KWLA Workshop Update

Hey there! In September of 2024, I presented this session again at the 2024 Kentucky World Language Association Conference with my dear friend Sara-Elizabeth. This time, we turned this session into a 2 hour workshop and in hindsight, I don’t know how we managed to do this session in 40 minutes at ACTFL. If you are visiting this post because you attended our session, consider this my sincere THANK YOU for attending. We had a standing-room only session because of YOU! Thank you for coming, for your amazing questions, and for your time.

The remainder of this post recaps our session done at KWLA and ACTFL 23. You will find the slides of the presentation at the end.

Teaching on Target Language Memory Lane ACTFL / KWLA

This past weekend I embarked on my maiden voyage to ACTFL 2024 in Chicago, where I spent countless hours learning from presenters and mingling with internet friends. I also gave my first ACTFL presentation, Teaching on TL Memory Lane, with my wonderful amiga, miss Musicuentos herself, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell. In December, she asked me if I would listen to a TED Talk and consider writing a proposal to present at ACTFL about how memory plays a vital role in how we should structure activities in the classroom. I obliged, she composed our proposal, and well…here we are!

Friday at 2:30 pm was our time slot for presenting…as well as 47 other presenters (no exaggeration)…so we decided to spread the love of our presentation and blog about it! The title of the presentation is Teaching on TL Memory Lane and a copy of our slides is available at the end of this post. It is important to know that this presentation really just scratches the surface on how memories are made so I highly recommend that you read the book that inspired the presentation called Remember by Lisa Genova, and you should listen to the TED Talk she gave as well.

Before we get started...

First, we need to define TL which is Target Language (Spanish for me). Second, we need to establish that this blog post is NOT about the debate between acquisition vs. learning. Third, there are some things I will say that may upset you…but I want you to trust me when I tell you that everything we do in our classroom should be driven by how our students’ brains actually function and learn…not what the most popular new teaching fad on social media is. So, let’s start.

How do you make a memory?

Did you know that the #1 thing you can do to improve your memory at any age is to pay attention? Paying attention is essential for creating a memory for anything. It’s why you forget where you parked your car, what color socks you are wearing today, or why your students cannot remember the vocab words you taught yesterday. They never formed a memory for it to begin with and there was an attention deficit happening in your lesson. Attention is the starting point for working memory. We have to get our students to tell their brains that something about this lesson is worth remembering.

When you form a memory, your brain physically changes. There are 4 specific steps to encoding a memory. Encoding, consolidation, storage, and retrieval. I won’t spend time dissecting them, but I do recommend that you read Remember and dive into them deeper. There are also 3 specific types of memory in your brain.

First, we have semantic memory which is information that is not attached to any specific event. It’s how you know that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell….but you can’t remember who taught you that or what lesson it was in school.
The second type of memory is episodic memory which is always linked to past events. This is the memory type that we can actually do things to improve like asking learners to write things down and put their stupid phones away so they actually pay attention to you.
The last type of memory is motor memory. This is why you can remember how to ride a bike even after it’s been 10 years since you last did, or why I can still remember how to twirl a baton.

How do we get to TL memory Lane? (It actually involves clowns)

There are five stops on memory lane which I break down below and in order to help you remember them, Musicuentos created a mnemonic character to help us remember these steps. He looks a little something like this.

Repetition

Without deliberate attempts to retain what you learn, you will forget most of what you experience right away. What you do over and over changes your brain. As learners repeat, their brain is actually changing. How can you include this?

Recycle themes, structures, and vocabulary across units.

Let them sleep on it! It’s science…I promise.

Use strategies like retrieval grids or flashcards. (see our presentation for an example!)

Meaning

Our brains remember what is meaningful and forget what isn’t. What are you doing in your classroom to make the lesson meaningful to your learners? We can make connections to meaning by tailoring content to interest, force opinions (make them SPEAK), and allow for student choice in the classroom.

Emotion

Lisa Genova says that our brains LOVE to remember what is emotional. Emotional events are like a big brass band playing in our head and they are flashbulb memories.

Novelty and Surprise

The last two steps on Memory Lane are similar enough that I am putting them together. Novelty tells the brain that this is something that you want to remember. Surprises are what create flashbulb memories. The more surprising and bizarre the lesson, the more likely they are going to remember it!

Hot Takes...

Remember how I said that I might say somethings that are a little spicy? Well… we had some hot takes go a little viral on X (Twitter) that we shared so I wanted to share them here. Feel free to let me know what you think 🙂