2019 Workshop Descriptions
Pre-Conference Workshop Descriptions (click here for a printable link):
- Warning: Graphic Content | Presenter: Sr. Wooly - The common complaint about graphic novels is that they hardly have any text. How is it possible to teach a second language using a story that contains so little language? And yet minimal text is the secret weapon that makes the graphic novel such a powerful medium for coaxing readers towards fluency. Visual immersion allows for complex stories without a reliance on complex language. Join us as we build proficiency through the unique traits of graphic novels.
- Can You See Who’s Walking In the Room? | Presenter: Bob Patrick - In this 3 hour workshop participants will explore and discuss how to cultivate within themselves and with their students culturally responsive practices. We will examine the role of ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences), white supremacy culture which runs all or our organizations and systems, and binary thinking (especially as it is expressed toward human gender expressions) and how they enter our classrooms as the burdens that young people wear before we ever get to know them. We will explore practices that can begin to transform our classrooms into responsive and responsible communities of learning.
- Classroom Management in the World Language Classroom | Presenter: Jon Cowart - In this interactive session, participants will engage in a variety of classroom management topics that are highest impact and applicable to all contents (but with at “World Language Twist”). Participants will walk away from this session with concrete macro and micro power moves that can be implemented immediately in order to get a better managed classroom.
- A Scale Model of 3 Instructional Hours | Presenter: Justin Slocum Bailey - In this unique workshop, Justin will model an exact instructional sequence for three consecutive 50-minute periods of the same course, with five-minute breaks between the classes. Participants will play the part of students during these three periods, then debrief with Justin and each other for the final 20 minutes of the session. Experiences will include Personalized Q&A, TPR variations, Write & Discuss, several other reading and writing tasks, and brain breaks, as well as numerous tricks and routines to maximize the efficiency and enjoyment of the learning process.
- Beyond the Play Button | Presenter: Sr. Wooly - While music and videos are essential vehicles for language input, it is frequently challenging to figure out how to properly implement them in the classroom. We all know how to click the play button, but isn't there more? In this session, Jim Wooldrdge, a.k.a. Sr. Wooly, will demonstrate a variety of practical activities that will give you the confidence to use music and videos in the classroom (and with none of the guilt!). Plus, he will model how to win the class over so you have more class singalongs and fewer class eye-rolls.
- Body and Voice Skills to Boost Focus, Comprehension, Memory, and Health | Presenter: Justin Slocum Bailey - Our bodies and voices can be powerful teaching tools, but you might not be sure how to get the most out of them—or the very idea may intimidate you. This workshop offers a pressure-free setting to experience and practice body and voice techniques specifically designed to promote calmness, attention, comprehension, memory, and community among students, as well as your own mental and physical well-being. Low-key dramatic and improvisational games, drawing on Justin’s experience in these areas, will help you become more comfortable using your body and voice in new ways. All techniques are modifiable based on ability or comfort!
Post-Conference Workshop Descriptions:
- Compelling Comprehensible Culture and Current Events - Presenter: Annabelle Allen - Cultural and Communicative Competencies go hand in hand, yet all too often, world language teachers teach culture in English in order to “go deep” and really cover the culture they love. This workshop will share concrete ways to teach culture to your students where empathy is built alongside an appreciation for other peoples, practices and traditions.
- Look, Ma, I’m Learning! Look, Boss, They’re Learning! Look, Kid, You’re Learning! - Presenter: Tina Hargaden - We see mini-miracles every day in our classrooms, and yet many of us still contend with students, parents, colleagues, and administrators who don’t recognize the rigor of the multilingual learning spaces that we are creating. Proactive public relations pay off! Learn low-prep, community-building ways to demonstrate the value of your program to stakeholders. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Tina will demonstrate instructional strategies that connect students to people, ideas, practices, and products situated far away in time and space, through content-based instruction. She will demonstrate a simple, easy-to-learn and easily-replicated framework for daily instruction that includes listening, reading, writing, and speaking and follows a gradual release of responsibility model (“I do, we do, you do”). You CAN demonstrate that your program challenges your top-achieving students and also supports your students for whom literacy or attention are challenges. Learn a few key Universal Design for Learning principles that help you explain your “high ceiling, low floor” language program that respects students’ own internal timeline for language development, from the super-fast to the way-way-slower. Walk out with effective strategies, a basic understanding of a daily instructional framework, and concrete ways to demonstrate value to students, families, colleagues, and administrators.
- The CI Recipe for Success (with Novice-Level Students) | Presenter: Laurie Clarcq -
- This three-hour workshop is based on the following “recipe”:
- 1. Welcome all students to the table.
- 2. Gather three basic ingredients:
- Clear expectations that invite respectful, authentic interaction.
- Carefully chosen language for sharing experiences.
- Compelling topics that engage students.
- 3. Adjust ingredients as desired/necessary so that all students can be successful.
- 4. Add insight and a desire to facilitate language acquisition.
- 5. Allow sufficient time for acquisition to occur.
- This highly interactive workshop first serves up a novice Vietnamese lesson followed by a combination of hands-on activities. We will finish with a delicious course of discussion and reflection. Everyone is invited!
- This three-hour workshop is based on the following “recipe”:
- Sustaining Interaction with Students: Going All-In with Rejoinders - Presenter: Grant Boulanger
- Meaningful Movement - Presenter: Annabelle Allen - Students, especially this generation of students, spend most of their day sitting. We know the power of Brain Breaks and bursts of movement in our day to day lessons, but why not make the lessons themselves more active!? In this workshop, teachers will be moving, experiencing first hand the joy and engagement that students feel when given the opportunity to learn in motion.
- Prepare to Win in Your Classroom - Presenter: Tina Hargaden - “Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” — Michael Jordan To win games, you get in there and shoot baskets, handle the ball, and commit fiercely to your skills. Lace up your shoes for some intense skills work. Tina will give a bunch of speedy demos interspersed with partner drills designed to give each participant maximum time to practice, practice, and practice more. You will be coached through concrete, actionable steps for each strategy — do it once, do it better, then do it again, even better. Gain confidence as you feel yourself growing stronger and stronger, committing your skills to muscle memory. My goal is to lead you through Picture Talk, Quick Quizzes, One Word Images, TPR, Write and Discuss, Card Talk, Reader’s Theatre, Reading Options, and the Question and Answer Game, at least two times each, and more if I possibly can. Bring water! This session wears me out, but I plan to leave it all on the field for YOU and your students. You need to come ready to do the same. But don’t be scared; you will never be asked to leave the safe space you and your partner create for you to practice. See you at the gym!
- Setting The Table for Success with Intermediate/Advanced-Level Students - Presenter: Laurie Clarcq - What do we need to” bring to the table” for our Intermediate/Advanced-Level students so that they can continue to increase their proficiency? 1. A clean slate: The opportunity to start fresh even if their language seems “messy.” 2. Room for everyone at the table. 3. A varied menu that keeps input and interaction compelling 4. Comprehensible input that facilitate acquisition of language that Extends Describes Connects Suggests Questions 5. Tools that extend their abilities to understand and express: Circumlocution Upper level thinking Independent reading Join the party as we invite our intermediate/advanced level students to the “adult” table of language acquisition!
- Making Thinking Visible and Available - Presenter: Haiyun Lu - How can today’s classrooms prepare students to become thinkers, innovators, risk-takers, problem solvers…?How can today’s students get ready for an unpredictable and ever-changing future? How do we make thinking visible in upper level classes? How do we make thinking available for novices? If you ever ponder these questions, please come to this session. I will share many different ways to use simple language to express complex ideas in a novice level, as well as how to frame your questions, design reflections and utilize different thinking routines to foster deep thinking and develop thinking disposition.