual comprehension questions, to identifying parts or features of a text, we need to embrace our roles as vocabulary-attuned, sentence-attuned, inference-attuned educators, and as educators who intentionally desire to foster the use of language with creativity and imagination.
Working with concepts to design learning in the additional language class has encouraged me to shift a common practice in writing that is commonly described as “writing from memory”. I acknowledge the importance of retrieving meaning and a variety of language, but if our goal is to help students become effective and strategic writers that is not enough.
What strategies can we intentionally employ to support students to use language meaningfully to address the desired audience?
What routines can we intentionally implement to support students to use language meaningfully to accomplish the desired purpose of communication?
What ongoing practices can we intentionally coordinate to support students to transfer their understanding of text formats to an actual text ?
These are only a few questions I believe help Us see that writing from memory can be a limited experience that may teach little about what writers do. More importantly, when supporting learners who have not yet consolidated understandings or developed linguistic confidence or fluency to express ideas, not having systems in place that help students recognise what writers do can prevent them from developing and consolidating relevant skills and dispositions.
The image below showcases the scaffolded writing process that aimed at getting students to produce a text that mirrored a Wikipedia article.
I believe that before jumping to conclusions and claiming that students were not able to accomplish a task, we have to pause and look at the evidence of their learning and try to figure out what they are not seeing. Knowing what they may not have seen will empower us to decide support that directly tackles the conceptual relationships that they are not able to apply.
The image below showcases the intervention process that was devised to guide students to produce language based on categories and then transfer it meaningfully to the desired text.
Upon culmination of this intervention, students reflected on their expertise and could generalize concluding that:
Randomly producing sentences without paying attention to the meaning and message we want to convey may hinder our outcomes.
Keeping in mind the content to populate different paragraphs or sections below to produce sentences more intentionally.
Planning an outcome considering the variety of ideas to include and the format of the text helps to select language that constitutes the message of the text.
What systems to support writing do you intentionally implement in your learning context?
The power of effective note-taking as a tool for reviewing understandings and tracking students’ learning journey is not deniable. Many educators intentionally devote considerable amounts of class time to train students to become effective note takers. Nonetheless, as someone who is constantly reflecting on learning from the students’ perspective, I have become aware of the limited number of times in which we, educators, have discussed the relationship between presenting information, leading inquiries and note taking.
We advise students to use different colors to signal categories in their notes, to identify key words and map ideas from them, to illustrate the relationship among relevant details, to use bullet points to generate lists, among other strategies. However, I wonder if educators who may consider themselves as effective presenters and communicators ever signal what moves students can make to maximize their focus.
When presenter signal how they have organized information and how they will present it, audiences get a hint on how they may organize notes. When speakers start their lectures with a question their presentation will/may provide the answer for, audiences may understand that a way to take notes is ensuring ideas will respond to the question they are inquiring into. When presenters show empathy for the complex processes audiences undergo when actively listening and attempting to record ideas that matter, a caring learning atmosphere is observable.
As I make a move to this fourth paragraph, I can hear the voices of some past colleagues of mine who may say, “but isn’t that students’ work?”, “why should we tell students what to do?”, “why is it my job to tell students how to organize their notes?”, and the list could go one. The truth is that effective communication happens when speakers and listeners acknowledge each other. This means, at least to me, that there is a shared responsibility between the presenters and the audience.
Empathetically and genuinely desiring that students make the most of the learning we design requires us to honestly reflect on the way we present information and be accountable for its strengths and weaknesses and, conversely, take every opportunity we must improve our communication and presentation skills as designers of learning. I believe that refusing to acknowledge how understanding the structure of our presentations and transparently sharing with students reduces the impact we could aspire to have.
I could argue that effective notes are the result of meaningful and well-structured presentations, and I may add that they are greatly dependent on how presenters anticipate their communication own moves with audiences in mind. How often do we intentionally invite audiences to consider a new question? How often do we say, not let’s focus on this contrasting detail? How often do we make invitations to visualize upcoming information in specific forms? And, most importantly, how much do we care about our message not being misconstrued?
After observing hundreds of meaningful and effective lessons and reflecting on what it is that empowers students to remain engaged while taking effective notes, I firmly believe that is the presenters’ awareness and empathetic and genuine care for students’ role as audience and transformers of ideas that makes a difference. Ultimately, effective communication requires well-thought-out output that may become well-structured, logical, and impactful input.
I am a firm believer that noticing patterns that lead to identifying connections and relationships is a lot more powerful than following a grammar rules. Not only do mentor texts or model sentences show students how language is used and support them to become aware of how they can use it creatively, but also presents them with opportunities to inquire into different concepts.
Generalizing is such a powerful practice to implement as a routine in our teaching. Once students are train to and get used to generalizing, they will not see their learning process in the same way. Not only will it be clear to them why they are inquiring into the grammar or language aspects in an exploration, but also relate past understandings to new ones, hence strengthening their ability to use language with full awareness.
In chapter 3 of my book Concept-Based Language Teaching and Learning, I share more than 10 class vignettes in which an educator demonstrates how concepts can be explored intentionally and explicitly, and how we can support students to generalize. These examples help to illustrate how we can inquire into the language, through the target language, to learn about languages.
The following video shares an exploration of sentence patterns that allow students to practice metacognition and to use their conceptual understanding as a tool to self-check the accuracy of their work.
How have you explored the concept of patter in your language classes?
How strategies do you use to support students to generalise?
The implementation of the Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction (CBCI) model in the area of additional languages needed examples to support its theory and practice, and to empower its implementation. This book ends the myth of what is and what is not possible, and provides a solution for that need.
In addition to grounding and focusing the CBCI model in additional language teaching, this work includes examples of planners, learning routines, and carefully follows the steps of formative and summative evaluation of learning and evaluation experiences, hence its name: From Inception to Fruition. Likewise, the variety of resources that come with it reflect the research and trial work that was conducted over the past 7 years .
This work was produced to support additional language teachers who wish to incorporate Concept-Based pedagogy, as well as nuance their practice with various models of inquiry and explicit skill development. 5 years of research, collaboration with the pioneers of the CBCI model, and the development of pilot planners and lessons in different international schools endorse this book, the first of its kind in the area of additional languages.
With a multitude of scenarios that illustrate the teaching-learning process of a unit of inquiry that follows the principles of Concept-Based language teaching, this book becomes an important tool for secondary or high school language teachers. The author not only invites us to reflect on the creation of a contextualised curriculum in areas of interest for young people that attends to the relevance of the issues of their world and not of the world of adults, but also invites us to recognise the value of our subject. Dr. Glauce Serralvo
J. Rafael Ángel’s protocol for curriculum design and mapping helped to upgrade our language acquisition curriculum and to develop a strategy to support, administrate and evaluate my team’s learning and teaching practices. This protocol is very helpful and comprehensive and allows everyone not only to understand relationships, but also to become aware of natural and meaningful progression with an authentic focus on the learners. The final document is an outcome that truly maps, guides, and helps in the implementation of a sustainable curriculum. Ms. Boudour Obeid
Working with the CBCI language planner greatly helped my Dutch language team to keep focus throughout the planning process. We moved from learning about a topic towards inquiring into more specific language patterns and more specific language skills! The ‘transfer from’ and ‘transfer to’ helped us to see the bigger picture. I’m already looking forward to planning the next unit as a CBCI unit! Annefieke Bonants
In Chapter 1 of my recently published book on Concept-Based Language Teaching and Learning, I justified the reason why mentor texts were more than samples, and in chapters 3 and 4 shared a samples of work that exemplify the power of mentor texts. After 5 years of inquiring into the role of mentor texts in additional language learning, my exploration of this tools continues and the nuances that appear also continue to surprise me.
Teaching students to read like writers goes beyond completing reading comprehension tasks and letting the power and meaning of a text die alongside the experience that comes to an end when students answer questions.
Where do students see grammar functions in action?
How do students figure out how language can be used to accomplish the linguistic conventions needed in different sections of texts?
How do students figure out that they are using language to address a specific audience?
How do students figure out what language is needed to accomplish a specific objective (purpose of communication)?
Where do students find the language that models how a message is conveyed effectively?
The answer to these questions are in the texts we select to model language use and the application of understandings.
Creating reading experiences that will reward students with writing strategies elevates the meaning and impact of reading. By inquiring into mentor texts, not only do we extend the life of the text after checking comprehension, we also appreciate how vocabulary and certain grammar aspects are used, not to mention the opportunity we have to notice, imitate, compare and contrast, and employ the language using different strategies.
The power of mentor texts lies in the way they show how the language structures and concepts students are exploring are implemented in different context, and in different ways. Noticing how writers use vocabulary and structures models for students patterns that they can imitate to produce texts of their own. Likewise, some creators’ writing style may trigger or activate inspiration in students, who may end up mirroring it in their productions.
I would like to share the strategy moves and text transitions I used in a unit of inquiry for beginners, as well as a few samples of student work that showcase how they build up capacity as communicators. The mentor texts I used will appear first, followed by a couple of students’ work samples where they inquired into the linguistic conventions of a blog post. The final image represents a student work sample conducted under examination conditions (data was provided so students could perform the task).
I am currently working at a school that is not an IB MYP school. This means that I have had to develop an approach to assessment criteria that allows me to give concrete feedback on the application of the understandings of the different concepts explored. The table below is an example of the tools I am using to assess and provide feedback to students.
La implementación del modelo de currículo y enseñanza basados en conceptos (CBCI por sus siglas en inglés) en el área de lenguas adicionales carecía de teoría y práctica que apoyaran su implementación. Este libro pone fin y da solución a esa necesidad.
Además de aterrizar y enfocar el modelo CBCI en la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales, este trabajo incluye ejemplos de planificadores, rutinas de aprendizaje, y da seguimiento minucioso a los pasos de la evaluación formativa y sumativa de las experiencias de aprendizaje y evaluación, de ahí su nombre: Del Diseño a la Creación. Del mismo modo, la variedad de recursos que lo acompañan lo convierte en un recurso difícil de comparar.
Este trabajo se produjo para apoyar a los profesores de lenguas adicionales que deseen incorporar de manera auténtica la pedagogía basada en conceptos, así como matizar sus prácticas con diversos modelos de indagación y desarrollo explícito de habilidades. 5 años de investigación, colaboración con las pioneras del modelo CBCI, y el desarrollo de pruebas en diferentes escuelas internacionales avalan este libro, el primero en su especie en el área de lenguas adicionales.
Con este trabajo, los lectores consiguen:
3 ejemplos de planificadores para la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en diferentes niveles
1 ejemplo de un mapa curricular para estudiantes de 11-16 años
Docenas de ejemplos de estrategias que apoyan la enseñanza de lenguas basada en conceptos
Fotografías, audios y vídeos que demuestran maneras en que se puede implementar el modelo
Recursos y estrategias
Estoy agradecido con los peer reviewers del trabajo, cuyas apreciaciones aparecen enseguida.
«Sin lugar a duda se trata de una excelente obra que de forma muy amena y ágil sintetiza metodologías contemporáneas para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de nuevas lenguas desde un marco teórico y conceptual que se corresponde con el estado del arte, abordando holísticamente las distintas dimensiones a considerar para un aprendizaje significativo y en contexto. Altamente recomendable para profesionales de la educación relacionados con la enseñanza y el acompañamiento de adquisición de lenguas extranjeras». Dr. Fernando Ramírez Pérez
«Este libro fomenta la comprensión de elementos de teoría centrados en el aprendizaje conceptual y cómo transferir el conocimiento y llevarlo a la práctica. Está diseñado para que docentes responsables de la enseñanza y adquisición de lenguas adicionales desarrollen estrategias tangibles que logren que los alumnos sean actores centrales en el desarrollo de otra lengua. Los ejemplos que se promueven nos mantienen enfocados en la adquisición de conocimientos, la transferencia de los mismos y cómo llevar todo a la aplicación de manera que los alumnos logren vivir el idioma en contextos reales». Diego Zaragoza Tejas
«Este libro llega justo en tiempos en los que es necesario repensar y enriquecer el concepto de currículo para que sea relevante a la realidad de nuestros alumnos. J. Rafael Ángel desmitifica la leyenda y los misterios del modelo de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje Basados en Conceptos con ejemplos concretos y detallados. Con una multitud de escenarios que ilustran el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de una unidad de indagación bajo los principios de la enseñanza de lenguas basada en conceptos, este libro se convierte en una importante herramienta para los profesores de lengua a nivel de secundaria o bachillerato. El autor no solo nos invita a reflexionar acerca de la creación de un currículo contextualizado en áreas de interés para los jóvenes que atienda a la relevancia de los temas de su mundo y no del mundo de los adultos, sino que nos invita a reconocer el valor de nuestra asignatura». Dra. Glauce Serralvo
El trabajo se puede conseguir en las siguientes plataformas:
I am halfway through level A2 of my Dutch learning experience as I write this blog post. I am now able to take part in everyday transactions and to ask and share information about myself, people, places, and objects, as long as it’s factual. Being who I am, however, I am aware of the need I have to share impressions and opinions.
We have recently been mixing vocabulary related to goods we buy in the supermarket and features of homes we read in different advertisements to practice the perfectum tense in Dutch. This means that we have the opportunity to communicate what we have done, what we have seen, what we have asked, where we have gone, among other instances.
We have been writing small paragraphs in which we share/summarize, for example, the steps taken to host a dinner, from going shopping, to cooking, setting the table, and cleaning up. Most recently, we were asked to report the direct questions we are asked in different places, and what we respond. We are not using indirect speech yet. The intentions of the teacher are very clear- he wants us to practice the perfectum form of the verbs in as many contexts as possible.
Having succeeded in a task in which I reported what I did to prepare for a dinner to which I invited my best friends, I started thinking how I could transfer the language I employed to produce a text that has no audience, to a text that could actually be consumable. Empowered, as usual, I started crafting a blog post in which I was to inform my readers about the differences in prices in products in Belgium and Mexico.
When I finished the text, I asked my spouse to look at it and help me improve it. I concretely wanted to know
If I was able to communicate a message
If the text included constructions that signaled possible translation from other languages that I speak (or even google translate)
When the time came for us to look at the text, I noticed that the conversation revolved around accuracy and the extent to which what I wrote made sense. I thought the intent of my message was clear, but as we discussed how logical some of my ideas were, I started wondering whether my message was not expressed clearly, or whether I wrote things that did were not logical. I even started writing some sentences in English to clarify what I wanted to say.
To make the story short, I lost patience and decided to abort the mission because I did not see how I was being helped.
After a few minutes, once I have cooled off, I started thinking whether we, teachers, are sensitized to the moments when our students go from feeling empowered to feeling powerless. I started thinking about the strategies we may or may not provide our students with so that they can engage in dialogue when being helped. I was being helped, but the “help” focused on accuracy and “logic”, and I felt that what I wanted to express was not being addressed.
I have been writing this blog since 2005. Clearly, I have vast experience to transfer from. Nevertheless, I have never written a consumable text in Dutch, so even if I possess a wide variety of skills to write blog entries with different purposes in the languages that I am fluent in, I am not able to do so in a language that I am acquiring, even when I think that I know the words and necessary structures to create one.
The process of writing a shopping list is very different from the process of writing a text message to tell someone you are late, or from the process of filling out a form with personal information. Are we aware of the steps involved in the production of these texts? Are we aware of the decisions we make when producing one? Do we help students to write sentences that serve as declarations of facts but lack an intent for an actual audience? What is the difference from simply writing “the prices of goods are more expensive in Belgium than in Mexico” and using this statement as part of a text that aims to communicate the summary of an experience?
Evidently, I noticed something that made me conclude the above, and I want to share it. The question is, what kind of questions are necessary for a dialogue in which we focus on how we can use language to communicate different ideas? And which are the ideas that can best help to communicate the summary of the experience one lived?
After being calmed down by my reflection, I started coaching myself as if I were my own student. The following are a few thoughts and questions that shaped my second attempt:
Thought: I need to use only the words I have learned.
T: I need to avoid translating long phrases that will result in complex structures that I haven’t been taught.
Question: How can I say this in a different way?
Q: What are the ideas that make sense in this text?
Q: What words can I use to construct an idea that makes sense in this text?
Q: (After writing an idea) How can I extend this idea so that it adds to the overall message?
Q: Does this look like a text that someone with my language level would write?
Inevitably, I also started thinking about the steps I would need to take as a teacher if I wanted to scaffold the transfer process in a case like this. These are some of the questions that I was able to recollect:
Have I shown students how many different ideas can be expressed with the vocabulary we have learned?
Have I provided my students with mentor texts to refer to when exploring how ideas can be communicated?
(If I have identified mentor texts) Do the texts progressively show how to integrate facts, questions, summaries of dialogues, ways of using information in stimuli?
Have I prepared language stems that can help students use language with the text conventions in mind?
Have I prepared examples to help students see how language is used to address an audience, to communicate ideas with a specific purpose within a theme, to combine ideas?
At the end of this reflective experience, I am left with these questions:
How many times do we ask students what the intended message of the text they are writing is?
How many times do we ask them to walk us thought the work they have already done?
How many times do we ask students what they want to express before we give feedback?
How many times do we refer them to the work we have already done to continue to support independence?
How balance is our feedback considering meaning, message and accuracy?
Below, on the left, is a screenshot of the text about the transactions I participated in, which helped me to practice language and grammar, but which had no real audience. On the right, is the text I produced as a summary of an experience: comparing prices.
Ser y Estar 