127 ¦ Part 1 with Jonathan McBride: What I learned from watching six weeks of CI classes in three different countries

127 ¦ Part 1 with Jonathan McBride: What I learned from watching six weeks of CI classes in three different countries

From The Motivated Classroom by Dr. Liam Printer

June 8, 2026 · 35 min · Season 1 · Episode 127

About this episode

Jonathan McBride shares insights from observing CI classes in three different countries.

In this episode I am joined by the wonderful, Jonathan McBride, for Part one of a two-part special series. Jonny and I met at The Agen Workshop in 2023. He teaches German and French in a state school in Scotland and he secured funding to go and spend six weeks watching three different CI teachers in three different countries in 2024: Me (Liam Printer) in Switzerland, Adriana Ramirez in Canada and finally, Tina Abour in Germany. The goal was to learn from what other CI teachers are doing in three very different schools in three very different systems, and to then report back to the Scottish government and education department about what he saw and learned. In this first part of our two-part series, Jonny had just spent two weeks with me in Switzerland after already doing two weeks with Adriana in Canada. He shares what he say, what he learned and most importantly, what he hopes to take back to his classroom in Scotland. Part two of this series follows up with Jonny approximately 9 months later, after coming back from Germany and spending almost a year implementing the ideas he had observed. A truly fascinating journey and a must listen for language teachers all over the world…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Liam Printer

Guest: Jonathan McBride

Topics covered

  • language teaching
  • classroom observation
  • curriculum development
  • education systems
  • teacher training

Keywords

  • CI classes
  • language education
  • teacher observation
  • Scotland
  • Switzerland
  • Canada
  • Germany

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Scotland, Switzerland, Canada, Germany

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