Virtual Workshops

NYSAFLT Classroom Showcase & Virtual Workshop Series

2026–2027

Co-sponsored by Klett World Languages

Virtual workshops are free to all current NYSAFLT members.

If you are not a member of NYSAFLT but belong to a NECTFL state organization, contact info@nectfl.org for access.

2026 NYSAFLT Classroom Showcase

Get an exclusive look inside some of New York State’s most inspiring world language classrooms! In this exciting series of virtual classroom tours, outstanding NYSAFLT educators will open their doors to share the spaces they’ve designed to engage students and support language learning. Discover innovative classroom layouts, effective organizational systems, engaging routines, creative displays, and practical ideas you can bring back to your own classroom. Whether you’re seeking fresh inspiration or ready to transform your learning environment, these fast-paced tours are packed with ideas you won’t want to miss!

Sessions are open to everyone! After exploring each classroom, viewers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite as NYSAFLT crowns the state’s Best World Language Classroom! To participate in voting, you must be registered for the session and be a current NYSAFLT member.

CTLE credit will also be available to NYSAFLT members who register for and attend all four sessions.

VOTE HERE

Voting Period:
📅 Monday, September 28, 3:45 p.m. through Monday, October 5, 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, September 10, 3:30 – 3:45 PM (Approx. 15 min.)

Anna Domingo

West Islip UFSD

VIEW RECORDING

You must register with a school affiliated email address.

Thursday, September 17, 3:30 – 3:45 PM (Approx. 15 min.)

Christopher Rogers

City School District of Albany

VIEW RECORDING

You must register with a school affiliated email address.

Thursday, September 24, 3:30 – 3:45 PM (Approx. 15 min.)

Shannen Discavage

Whitesboro CSD

VIEW RECORDING

You must register with a school affiliated email address.

Monday, September 28, 3:30 – 3:45 PM (Approx. 15 min.)

Rose DiGennaro

East Irondequoit CSD

VIEW RECORDING

You must register with a school affiliated email address.

Thursday, November 5, 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Grade Less, Grow More: Practical Equitable Grading for World Languages

Presenter: Sarah Woodward-Jones

How can grading policies in the World Language classroom be more fair for all learners and support a growth mindset? Have you heard about Equitable or Standards-Based Grading? Standards-aligned rubrics facilitate individualized progress for students, meeting them where they are. This workshop will walk you through specific ways to incorporate more equitable practices and focus on proficiency progress in your courses. We will explore assessment strategies for ease of implementation, consider your own teacher well-being to balance time commitments and present classroom management strategies to keep students moving along and motivated.

Sarah Woodward-Jones is a National Board Certified French teacher and World Language Coordinator at Fayetteville-Manlius Schools. She is also an Ed.D. candidate at the University at Buffalo, focusing on World Language teachers’ experiences with grading practices. She has been teaching French for 20 years, with experience at each Checkpoint level. She graduated from Wells College in 2006 and completed her M.A in French Language and Civilization in 2009 from NYU in Paris. She is the treasurer of the local chapter, AATF of CNY, a member of several professional organizations, and a frequent presenter.

Tuesday, December 15, 7:00 PM (1 hour)

After the Input

Presenter: Carrie Toth

In this session, teachers will learn how to transform comprehensible input into lasting acquisition through purposeful, proficiency-based follow-up activities. Participants will explore engaging, low-prep strategies that move students from understanding to meaningful use of language. Grounded in ACTFL-aligned practices, these fun and practical ideas help sustain engagement, deepen comprehension, and build real-world communication skills. What students hear and read doesn’t stop at input, it becomes language they can truly use.

Carrie Toth is a National Board Certified Spanish teacher with over 30 years of classroom experience. She is the author of the Huellas and Empreintes curriculum series, El espíritu de Xólotl, L’esprit de Mélusine, impACTO, impACTE, and numerous readers and instructional resources through Wayside Publishing used by teachers across the United States and abroad. Carrie specializes in proficiency-based, acquisition-driven instruction and is a frequent presenter at state, regional, and national conferences, including ACTFL and Central States. Her work centers on building global citizenship through meaningful language use, cultural inquiry, and human connection in the world language classroom.

Thursday, January 7, 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Talk That Connects: Classroom-Ready Strategies for Interpersonal Communication

Presenter: Nathan Campbell

This interactive virtual workshop explores classroom-ready strategies for making interpersonal communication purposeful, engaging, and accessible. Participants will experience practical communicative tasks that encourage students to interact, negotiate meaning, ask and answer questions, and sustain conversations in the target language. From quick conversation structures to adaptable partner and small-group tasks, you’ll leave with strategies you can implement immediately. Designed for novice and intermediate learners, this session will help you create more opportunities for spontaneous language use, build confidence, and get students talking with purpose.

Nathan Campbell is a nationally recognized Spanish educator with more than two decades of experience teaching world languages in Lancaster County, PA. A National Board Certified Teacher and the 2026 ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year, Nathan teaches Spanish at Manheim Central High School, where he serves as department Chair. His work centers on meaningful communication, student engagement, and connecting language learning to communities. A passionate advocate for language education, Nathan is active in PSMLA and ACTFL, co-edits Pennsylvania Language Forum, and regularly presents at local, state, regional, and national professional conferences.

Thursday, February 4, 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Unlocking Culture: Assessing Proficiency Through Diverse Authentic Resources and IPAs

Presenter: Yensen Sierra Lambert

This interactive virtual workshop guides language educators through the process of building robust Integrated Performance Assessments anchored in diverse, multimodal authentic texts. Participants will explore how to curate culturally resonant resources that naturally bridge Interpretive comprehension, Interpersonal interaction, and Presentational output.

Yensen Sierra Lambert is an award-winning educator, department leader, and national consultant specializing in proficiency and inquiry-based instruction. She currently teaches Spanish at Greens Farms Academy and serves as a College Board AP Consultant and Table Leader. Honored as the CT COLT Teacher of the Year, Yensen regularly leads national workshops and publishes webinars on authentic, student-centered language pedagogy.

Thursday, March 4, 4:00 PM (1 hour)

The Next Layer: Practical Applications for Embedding the NYS Portrait of a Graduate into World Language Learning

Presenters: Barbara Patterson & Marie Campanaro

Explore practical strategies for embedding the NYS Portrait of a Graduate (PoG) attributes into world language curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Connections between the World Language Learning Standards and the PoG will be shown and used to design real-world tasks. Develop can-do statements and identify resources to incorporate the attributes into existing Checkpoints A, B, and C units. Leave with actionable ideas to strengthen students’ language proficiency, demonstrate the value of world language education, and promote student growth in the Portrait attributes.

*This is a follow-up to the Bringing the NYS Portrait of a Graduate to Life in World Languages webinar.

Barbara holds a BS in Sec Educ Span, MA in Span & CAS & taught Span for 31 yrs. She is the chair of NYSUT’s WL SAC, Project Support Specialist for the NYS Standards Initiative & the recipient of the President & Service to the Profession Awards. Barb served as NYSAFLT’s Asst Director & LECNY’s Webmaster, Past Pres, Pres & VP.

Marie holds a BA in Sec Span & Eng Ed from SUNY Brockport & her MA in Elem Ed with a concentration in Bil Multicult Ed. She earned National Board Certification in WLOE. She taught ELA & Span for 38 years & is a NYSAFLT past pres. They co-chair the Public Advocacy Committee & received the A.J. Papalia Award on their article addressing equity & career demands.

Tuesday, April 13, 7:30 PM (1 hour)

Level up!: Gamify your World Language Classroom!

Presenter: Annabelle Williamson

We have a LOT to compete with when it comes to capturing the attention of our students! In this virtual workshop, teachers will learn various games for the World Language class that do not involve tech! These allow teachers to maintain the use of 90% Target Language, while creating a joyful, fun, and engaging classroom environment where all students are eager to participate!

Annabelle Williamson, known as “La Maestra Loca,” is a passionate world language educator who champions Acquisition-Driven Instruction (ADI) through joy, movement, and meaningful connection. A middle school Spanish teacher in New Orleans and Louisiana’s 2018 World Language Teacher of the Year, she has inspired educators through keynotes and workshops across the globe—from the United States to China and Australia. Through her presentations, podcast, and global PLC community, Annabelle helps teachers create classrooms where language acquisition is natural, joyful, and deeply human.

Tuesday, May 18, 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Run the Play. Study the Film. Level Up: Building Interpersonal Proficiency as a Team

Presenter: Lea Graner Kennedy

How do we move students beyond practicing language to communicating as a team and taking risks together? Reimagine the proficiency-based classroom as a team where students are players and the teacher is their coach. Explore meaningful interpersonal tasks that let students “run the play” with multiple partners and build intercultural communicative competence. Then “study the game film” through transcription and reflection to identify evidence of proficiency and set goals to level up. Leave with practical strategies for designing tasks, fostering reflection, and building student ownership of proficiency growth.

Lea Graner Kennedy is a proven instructional leader, coach, educator, and both an independent and an ACTFL consultant. Through her work, she has led curriculum design, professional learning for K-16 educators, and countless virtual experiences for educators and district leaders. Her work spans a variety of contexts in World Languages, Dual Immersion, and literacy helping district coordinators and teachers guide their students to higher levels of proficiency and intercultural communicative competence.

Archived Virtual Workshops

Recordings of past years’ virtual workshops are available for a small fee to help us cover our costs. Topics of past workshops vary widely and are still pertinent today. Recorded workshops are a great tool for department meetings and school PD days. Order a recorded NYSAFLT virtual workshop to view as a group and discuss! View our archived virtual workshops here.

CTLE Credit (Members Only)

You may request CTLE credit for sessions that you participated in live or which you viewed as a recording. Once you have participated in/viewed a webinar, please fill out this form.

When you submit your form, you will receive an email which you may use as proof of your participation. If your school absolutely requires something in certificate format, please contact us at info@nysaflt.org.

The NYSAFLT virtual workshop series offers professional development throughout the school year that addresses multiple facets of world language education. You are encouraged to register early for any of the workshops above or for past virtual workshops, which are available as recordings (fee applies).

NYSAFLT is an approved Sponsor of Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) pursuant to Section 80-6 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2031. CTLE Identification number: 23167.

A member testimonial:

This is just to thank you for the Webinar Series that NYSAFLT offered this year. I have learned so much from them!! What is impressive to me is the large variety of topics presented, their uniqueness, and the high quality of their content. I truly admire the presenters as much as the moderators and organizers for doing such an amazing job. All webinars that I attended were very informative, helpful, and enjoyable. To make them even better, not only they were free this year, but we even got a recording of the webinar so we didn’t have to worry about taking notes, and missing information in the process. The presenters were very knowledgeable and very well prepared and organized every time. They presented a wealth of information and/or ideas, in just 50 minutes!! The moderators were very good at their role as well. I can’t thank you enough. I enjoyed them very much.

Respectfully,
J.B.