Top 5 Signs in Your Classroom That It’s Time to Refresh Your Language and Teaching Skills
If you're a teacher of languages, you're already part of one of the most rewarding professions – guiding students to think beyond borders, speak across cultures and develop skills that can change their futures. But even the most passionate educators sometimes hit a plateau.
Whether you're teaching Spanish, French, English or any other language, it's easy to fall into familiar rhythms: the same lesson plans, the same explanations, the same activities. There are signs all over your classroom when it’s time for a refresh; your students won’t be putting their hands up as much and engaging with the material, you’ll be checking the clock for when the lesson is over, you’ll often feel like you’re talking at students and not in conversation with them. It might be time to sit back down and take a lesson with us!
Here are five signs that your teaching – and your own language proficiency – might benefit from a refresher, and the simple solution that Wiseward can provide you to make this into a new learning opportunity.
1. You’re Avoiding Spontaneous Conversation in the Target Language
One of the most powerful tools in a language classroom is spontaneous, unscripted conversation. It mimics real-world situations, engages students more deeply and helps them build communicative confidence. But let’s be honest, it can also be intimidating for teachers, especially if you always have to adopt the role of ‘teacher’ and haven’t had a fluent conversation with someone at your skill-level in a while.
If you find yourself gently steering students away from open-ended dialogue and back toward worksheets or controlled practice – especially because you feel a bit unsure about handling spontaneous language use – it may be a sign that your own fluency is a little rusty.
Spontaneous speaking is like a muscle: if you don’t use it regularly, it weakens. That doesn’t mean you're a bad teacher, it just means you may benefit from putting yourself in more immersive language situations where you're challenged to think, speak and respond quickly.
How Wiseward can help:
Consider joining one of our ‘For Teachers of Languages’ immersion courses specifically designed for educators. Immersive learning is unique in that it forces you out of your comfort zone and gives you 24-hour exposure to your target language. By living the language again, you'll naturally regain the fluency and agility you need to lead conversations confidently in class.
2. Your Lessons Sound a Lot Like Last Year’s (and the Year Before That)
There’s nothing wrong with reusing effective material! After all, a great lesson is a great lesson. But if you’ve been recycling the same curriculum year after year without significant updates, it might be time to ask yourself why.
There is a need to stick to school-board approved lesson designs to get students exam ready, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for your own personalisation. We all remember best those teachers who really put their heart into each and every one of their lessons and enjoyed the classroom experience just as much as their students.
Students today are coming into classrooms with different expectations, different relationships to technology and different needs than students five or ten years ago. They crave authenticity, creativity and relevance. If your lessons aren’t keeping up, you might be unintentionally limiting their learning—and your own growth.
How Wiseward can help:
Guided by experienced trainers, our ‘For Teachers of Languages’ course is specifically designed for teachers, not just because it is at a higher skill level, but also because our lessons let you into all of the secrets about teaching. Our courses teach you how to regain pedagogical excellence, revitalise your lesson plans and dive deep into teaching methodology.
3. You Struggle to Stay in the Target Language Throughout the Lesson
Most language teachers aim for 90–100% of the lesson to be taught in the target language in class. It’s a gold standard in communicative language teaching. But it’s also tough.
You might find yourself switching to the students’ first language when giving instructions, explaining grammar points or managing classroom behaviour. Often, this isn’t just about the students – it’s a reflection of how confident you feel explaining complex ideas or responding on the fly in the target language.
If you feel yourself reaching for your native language more often than you'd like, it may mean you need more practice functioning at a high level in the language—not just teaching about the language. There is always more to learn when it comes to languages, there’s no such thing as knowing too much.
How to refresh:
It might have been a while since you yourself have sat in a lesson and seen what it’s like from the student’s perspective. Taking even one of our classes will give you a more intimate understanding of the classroom. Our teachers will build up your repertoire of classroom expressions, transitions, management phrases and ways to explain abstract concepts – all in the language you're teaching.
4. You Find Yourself Asking More and More ‘What’s Going on in the World?’
There is no point in learning a language simply for academic merit. Language learning is also about cultural capital and global connectivity. In an age of doom scrolling and fake news, it can be easy to get caught up in the politics of your own country – but there is so much more to be discovered!
If you feel a moment of panic when a student asks about current events, pop culture or news from the countries where your target language is spoken, it might be time to rebuild your cultural fluency. Language is deeply tied to context and staying current makes you a more relatable, relevant teacher.
Not only are songs, films, news articles, social media posts etc. an example of the language at work, they are the heart of language learning. And perhaps you were caught up with cultural affairs while you were in school, but this is an ever-growing domain that cannot be truly mastered without taking a trip to your language’s native speaking country.
How Wiseward can help:
Our ‘For Teachers of Languages’ courses boast a range of extracurricular activities that are an engaging way of learning outside of the boundaries of the classroom. Go to fun movie nights, see local museums and cafés, speak to locals and even go on excursions to other towns and cities to see what the native speakers are buzzing about.
5. You Feel More Like an Instructor Than a Learner
This might be the most important sign of all.
If it’s been a while since you sat in the learner’s seat – grappling with unfamiliar words, struggling to follow a native speaker, fumbling through a new sentence – you may have lost touch with the vulnerability your students feel every day.
Great teaching comes from empathy. And the best way to grow empathy is to learn again. To stretch yourself. To feel that mix of discomfort and excitement that only learning a new language (or relearning it more deeply) can bring.
Teachers who regularly invest in their own growth tend to be more flexible, more compassionate and more inspiring in the classroom. Because in the rush of coursework and exams, it is easy to forget that learning a language is a uniquely human experience.
How to refresh:
Meet other teachers while on our ‘For Teachers of Languages’ course and connect with likeminded educators who you can exchange your experiences with and form friendships that you will never forget. Our courses not only aim to encourage your linguistic abilities, but they also build your emotional competency and interpersonal skills. In turn, you’ll be able to connect better with your students and harbour a sense of community in your classroom.
End of lesson!
Ultimately, it is your classroom reflects your growth. The most effective language classrooms are led by teachers who are still learning – who see themselves as participants in the same beautiful, frustrating, exhilarating process their students are going through.
If you recognized yourself in any of the signs above, take it as a positive: you care enough about your students and your classroom atmosphere to want to grow. That’s the token of a great educator. And, luckily enough, we have the perfect solution to your problems.
Our Wiseward ‘For Teacher’s of Languages’ courses combine high-impact language practice with innovative pedagogical training, all in a culturally rich environment. Join other dedicated educators who are ready to refresh, reconnect and reimagine their teaching this summer and find that there is always more to learn when it comes to teaching.
Check out our ‘For Teachers of English’ course!
Check out our ‘For Teachers of Spanish’ course!
Check out our ‘For Teachers of French’ course!