May 26, 2025 • 28 mins
Are you tired of watching your language students cram for final exams only to forget everything a week later? It's time to revolutionize your assessment approach with something that actually measures what matters: what students can DO with the language they've acquired.
Get the portfolio only available in the Practical Proficiency Curriculum here:
https://lalibrelanguagelearning.mykajabi.com/practical-proficiency-curriculum-world-language-info
WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/XuyxCX5MCFU
In this episode, I unpack how replacing traditional final exams with carefully designed portfolios creates authentic assessment opportunities that mirror real-world language use. Rather than testing isolated vocabulary and grammar points under pressure, portfolios allow students to demonstrate their genuine language capabilities through evidence collected throughout their learning journey.
The beauty of the portfolio approach lies in its flexibility and authenticity. You'll discover how to create a simple framework based on 15-30 targeted can-do statements that represent your course's essential skills. Whether you've meticulously saved student work all year or need to help students recreate evidence during those chaotic final weeks, I provide practical strategies for implementation that won't overwhelm you or your students.
What makes portfolios particularly powerful is how they transform student mindsets. When learners know they'll ultimately showcase their skills in a comprehensive collection, they approach each unit with greater intention and retention. This creates a cumulative learning experience rather than the compartmentalized "learn-test-forget" cycle typical of traditional courses. Plus, portfolios provide redemption opportunities for students who struggled earlier in the year but have since developed proficiency.
The portfolio approach also solves many end-of-year challenges: it provides meaningful work during days with spotty attendance, reduces the "checking out" phenomenon that leads to behavior issues, and eliminates the stress of high-stakes testing. By focusing assessment on what students can demonstrate rather than what they can remember, we honor the true purpose of language education: enabling meaningful communication.
Ready to transform how you assess language acquisition? Listen in for step-by-step guidance, resource recommendations, and practical examples that will help you implement portfolio assessments that truly capture your students' language journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up?
Que lo que Et salut worldlanguage teachers.
Welcome to the PracticalProficiency Podcast, where we
make the transition toproficiency-oriented instruction
in your world language class ina way that works for you, your
unique context and teachingstyle, and doesn't sacrifice
(00:21):
your well-being along the way.
I'm your host, devon Gunning,the teacher author, conference
host, curriculum creator andconsultant behind La Libre
Language Learning.
This podcast is for thecreative world language teacher
like you who's ready to ditchthe overwhelming pressure of
switching to acquisition-driveninstruction and CI overnight.
(00:42):
You're ready to discover howusing more target language in
class can actually bring you andyour students more joy instead
of adding to your plate.
With practical, authentic anddown-to-earth strategies that
don't require reinventing thewheel or more training, we'll
work together towards the magicof a community-based, target
(01:05):
language-rich classroom, rootedin the power of community and
comprehensible input.
Let's go, hey.
World Language Teachers, it'sthat time of year, it's
springtime, things are bloomingand you're also feeling all the
things that you got to dotowards the end of the year,
especially if you're preppingand thinking about how am I
(01:29):
going to assess my students fora whole year's worth or a block
semester's worth of acquisitionthat they've done with me?
So this episode is all abouthow can we make this whole idea
of culminating knowledge andorganizing what language you're
(01:49):
able to use from your time inclass this year instead of a
final exam, which is alwaysgoing to encourage, in my
experience, a lot of cramming, alot of flash cards and a lot of
studying Instead of a worldlanguage final exam.
If you've got flexibility, thisepisode is for you, so let's
(02:09):
dive into this idea of how canwe make the whole process of
assessment more real, world andauthentic to what a language
user would actually want to beable to show like.
This is what I can do with thelanguage at this level.
That will become pretty evidentin a conversation.
(02:30):
But what if they need todemonstrate it in a more
concrete way, especially forthings like a job or, in your
case, what would hopefully be?
This is how I know I'm ready tomove on to the next course.
That's the next level ofproficiency course.
That's the next level ofproficiency Introducing it's not
a new idea, but introducing myversion of the final course exam
portfolio.
(02:51):
This idea is especially for youif you know that the way that
you're doing assessments is alittle bit disconnected from the
reason that you wanted to be alanguage teacher in the first
place, which is help students toacquire more language so that
they could make new friends,dive deeper into cultures,
understand themselves and theworld around them better and be
more empathetic global citizensof the world.
(03:13):
So with that in mind, youalready know that a lot of the
trappings of traditionalassessments just aren't going to
get you there, and you mightnot have a lot of choice in this
in the current teachingsituation that you're in.
Don't worry about that.
Don't make waves if you don'tneed to, because there are a lot
of things that are far moreworth your time when it comes to
(03:34):
making waves.
But when it comes to a finalexam, many of you that I
interact with are working with agood bit of flexibility, so you
get to choose how you want todo the final assessment for the
year.
I'm going to recommend to youhighly, highly, highly that you
do a portfolio.
So what is a portfolio?
A portfolio is the idea that,instead of a large exam at the
(03:58):
end of a semester or a course,you will ask your students to
pull pieces from their wholeyear with you or their whole
course with you, to show thatthey have mastered the different
areas of proficiency that youare targeting.
So what a portfolio can looklike is that you spend the last
two weeks of class going throughold documents with students or
(04:22):
recreating any documents thatthey don't have at the time to
make this lovely portfolio atthe end and when I say documents
, I'm not just talking aboutphysical documents.
It could be things likerecordings.
It could be things like othertests and exams that you've
given.
It could also be an interviewwith your student.
So there's so many differentways to do this.
It's very open-ended, but atthe heart of what a portfolio is
(04:45):
is a portfolio demonstratestangibly a progression from
where your students started towhere they are now, because they
get to choose what they want tobe a part of their portfolio.
And if, like most of yourmiddle school and high school
(05:07):
students, they're missing abunch of stuff or they've thrown
things away, you know all that.
If they're missing a bunch ofstuff or maybe even assignments
that they haven't completedthroughout the year, this
destroys the whole problematicidea of like a finite deadline
towards the very, very busy endof the year and is more real
world and work oriented for whenyour students go into the
(05:31):
workforce or to go be a part ofthe world and contribute in
however they're going to do it,if they're going to college or
workforce, whatever, it doesn'tmatter.
People are getting less andless.
They're getting more and more.
I should say away from the ideaof traditional assessment in
the workforce and in the collegeenvironment.
So we should be doing this tooif we want to really prepare our
(05:52):
students for what's coming next.
A portfolio will show differentareas of progression from
throughout the year, and this iswhat this can really look like
for you and what will eliminatea lot of that like oh, this
doesn't really matter, I don'tfeel like I need to study for
this, because it's just quoteunquote, spanish too, and I'm
(06:13):
going to be done after this.
I'm just going to cram for thistest and move on with my life.
You can eliminate a lot of thatand bring a lot back of that
real world context.
That real world oh, this isvery important for how you're
going to move through the restof your life by using this
portfolio system.
So enough about how awesome itis.
It's really, really great.
(06:34):
I know that you're with me bythis point, so let's get into
how you actually do this.
How on earth would you replace afinal exam with a portfolio?
It seems like a lot of work.
Well, it doesn't have to be alot of work on your part if you
give them a nice way forstudents to organize all of
their work throughout the year.
Here are two different waysthat you can do this.
If you're listening to thiswhen I'm going to publish it,
(06:55):
which is going to be inspringtime, then you know that
I've already gone through mostof the year, so I haven't saved
all of my students' work.
That's completely okay.
You can still do this even ifyou haven't saved a lot of work
or they haven't saved a lot ofwork.
So that's option one is how canyou go back and recreate things
or set up an assignment stylewhere that they are recreating
(07:18):
things that they've already doneor skills that they've already
mastered Very easy to do.
It just looks a little bitdifferent.
Skills that they've alreadymastered Very easy to do.
It just looks a little bitdifferent.
If you are watching or listeningto this later on, and maybe you
also are one of those stellarelementary style teachers who
keeps a lot of your students'work and has it well organized
in a filing cabinet or somethinglike that, then what you can do
(07:40):
is you're simply going to turnall the work over to your
students.
You're going to give them achecklist of between 15 or 30
can-do statements thatdemonstrate the different
aspects of your curriculum, whatyou worked on this year in
language class, and can-dostatements that you actually
(08:01):
have assessed on throughout theyear.
So what you will do is, nomatter which way you do this,
whether you need to recreatepast work or if you are just
asking students to collect andcompile their very best work
over the year.
Either way, you're going togive your students a checklist.
That's part one In thischecklist.
This should be a comprehensivelist of the most important
(08:24):
can-do statements from each ofthe units that you worked on
this year.
So, for example, I give thenumber 15 to 30 because I can
guarantee you that if you'reusing the pretty run-of-the-mill
like four unit system thatmoves you from like, for example
, in Japanese 1, you're startingnovice low, novice mid, novice,
high, and you've got unit oneis novice low, unit two is
(08:47):
novice mid, unit three is novicemid to high and unit four
you're trying to get everybodyto novice high.
That's like a pretty commonprogression that happens in a
level, one class or whateveryou're calling your introductory
class, then what you're goingto do is focus mostly on the
novice mid and the novice highcan-do statements and include
some of the skills from, let'ssay, your unit one that you
(09:11):
started with.
But those can-do statementswould probably be things that
they can do now with moreconfidence, because you adjusted
them for when they were littlebabies in the beginning of your
course.
Now you're going to make themso that those can-do statements
are more like novice mid.
What does that look like?
It looks like, instead of likemy unit one in my proprietary
curriculum, the practicalproficiency curriculum that
(09:32):
first unit is school, so thatthey can navigate your classroom
and interact with you.
So some of those can-dostatements from that novice-low
unit are things like I can listthe school supplies in my bag
that I use the most often.
Instead of that can-dostatement of I can list the
school supplies in my bag, I'mgoing to move it to novice mid
or novice high by saying I canstate, instead of list, I can
(09:54):
state the school supplies I usethe most often.
I can say what I have in mybook bag.
That's more novice mid or high.
So I would make first a take alook at all of your units, take
a look at all of your can do's.
If you have a curriculum thatalready does this mine does this
that where you have the can dostatements that are most
important for that unit, it'sreal easy.
It's a copy and paste job whereyou're taking, you know, like
(10:17):
unit one, these are the six bigcan do statements, unit two, all
so on and so forth.
You just compile the mostimportant can-do statements from
that year and you're askingstudents to demonstrate that
skill, which is how yourassessments should be designed
anyways.
So it's a really nice guide ifyou're not quite there at that
point yet, because, again, thisis a transition to proficiency
(10:38):
that we're all going throughright now.
So if you have access to allthose can-do statements, it's
really easy.
You just compile a list.
So let's get on to part two,because this is where it's going
to get different, depending onwhat situation or scenario that
you have.
If you're in scenario one,where you do not have a bunch of
student work at the ready,which is going to be most people
(10:58):
it's very simple what you'regoing to do is you're going to
give this checklist to studentsand you're going to spend the
majority of the last week or twoweeks of school asking students
to recreate these can-dostatements.
It's very simple and the bestpart is that all of it is done
in class, like there's not a lotof studying that needs to go on
outside of class.
(11:18):
So it's a very beneficial,moving forward, real world way
to say hey, if you want anexcellent grade on this final
exam, we're going to spend thenext two weeks putting those
together for you and doing anyreview that's needed so that you
can achieve those can-do skills.
It's a great, natural way tobring in all of these elements.
(11:42):
So the next thing is you'regoing to take a look at those
can-do statements and see whichof those things involve you as
the teacher and I would schedulethat into your day.
Things like oh, there's a bunchof interpersonal can-do
statements about being able totalk about your hobbies.
Well, cool, just ask yourstudents to come up individually
with you during one of thoseweird days that always happens
(12:03):
towards the end of the yearwhere only half your students
are present anyway because offield trips, graduation practice
, major band tournaments andlike important games and things
like that.
And like, oh, all the 12thgraders are gone, but all the
ninth graders are here Like thisis a perfect way to spend that
day, where you're stillculminating knowledge,
(12:24):
consolidating knowledge andusing your class time in a
really efficient scholarly,quote unquote kind of way, like
it's still academic and you'renot having to be like well I
don't know like review for yourother classes.
I guess, like it's a reallynice way to still use up that
time efficiently and effectively.
A side note about that too isthat I have found, because I've
(12:45):
tried it both ways you tell meand let me know what works for
you.
But towards the end of the year,if you are letting a lot of
your class time just be likeused for whatever, because you
only have a portion of yourstudents, it gets really old
really fast.
Like your students will startthey will start depleting in
numbers very quickly of comingto your class.
Like you'll get a lot more likecuts.
(13:07):
You'll have to make a lot morereferrals and things for that.
If students know that there'snothing important going on in
your class, you're going to seea lot of those issues pop up a
lot more than if you had like,hey, this is a really important
finals prep day review, so itreally helps in that area of
difficult classroom managementthat can pop up at the end of
(13:27):
the year.
My Spanish teachers know whatI'm talking about.
If you teach Spanish one duringthe final two weeks of May, it
is hell unless you have somesort of system in place to make
sure that students know thatthis time is really important,
and we're working towards somestuff here Now with that in mind
.
What I would do with these daysis I would schedule the time
(13:49):
for your students to come up anddo an interview with you and
they can knock out a bunch ofthe things on the portfolio to
do with you, them to work on.
You don't have to necessarilyhave a lot of stuff saved up
from their writing throughoutthe year, unless you keep all of
(14:10):
your IPAs or whatever eitherpresentational assignments that
you're doing.
If you have them, great, but ifnot, you can spend the last two
weeks of class asking studentsto recreate those things by.
You can give them a packet ofquestions for them to start
prepping and making rough draftsfor, and things like that, and
then you can give them anassessment where it's like okay,
(14:31):
no resources or whateverresources you want them to have,
completely up to you.
Please answer this question inwriting form or in signing form,
and I want to see your answersand we're going to see if you
can get that can do checked offyour list.
And a really easy way to dothis with interpretives is you
don't have to recreate newthings.
(14:52):
Go back to the old, authentictexts that you've already used
this year or the old videos thatyou've already used this year
and just give them the sameassignment that they already did
with these things that you havefrom throughout the year.
This is side note.
One of the reasons I reallylike doing a portfolio is
because it's not a lot of lessonplanning work on you.
You don't have to plan a bunchof review games or review
(15:13):
activities or any of that stufffor a stuffy exam is that you
can spend this time actuallywith your students and
evaluating okay, this is crunchtime here.
What gaps in knowledge do weneed to address and what
materials from the year can Ijust pull out of my hard drive
and pop on the computer.
It's so organic and natural andit students feel it too.
(15:35):
They notice that there's a hugedifference and like oh, okay,
this is actually a useful testfor us if you are in.
So I would say those are mygoing back.
This is my best set of tips foryou.
If you heard this episode or youjust heard about this idea of a
portfolio and you're like, ooh,I want to do that, and so you
didn't really have time to thinkahead and start saving up
(15:56):
materials for students, it's nobig deal.
They will be so excited to doan assignment that they don't
have to study for that.
They can just learn with you inclass any gaps that they have
to achieve that.
Now, if you are on the otherside of this of you have plenty
of things that you can ask yourstudents to go through.
Maybe you keep thingsthroughout the year, whatever it
might be.
(16:16):
Maybe you have a hard drivefull of recordings also great.
Then what you can do is you canspend most of your class time
asking students to organize allof those things, and this is a
really beautiful way to do this,and I would recommend that, if
you can, to start planning forthis in the future, maybe for
next year, because if youintroduce to students the idea
(16:37):
of a portfolio, what they willstart to do throughout the year
is they will start thinkingabout wow, this was a really
great piece of writing for me.
I want to say this and put thisin my portfolio.
Or I was really good at thesequestions.
I want to save this and putthis in my portfolio this little
recording activity that I didwith a partner and then for
(16:58):
other activities where they'relike, ooh, I'm having a lot of
trouble with this can dostatement or with this unit,
instead of just skipping past itand saying you know to
themselves, maybe if you'redoing unit two in December,
instead of saying to themselves,oh my gosh, like this unit was
so hard, I can't wait for it tojust be done.
They're thinking about it interms of well, I know I'm going
(17:20):
to have to still demonstrateskills from this towards the end
of the year, so how can I lockthose skills down?
Like it brings everything intoa nice little bow at the end of
the year where you really arepulling from all the things that
you've learned so far this yearFar better than a multiple
choice exam would be able to dofor you.
So If you have the opportunityto look through some student
(17:43):
work, just let your studentsloose on their own records and
give them some time to reflectand look back at what they've
done this year and be proud ofthemselves.
With something like a checklist,it's a lot easier for students
to pick out and decide.
Oh OK, I know that this coversthis can do statement.
Now you may be thinking toyourself, because this is the
first question that I had.
(18:04):
Well, how are my students goingto know that a certain piece of
work, like maybe an IPA, isgonna hit all the can-do
statements?
Well, I have an answer for you.
With the practical proficiencycurriculum, with the portfolio
resources that are in there ifyou own that, you can check that
out because in there it has aguide for you and an editable
(18:26):
section for you to input exactlywhat can-do statements that
you're looking for andassignments that you remember
assigning from throughout theyear that would fit those can-do
statements, so students knowexactly where to go to find
these things.
If that's not something that'son your radar right now, I would
think about spending some timelooking at the assignments that
(18:48):
your students have done over theyear or that you know would fit
the bill for these can-dostatements and say, hmm, you
know it would be a lot easierfor them if they had a list,
like if I told them you knowthat weather unit that we did.
That covers these three can-dostatements about, let's say,
comparing and contrasting thesethree can-do statements about,
let's say, comparing andcontrasting.
(19:08):
So if you can find a reallygood piece of writing from the
weather unit, it's most likelygoing to cover that can-do
statement that you need, whichis really easy for students To
make this successful, which isgoing to be let's go into, part
three of how to have asuccessful portfolio instead of
a final exam is the best way todo this is make sure that you
give students time to findthings, time to recreate things,
(19:30):
and a list for them to do so.
So be very explicitly clear inyour can-do statements with what
you're expecting students to beable to demonstrate.
It cannot be the giantperformance indicators that come
from ACTFL, which are prettyvague and students have a really
hard time reading.
It should be a can-do statement.
(19:51):
A performance indicator isgoing to tell you something like
at the novice level, I canidentify familiar and a few
unfamiliar words in a text.
You know that could be anything.
So students are going to needmore guidance from you on what
this looks like.
So what you can do is give thema simple checklist with very
(20:14):
explicit and specific can-dostatements.
Something that's more specificwould be things like I can read
a document meant for a nativespeaker and I can identify five
to ten familiar words and I canalso get the main gist of what
the article or document is about.
(20:35):
That's much more specific forstudents and it can get even
more specific once you get intothe speaking and writing and the
signing and all the things thatyou want your students to be
able to demonstrate, and writingand the signing and all the
things that you want yourstudents to be able to
demonstrate.
So the last thing that we'regoing to do as part of this
episode to get you on the pathto using a portfolio instead of
a final exam is I want to showyou a really great example of
(20:58):
what your final portfolio canlook like and some resources to
help you along.
So check this out.
This is the world language CEFRdesign final course portfolio
and the level A1 correspondsvery well with novice mid to
novice high for ACTFL.
This is something that'savailable in the practical
(21:21):
proficiency curriculum, whichyou'll be able to see a link at
the bottom here if you'reinterested in checking that out,
and the other part of this isthat I'm going to show you how
this resource goes through, allof the things and the common
questions on how to make thishappen, the logistics on how to
make it happen, and then it alsohas the actual student
assignment here so you can seewhat it looks like.
(21:42):
So let's dive in and check thisout.
This can be a really great ideagenerator for you, and then, if
you know that you need this inyour classroom, you can head to
the practical proficiencycurriculum to check it out.
Right now, we have Spanish oneand French one in the framework
format available.
Full publishing will happentowards the beginning of 2026,
(22:02):
the end of 2025.
The beginning of 2026, the endof 2025.
So let's check this out thisright.
Here is the final portfolioproject, and it has a bunch of
common FAQs on how to start aportfolio and as well as how do
students complete the skills andthe most important section I
would say, which is how do yougrade this.
So, if you have a lot ofdifferent proficiency can do
(22:26):
statements that you want tocheck off.
I give you some suggestedstructures on how to grade this
here, and one of the big pointsthat I want to point out to you
here is, for those who arelistening or viewing that.
The most important idea here isavoid over emphasis on accuracy
.
It is important, but at thisstage, when you're doing a
(22:47):
portfolio, what you are lookingfor is can students demonstrate
language at the level thatyou're looking for?
That's the most important thing.
The other thing I would say isthat it's very important to
strategically select which cando statements you think are the
most important and can you allowstudents the freedom to select
(23:09):
what they feel is their bestwork throughout the year?
This also, I think, worksreally well in a portfolio,
because I don't know about you,but I used to have a lot of
students who would have a lot ofmissing work towards the end of
the year and their grades werereally suffering for it really
suffering for it.
So this is an opportunity forstudents to go through and
recreate the assignments or thecan-do statement evidence pieces
(23:31):
, if you will.
That will get them the gradethat they're looking for on this
final portfolio.
There's also a section here onlike how to handle speaking or
signing and what if a studentdoesn't have enough work all of
that kind of deal and I wouldsay that my final thoughts on
here is that this exact ideawhen you are showcasing student
(23:58):
work from throughout the year orstudent skills from throughout
the year and you're allowing forrevisions and additions.
Portfolios really do mirror thereal-world practices where in
most scenarios like applying toart school, applying to be a
carpenter, working with clientsin the future that people are
always going to showcase theirbest work.
It's not going to be asomebody's going to stop you on
(24:19):
the street and ask you like howdo you sit?
What does the word who God meanin English?
Like, what's going to happen isthat people are going to use
their best memories and theirbest skills to perform at their
best in that conversationalinteraction.
So it really does reflect whatreal-world language scenarios
are like.
Let's check out next what theactual assignment for students
(24:42):
looks like.
So on here you'll have a linkto tell you what the what the
student version of this lookslike, and I'm gonna just read
these aloud for you if you'relistening here on what these
instructions look like.
So for a final French portfolio,it has a small section of
instructions that says show offyour French skills in an awesome
way with a portfolio.
(25:03):
This is your chance to provethat you've nailed all of the
level blank French one, skillswe've learned this year.
Here's the scoop.
Here's what you need to do.
Number one is gather evidence.
Collect your best work fromthroughout the year, anything
that shows off your skills.
Show what you know.
Use the checklist to see whichskills you need to demonstrate.
And if you're missing something, no stress.
You can create something orredo old assignments.
(25:25):
Get creative.
You'll need examples of reading, writing, speaking and
listening, and you can adjustthat as you'd like.
And then the last piece ofthought is be resourceful.
Remember you can only use theresources your teacher allows,
and conversations should bespontaneous and note-free.
That is an expectation for me.
I would adjust it for you.
(25:48):
Then it has in here more info tohelp you what is the task, what
are some of your options?
And then it goes into thechecklist and I have for you
here a full checklist alreadydone, based off of A1 skills
from the CEFR framework, butthese can be easily changed into
ACTFL, novice, mid to novicehigh.
(26:09):
And then I have a gradingsystem underneath each of these.
So I have in this section here,for example, let's do the first
can-do statement here is forCEFR.
The can-do statements look alittle bit different, but for
this one it says I can recognizeconcrete information like
places and times on everyday,familiar topics.
(26:31):
So you can think immediately oh,like my students did, a
brochure, interpretive activityof some events for a special
cultural event, then they knowthat this would be a good one to
use for number one.
Students have to write heretheir chosen portfolio
submission, some teacher notesand possible assignments.
Those are things that you canwrite down like hey, remember
(26:53):
that Mardi Gras brochure, checkthat activity out if you still
have it.
Or, if you don't have it, gofind information about Mardi
Gras in French on the internetand I want to see if you can
identify this, that and theother kind of deal.
Girl, I'm French on theinternet and I want to see if
you can identify this, that andthe other kind of deal.
And then this part is for youwhere you have a rubric for you
to select like oh yeah, thisdefinitely shows the mastery of
(27:16):
the skill, or maybe there'spartial proficiency, things like
that.
So that's my example for you.
I hope that that really helpsyou to visualize, or at least
listen to, what a portfolio canlook like.
Just to give you an idea forthis.
What this version is in thepractical proficiency curriculum
is that it goes through severalskills.
It goes up to, I believe OK,yeah, 27, 27 different can do
(27:39):
statements for this level.
So the work on your part isreally going to be identifying
which can-do statements that youwant for your course and
adjusting that based on thelevel.
It's not nearly as much work onyou as the teacher and not
nearly as much stress as tryingto prepare for a final exam.
So it's much more open-ended,but it also still achieves the
(28:07):
exact same thing that you wantit to and, I would say, better.
So what do you think?
Are you ready to try out aportfolio?
Now that you've seen what someof this looks like, I'm so
excited for you to try out thisidea.
Let me know how it goes.
I would love to hear from you.
Leave a comment below on thepodcast or on YouTube, if you're
watching this on YouTube, andlet me know what a final
portfolio might look like foryou.
Or feel free to email me atDevin at
(28:30):
LaLibreLanguageLearningcom,because I would love to hear
about your portfolio ideas.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much for spendingsome of your precious teaching
time with me and I look forwardto hanging out with you in the
next edition of the PracticalProficiency Podcast.
Ciao for now.
What's up?
Que lo que Et salut worldlanguage teachers.
Welcome to the PracticalProficiency Podcast, where we
make the transition toproficiency-oriented instruction
in your world language class ina way that works for you, your
unique context and teachingstyle, and doesn't sacrifice
(00:21):
your well-being along the way.
I'm your host, devon Gunning,the teacher author, conference
host, curriculum creator andconsultant behind La Libre
Language Learning.
This podcast is for thecreative world language teacher
like you who's ready to ditchthe overwhelming pressure of
switching to acquisition-driveninstruction and CI overnight.
(00:42):
You're ready to discover howusing more target language in
class can actually bring you andyour students more joy instead
of adding to your plate.
With practical, authentic anddown-to-earth strategies that
don't require reinventing thewheel or more training, we'll
work together towards the magicof a community-based, target
(01:05):
language-rich classroom, rootedin the power of community and
comprehensible input.
Let's go, hey.
World Language Teachers, it'sthat time of year, it's
springtime, things are bloomingand you're also feeling all the
things that you got to dotowards the end of the year,
especially if you're preppingand thinking about how am I
(01:29):
going to assess my students fora whole year's worth or a block
semester's worth of acquisitionthat they've done with me?
So this episode is all abouthow can we make this whole idea
of culminating knowledge andorganizing what language you're
(01:49):
able to use from your time inclass this year instead of a
final exam, which is alwaysgoing to encourage, in my
experience, a lot of cramming, alot of flash cards and a lot of
studying Instead of a worldlanguage final exam.
If you've got flexibility, thisepisode is for you, so let's
(02:09):
dive into this idea of how canwe make the whole process of
assessment more real, world andauthentic to what a language
user would actually want to beable to show like.
This is what I can do with thelanguage at this level.
That will become pretty evidentin a conversation.
(02:30):
But what if they need todemonstrate it in a more
concrete way, especially forthings like a job or, in your
case, what would hopefully be?
This is how I know I'm ready tomove on to the next course.
That's the next level ofproficiency course.
That's the next level ofproficiency Introducing it's not
a new idea, but introducing myversion of the final course exam
portfolio.
(02:51):
This idea is especially for youif you know that the way that
you're doing assessments is alittle bit disconnected from the
reason that you wanted to be alanguage teacher in the first
place, which is help students toacquire more language so that
they could make new friends,dive deeper into cultures,
understand themselves and theworld around them better and be
more empathetic global citizensof the world.
(03:13):
So with that in mind, youalready know that a lot of the
trappings of traditionalassessments just aren't going to
get you there, and you mightnot have a lot of choice in this
in the current teachingsituation that you're in.
Don't worry about that.
Don't make waves if you don'tneed to, because there are a lot
of things that are far moreworth your time when it comes to
(03:34):
making waves.
But when it comes to a finalexam, many of you that I
interact with are working with agood bit of flexibility, so you
get to choose how you want todo the final assessment for the
year.
I'm going to recommend to youhighly, highly, highly that you
do a portfolio.
So what is a portfolio?
A portfolio is the idea that,instead of a large exam at the
(03:58):
end of a semester or a course,you will ask your students to
pull pieces from their wholeyear with you or their whole
course with you, to show thatthey have mastered the different
areas of proficiency that youare targeting.
So what a portfolio can looklike is that you spend the last
two weeks of class going throughold documents with students or
(04:22):
recreating any documents thatthey don't have at the time to
make this lovely portfolio atthe end and when I say documents
, I'm not just talking aboutphysical documents.
It could be things likerecordings.
It could be things like othertests and exams that you've
given.
It could also be an interviewwith your student.
So there's so many differentways to do this.
It's very open-ended, but atthe heart of what a portfolio is
(04:45):
is a portfolio demonstratestangibly a progression from
where your students started towhere they are now, because they
get to choose what they want tobe a part of their portfolio.
And if, like most of yourmiddle school and high school
(05:07):
students, they're missing abunch of stuff or they've thrown
things away, you know all that.
If they're missing a bunch ofstuff or maybe even assignments
that they haven't completedthroughout the year, this
destroys the whole problematicidea of like a finite deadline
towards the very, very busy endof the year and is more real
world and work oriented for whenyour students go into the
(05:31):
workforce or to go be a part ofthe world and contribute in
however they're going to do it,if they're going to college or
workforce, whatever, it doesn'tmatter.
People are getting less andless.
They're getting more and more.
I should say away from the ideaof traditional assessment in
the workforce and in the collegeenvironment.
So we should be doing this tooif we want to really prepare our
(05:52):
students for what's coming next.
A portfolio will show differentareas of progression from
throughout the year, and this iswhat this can really look like
for you and what will eliminatea lot of that like oh, this
doesn't really matter, I don'tfeel like I need to study for
this, because it's just quoteunquote, spanish too, and I'm
(06:13):
going to be done after this.
I'm just going to cram for thistest and move on with my life.
You can eliminate a lot of thatand bring a lot back of that
real world context.
That real world oh, this isvery important for how you're
going to move through the restof your life by using this
portfolio system.
So enough about how awesome itis.
It's really, really great.
(06:34):
I know that you're with me bythis point, so let's get into
how you actually do this.
How on earth would you replace afinal exam with a portfolio?
It seems like a lot of work.
Well, it doesn't have to be alot of work on your part if you
give them a nice way forstudents to organize all of
their work throughout the year.
Here are two different waysthat you can do this.
If you're listening to thiswhen I'm going to publish it,
(06:55):
which is going to be inspringtime, then you know that
I've already gone through mostof the year, so I haven't saved
all of my students' work.
That's completely okay.
You can still do this even ifyou haven't saved a lot of work
or they haven't saved a lot ofwork.
So that's option one is how canyou go back and recreate things
or set up an assignment stylewhere that they are recreating
(07:18):
things that they've already doneor skills that they've already
mastered Very easy to do.
It just looks a little bitdifferent.
Skills that they've alreadymastered Very easy to do.
It just looks a little bitdifferent.
If you are watching or listeningto this later on, and maybe you
also are one of those stellarelementary style teachers who
keeps a lot of your students'work and has it well organized
in a filing cabinet or somethinglike that, then what you can do
(07:40):
is you're simply going to turnall the work over to your
students.
You're going to give them achecklist of between 15 or 30
can-do statements thatdemonstrate the different
aspects of your curriculum, whatyou worked on this year in
language class, and can-dostatements that you actually
(08:01):
have assessed on throughout theyear.
So what you will do is, nomatter which way you do this,
whether you need to recreatepast work or if you are just
asking students to collect andcompile their very best work
over the year.
Either way, you're going togive your students a checklist.
That's part one In thischecklist.
This should be a comprehensivelist of the most important
(08:24):
can-do statements from each ofthe units that you worked on
this year.
So, for example, I give thenumber 15 to 30 because I can
guarantee you that if you'reusing the pretty run-of-the-mill
like four unit system thatmoves you from like, for example
, in Japanese 1, you're startingnovice low, novice mid, novice,
high, and you've got unit oneis novice low, unit two is
(08:47):
novice mid, unit three is novicemid to high and unit four
you're trying to get everybodyto novice high.
That's like a pretty commonprogression that happens in a
level, one class or whateveryou're calling your introductory
class, then what you're goingto do is focus mostly on the
novice mid and the novice highcan-do statements and include
some of the skills from, let'ssay, your unit one that you
(09:11):
started with.
But those can-do statementswould probably be things that
they can do now with moreconfidence, because you adjusted
them for when they were littlebabies in the beginning of your
course.
Now you're going to make themso that those can-do statements
are more like novice mid.
What does that look like?
It looks like, instead of likemy unit one in my proprietary
curriculum, the practicalproficiency curriculum that
(09:32):
first unit is school, so thatthey can navigate your classroom
and interact with you.
So some of those can-dostatements from that novice-low
unit are things like I can listthe school supplies in my bag
that I use the most often.
Instead of that can-dostatement of I can list the
school supplies in my bag, I'mgoing to move it to novice mid
or novice high by saying I canstate, instead of list, I can
(09:54):
state the school supplies I usethe most often.
I can say what I have in mybook bag.
That's more novice mid or high.
So I would make first a take alook at all of your units, take
a look at all of your can do's.
If you have a curriculum thatalready does this mine does this
that where you have the can dostatements that are most
important for that unit, it'sreal easy.
It's a copy and paste job whereyou're taking, you know, like
(10:17):
unit one, these are the six bigcan do statements, unit two, all
so on and so forth.
You just compile the mostimportant can-do statements from
that year and you're askingstudents to demonstrate that
skill, which is how yourassessments should be designed
anyways.
So it's a really nice guide ifyou're not quite there at that
point yet, because, again, thisis a transition to proficiency
(10:38):
that we're all going throughright now.
So if you have access to allthose can-do statements, it's
really easy.
You just compile a list.
So let's get on to part two,because this is where it's going
to get different, depending onwhat situation or scenario that
you have.
If you're in scenario one,where you do not have a bunch of
student work at the ready,which is going to be most people
(10:58):
it's very simple what you'regoing to do is you're going to
give this checklist to studentsand you're going to spend the
majority of the last week or twoweeks of school asking students
to recreate these can-dostatements.
It's very simple and the bestpart is that all of it is done
in class, like there's not a lotof studying that needs to go on
outside of class.
(11:18):
So it's a very beneficial,moving forward, real world way
to say hey, if you want anexcellent grade on this final
exam, we're going to spend thenext two weeks putting those
together for you and doing anyreview that's needed so that you
can achieve those can-do skills.
It's a great, natural way tobring in all of these elements.
(11:42):
So the next thing is you'regoing to take a look at those
can-do statements and see whichof those things involve you as
the teacher and I would schedulethat into your day.
Things like oh, there's a bunchof interpersonal can-do
statements about being able totalk about your hobbies.
Well, cool, just ask yourstudents to come up individually
with you during one of thoseweird days that always happens
(12:03):
towards the end of the yearwhere only half your students
are present anyway because offield trips, graduation practice
, major band tournaments andlike important games and things
like that.
And like, oh, all the 12thgraders are gone, but all the
ninth graders are here Like thisis a perfect way to spend that
day, where you're stillculminating knowledge,
(12:24):
consolidating knowledge andusing your class time in a
really efficient scholarly,quote unquote kind of way, like
it's still academic and you'renot having to be like well I
don't know like review for yourother classes.
I guess, like it's a reallynice way to still use up that
time efficiently and effectively.
A side note about that too isthat I have found, because I've
(12:45):
tried it both ways you tell meand let me know what works for
you.
But towards the end of the year,if you are letting a lot of
your class time just be likeused for whatever, because you
only have a portion of yourstudents, it gets really old
really fast.
Like your students will startthey will start depleting in
numbers very quickly of comingto your class.
Like you'll get a lot more likecuts.
(13:07):
You'll have to make a lot morereferrals and things for that.
If students know that there'snothing important going on in
your class, you're going to seea lot of those issues pop up a
lot more than if you had like,hey, this is a really important
finals prep day review, so itreally helps in that area of
difficult classroom managementthat can pop up at the end of
(13:27):
the year.
My Spanish teachers know whatI'm talking about.
If you teach Spanish one duringthe final two weeks of May, it
is hell unless you have somesort of system in place to make
sure that students know thatthis time is really important,
and we're working towards somestuff here Now with that in mind
.
What I would do with these daysis I would schedule the time
(13:49):
for your students to come up anddo an interview with you and
they can knock out a bunch ofthe things on the portfolio to
do with you, them to work on.
You don't have to necessarilyhave a lot of stuff saved up
from their writing throughoutthe year, unless you keep all of
(14:10):
your IPAs or whatever eitherpresentational assignments that
you're doing.
If you have them, great, but ifnot, you can spend the last two
weeks of class asking studentsto recreate those things by.
You can give them a packet ofquestions for them to start
prepping and making rough draftsfor, and things like that, and
then you can give them anassessment where it's like okay,
(14:31):
no resources or whateverresources you want them to have,
completely up to you.
Please answer this question inwriting form or in signing form,
and I want to see your answersand we're going to see if you
can get that can do checked offyour list.
And a really easy way to dothis with interpretives is you
don't have to recreate newthings.
(14:52):
Go back to the old, authentictexts that you've already used
this year or the old videos thatyou've already used this year
and just give them the sameassignment that they already did
with these things that you havefrom throughout the year.
This is side note.
One of the reasons I reallylike doing a portfolio is
because it's not a lot of lessonplanning work on you.
You don't have to plan a bunchof review games or review
(15:13):
activities or any of that stufffor a stuffy exam is that you
can spend this time actuallywith your students and
evaluating okay, this is crunchtime here.
What gaps in knowledge do weneed to address and what
materials from the year can Ijust pull out of my hard drive
and pop on the computer.
It's so organic and natural andit students feel it too.
(15:35):
They notice that there's a hugedifference and like oh, okay,
this is actually a useful testfor us if you are in.
So I would say those are mygoing back.
This is my best set of tips foryou.
If you heard this episode or youjust heard about this idea of a
portfolio and you're like, ooh,I want to do that, and so you
didn't really have time to thinkahead and start saving up
(15:56):
materials for students, it's nobig deal.
They will be so excited to doan assignment that they don't
have to study for that.
They can just learn with you inclass any gaps that they have
to achieve that.
Now, if you are on the otherside of this of you have plenty
of things that you can ask yourstudents to go through.
Maybe you keep thingsthroughout the year, whatever it
might be.
(16:16):
Maybe you have a hard drivefull of recordings also great.
Then what you can do is you canspend most of your class time
asking students to organize allof those things, and this is a
really beautiful way to do this,and I would recommend that, if
you can, to start planning forthis in the future, maybe for
next year, because if youintroduce to students the idea
(16:37):
of a portfolio, what they willstart to do throughout the year
is they will start thinkingabout wow, this was a really
great piece of writing for me.
I want to say this and put thisin my portfolio.
Or I was really good at thesequestions.
I want to save this and putthis in my portfolio this little
recording activity that I didwith a partner and then for
(16:58):
other activities where they'relike, ooh, I'm having a lot of
trouble with this can dostatement or with this unit,
instead of just skipping past itand saying you know to
themselves, maybe if you'redoing unit two in December,
instead of saying to themselves,oh my gosh, like this unit was
so hard, I can't wait for it tojust be done.
They're thinking about it interms of well, I know I'm going
(17:20):
to have to still demonstrateskills from this towards the end
of the year, so how can I lockthose skills down?
Like it brings everything intoa nice little bow at the end of
the year where you really arepulling from all the things that
you've learned so far this yearFar better than a multiple
choice exam would be able to dofor you.
So If you have the opportunityto look through some student
(17:43):
work, just let your studentsloose on their own records and
give them some time to reflectand look back at what they've
done this year and be proud ofthemselves.
With something like a checklist,it's a lot easier for students
to pick out and decide.
Oh OK, I know that this coversthis can do statement.
Now you may be thinking toyourself, because this is the
first question that I had.
(18:04):
Well, how are my students goingto know that a certain piece of
work, like maybe an IPA, isgonna hit all the can-do
statements?
Well, I have an answer for you.
With the practical proficiencycurriculum, with the portfolio
resources that are in there ifyou own that, you can check that
out because in there it has aguide for you and an editable
(18:26):
section for you to input exactlywhat can-do statements that
you're looking for andassignments that you remember
assigning from throughout theyear that would fit those can-do
statements, so students knowexactly where to go to find
these things.
If that's not something that'son your radar right now, I would
think about spending some timelooking at the assignments that
(18:48):
your students have done over theyear or that you know would fit
the bill for these can-dostatements and say, hmm, you
know it would be a lot easierfor them if they had a list,
like if I told them you knowthat weather unit that we did.
That covers these three can-dostatements about, let's say,
comparing and contrasting thesethree can-do statements about,
let's say, comparing andcontrasting.
(19:08):
So if you can find a reallygood piece of writing from the
weather unit, it's most likelygoing to cover that can-do
statement that you need, whichis really easy for students To
make this successful, which isgoing to be let's go into, part
three of how to have asuccessful portfolio instead of
a final exam is the best way todo this is make sure that you
give students time to findthings, time to recreate things,
(19:30):
and a list for them to do so.
So be very explicitly clear inyour can-do statements with what
you're expecting students to beable to demonstrate.
It cannot be the giantperformance indicators that come
from ACTFL, which are prettyvague and students have a really
hard time reading.
It should be a can-do statement.
(19:51):
A performance indicator isgoing to tell you something like
at the novice level, I canidentify familiar and a few
unfamiliar words in a text.
You know that could be anything.
So students are going to needmore guidance from you on what
this looks like.
So what you can do is give thema simple checklist with very
(20:14):
explicit and specific can-dostatements.
Something that's more specificwould be things like I can read
a document meant for a nativespeaker and I can identify five
to ten familiar words and I canalso get the main gist of what
the article or document is about.
(20:35):
That's much more specific forstudents and it can get even
more specific once you get intothe speaking and writing and the
signing and all the things thatyou want your students to be
able to demonstrate, and writingand the signing and all the
things that you want yourstudents to be able to
demonstrate.
So the last thing that we'regoing to do as part of this
episode to get you on the pathto using a portfolio instead of
a final exam is I want to showyou a really great example of
(20:58):
what your final portfolio canlook like and some resources to
help you along.
So check this out.
This is the world language CEFRdesign final course portfolio
and the level A1 correspondsvery well with novice mid to
novice high for ACTFL.
This is something that'savailable in the practical
(21:21):
proficiency curriculum, whichyou'll be able to see a link at
the bottom here if you'reinterested in checking that out,
and the other part of this isthat I'm going to show you how
this resource goes through, allof the things and the common
questions on how to make thishappen, the logistics on how to
make it happen, and then it alsohas the actual student
assignment here so you can seewhat it looks like.
(21:42):
So let's dive in and check thisout.
This can be a really great ideagenerator for you, and then, if
you know that you need this inyour classroom, you can head to
the practical proficiencycurriculum to check it out.
Right now, we have Spanish oneand French one in the framework
format available.
Full publishing will happentowards the beginning of 2026,
(22:02):
the end of 2025.
The beginning of 2026, the endof 2025.
So let's check this out thisright.
Here is the final portfolioproject, and it has a bunch of
common FAQs on how to start aportfolio and as well as how do
students complete the skills andthe most important section I
would say, which is how do yougrade this.
So, if you have a lot ofdifferent proficiency can do
(22:26):
statements that you want tocheck off.
I give you some suggestedstructures on how to grade this
here, and one of the big pointsthat I want to point out to you
here is, for those who arelistening or viewing that.
The most important idea here isavoid over emphasis on accuracy
.
It is important, but at thisstage, when you're doing a
(22:47):
portfolio, what you are lookingfor is can students demonstrate
language at the level thatyou're looking for?
That's the most important thing.
The other thing I would say isthat it's very important to
strategically select which cando statements you think are the
most important and can you allowstudents the freedom to select
(23:09):
what they feel is their bestwork throughout the year?
This also, I think, worksreally well in a portfolio,
because I don't know about you,but I used to have a lot of
students who would have a lot ofmissing work towards the end of
the year and their grades werereally suffering for it really
suffering for it.
So this is an opportunity forstudents to go through and
recreate the assignments or thecan-do statement evidence pieces
(23:31):
, if you will.
That will get them the gradethat they're looking for on this
final portfolio.
There's also a section here onlike how to handle speaking or
signing and what if a studentdoesn't have enough work all of
that kind of deal and I wouldsay that my final thoughts on
here is that this exact ideawhen you are showcasing student
(23:58):
work from throughout the year orstudent skills from throughout
the year and you're allowing forrevisions and additions.
Portfolios really do mirror thereal-world practices where in
most scenarios like applying toart school, applying to be a
carpenter, working with clientsin the future that people are
always going to showcase theirbest work.
It's not going to be asomebody's going to stop you on
(24:19):
the street and ask you like howdo you sit?
What does the word who God meanin English?
Like, what's going to happen isthat people are going to use
their best memories and theirbest skills to perform at their
best in that conversationalinteraction.
So it really does reflect whatreal-world language scenarios
are like.
Let's check out next what theactual assignment for students
(24:42):
looks like.
So on here you'll have a linkto tell you what the what the
student version of this lookslike, and I'm gonna just read
these aloud for you if you'relistening here on what these
instructions look like.
So for a final French portfolio,it has a small section of
instructions that says show offyour French skills in an awesome
way with a portfolio.
(25:03):
This is your chance to provethat you've nailed all of the
level blank French one, skillswe've learned this year.
Here's the scoop.
Here's what you need to do.
Number one is gather evidence.
Collect your best work fromthroughout the year, anything
that shows off your skills.
Show what you know.
Use the checklist to see whichskills you need to demonstrate.
And if you're missing something, no stress.
You can create something orredo old assignments.
(25:25):
Get creative.
You'll need examples of reading, writing, speaking and
listening, and you can adjustthat as you'd like.
And then the last piece ofthought is be resourceful.
Remember you can only use theresources your teacher allows,
and conversations should bespontaneous and note-free.
That is an expectation for me.
I would adjust it for you.
(25:48):
Then it has in here more info tohelp you what is the task, what
are some of your options?
And then it goes into thechecklist and I have for you
here a full checklist alreadydone, based off of A1 skills
from the CEFR framework, butthese can be easily changed into
ACTFL, novice, mid to novicehigh.
(26:09):
And then I have a gradingsystem underneath each of these.
So I have in this section here,for example, let's do the first
can-do statement here is forCEFR.
The can-do statements look alittle bit different, but for
this one it says I can recognizeconcrete information like
places and times on everyday,familiar topics.
(26:31):
So you can think immediately oh,like my students did, a
brochure, interpretive activityof some events for a special
cultural event, then they knowthat this would be a good one to
use for number one.
Students have to write heretheir chosen portfolio
submission, some teacher notesand possible assignments.
Those are things that you canwrite down like hey, remember
(26:53):
that Mardi Gras brochure, checkthat activity out if you still
have it.
Or, if you don't have it, gofind information about Mardi
Gras in French on the internetand I want to see if you can
identify this, that and theother kind of deal.
Girl, I'm French on theinternet and I want to see if
you can identify this, that andthe other kind of deal.
And then this part is for youwhere you have a rubric for you
to select like oh yeah, thisdefinitely shows the mastery of
(27:16):
the skill, or maybe there'spartial proficiency, things like
that.
So that's my example for you.
I hope that that really helpsyou to visualize, or at least
listen to, what a portfolio canlook like.
Just to give you an idea forthis.
What this version is in thepractical proficiency curriculum
is that it goes through severalskills.
It goes up to, I believe OK,yeah, 27, 27 different can do
(27:39):
statements for this level.
So the work on your part isreally going to be identifying
which can-do statements that youwant for your course and
adjusting that based on thelevel.
It's not nearly as much work onyou as the teacher and not
nearly as much stress as tryingto prepare for a final exam.
So it's much more open-ended,but it also still achieves the
(28:07):
exact same thing that you wantit to and, I would say, better.
So what do you think?
Are you ready to try out aportfolio?
Now that you've seen what someof this looks like, I'm so
excited for you to try out thisidea.
Let me know how it goes.
I would love to hear from you.
Leave a comment below on thepodcast or on YouTube, if you're
watching this on YouTube, andlet me know what a final
portfolio might look like foryou.
Or feel free to email me atDevin at
(28:30):
LaLibreLanguageLearningcom,because I would love to hear
about your portfolio ideas.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much for spendingsome of your precious teaching
time with me and I look forwardto hanging out with you in the
next edition of the PracticalProficiency Podcast.
Ciao for now.
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