HeyJaredComprehend THIS!
Welcome to Comprehend THIS!, the podcast for language teachers who are tired of the same old textbook chatter and want the real talk instead.Every episode is like pulling up a chair in the copy room or leaning on the hallway wall at your favorite conference — except it’s not…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Aug 30, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 12, 2026
Latest episodes
Episode 40: "The Teacher I Swear I'll Be This Year" (opens the original)
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Setting realistic teacher goals is harder than anyone admits - in this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we look at the gap between the teacher you plan to be in August and the one who shows up by October. Pamela Parks and Scott Benedict talk about which back-to-school intentions actually survive the year and which ones were never built to last. If you've quietly abandoned every promise you made yourself in July, this one is for you. Every August, world language teachers write the same list. Be more
Episode 39: "150 New Names and No Relationship Yet" (opens the original)
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Building relationships in a CI classroom is the first job of the school year - in this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we get into how you do it fast with 150 new students. Learn practical ways to build trust in a comprehensible input classroom before you teach a single unit. If your class went quiet in week two, this one is for you. Late August is the stranger phase: a roster of names, no rapport, and a pacing guide that doesn't care. Pamela Parks joins me as always - former professional translato
Episode 38: "The Boring Management Stuff That Actually Saves Your Year" (opens the original)
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Classroom management for CI teachers is the part no workshop covers - in this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we get into the procedures, routines, and room setup that make comprehensible input possible in the first place. You'll hear which small logistical failures quietly wreck an entire period, the classroom procedures experienced teachers wish they'd known on day one, and how to build routines that serve acquisition instead of competing with it. CI professional development will spend an hour on
Episode 37: "Day One and They Have No Idea What's Coming" (opens the original)
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First day of a comprehensible input class, and in this episode of Comprehend THIS! we break down what day one actually looks like when your students have never done CI before. You'll get the real first-day routines, what to do with students who showed up expecting a grammar class, and which first-week moves are still earning in April. Launching a CI year from scratch means a room full of new kids who don't trust you, don't know your signals, and were promised a verb chart they are not getting. P
Episode 36: "The August Over-Planning Spiral (opens the original)
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Back-to-school over-planning — in this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we get into why every August our planning brain overshoots into color-coded systems we abandon by week three. You'll walk away with a saner standard for how much to actually prep before day one, and permission to stop rebuilding units that were already fine. We talk through the guilt of reusing last year's materials, the over-engineered systems that fall apart by October, and what "good enough and sustainable" really looks like
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