Virtual Workshops
NYSAFLT Virtual Workshop Series 2022–2023
Co-sponsored by the NYS Language Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network at NYU
Virtual workshops are free to all current members.
Wednesday, November 2 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)
CI for IB/AP and College Credit
Presenter: Sarah Hopper, Corning-Painted Post High School, Corning, NY
This workshop will provide low- prep CI strategies to improve student proficiency and test scores. Picture talk ideas and extension activities will be shared. This will include a plethora of ready-made picture talks. Clipchat, speaking activities, and one-word image scenes will also be explored. These activities will engage your students and take your CI skills to the next level.
Sarah Hopper is certified in French, Spanish, and ENL. She loves engaging students in games and interactive activities. She has authored several books on technology and World Language teaching. She was selected as a PBIS Digital Innovator in 2014. She has taught all levels including IB, MYP, and College-Credit.
Thursday, December 1 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)
Designing Effective Learning Sequences
Presenter: Laura Terrill, Consultant, Indianapolis, IN
What steps can busy educators take to keep the focus on learning during their lessons? Explore ways to design a sequence of activities to capture and maintain learners’ energy while allowing students to demonstrate progress toward learning targets. Consider how to sequence lessons while keeping in mind the age and attention span of the learners while making certain that learners frequently demonstrate the independent application of new learning. Apply retrieval strategies that allow learners to recycle and demonstrate retention of learning.
Laura Terrill is currently working as an Independent Consultant. She is the co-author of the Second Edition of ACTFL Keys to Planning for Learning: Effective Curriculum, Unit and Lesson Design. She taught French for 21 years, has been a Coordinator of World Languages and Director of Curriculum. She has served on the Board of Directors for Central States and ACTFL. She is the recipient of the Founders Award for Central States, has been named as the NADSFL District Supervisor of the Year, and has received the ACTFL Florence Steiner Award for Leadership.
POSTPONED! Thursday, January 12 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)
The Power of Processing- POSTPONED!
Presenter: Amy Lenord, Career Institute North – Dallas ISD, Dallas, Texas
Designing and facilitating processing tasks for students is a language teacher’s super power. Processing tasks make such a big difference in both a student’s conceptual knowledge of a language as well as their ability to independently use that language. This webinar will explore what processing tasks are, how they are different than practice activities and how they can be designed to enhance students’ understanding of how to use the language to say and write what they want to say.
Amy Lenord began as a language teacher in west Texas graduating from Texas Tech with a BA in both Spanish and English. She started teaching in 1998 at The Woodlands High School. A few years later, she left for Fort Bend ISD, where she was introduced to the Texas Foreign Language Association and her real teaching adventures began. Formerly a curriculum writer and TFLA board member, Amy found herself chasing her hunger to learn in conferences, on Twitter, through blogging and now instructional design for her store, Anchors & Aides. Currently, Amy teaches at Career Institute North, a CTE campus in Dallas ISD, where she is coaching students to speak Spanish for the workplace.
Thursday, February 2 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)
Content-Based Learning
Presenter: Heather Sweetser, The University of New Mexico, Albuqueruqe, NM
Many language teachers have heard of Project-Based Learning (PBL) – but what about Content-Based Learning, or CBL? Come and find out what Content-Based Learning is all about! Examples of concrete ways to apply CBL in the language classroom will be provided, as well as common mistakes and ways to avoid them when teaching language through Content-Based Learning. This session will be particularly helpful for those with heritage learners, or teachers looking for new ways to differentiate their mixed-language level classrooms.
ACTFL’s 2022 Language Teacher of the Year, Heather Sweetser received her M.A. in Arabic at Ohio State in 2012. A U.S. Army veteran, experiences with languages in the U.S. Government inspired her to become a language instructor focusing on intercultural competence as a core part of language fluency. Currently, Heather teaches beginning through advanced Arabic at The University of New Mexico and is one of the co-creators of the wecanlearnarabic.com website.
Thursday, March 23 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)
Planting the Seeds of Change in World Language Education
Presenter: Amanda Silva, Cincinnatus Central School, Cincinnatus, NY
This workshop will address practical ways to move forward with the New York State Standards changes and our classroom practices. We will examine incorporation of new mindsets in World Language Departments, revising and creation of units of learning, and assessment creation and grading. In addition we will examine what the standards look like in our classrooms and what students can do with them. The goal is for each participant to develop a plan for how to move forward in their district with these changes in a sustainable way unique to their needs.
Amanda Silva received her B. A. and M. S. in Secondary French Education from SUNY Cortland. She currently teaches grades 7 through 12 at Cincinnatus Central School in Cincinnatus, NY. She enjoys being the district coordinator for the World Language, Art & Health professional learning team in Cincinnatus. She currently is a mentor teacher for new employees, advises the French Club and volunteers on the Teacher Center Policy Board for Cincinnatus. Amanda is a proud member of the Mid-State RBERN World Language Council.
Thursday, April 13 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)
Centering BIPOC Products, Practices, & Perspectives from Level 1
Presenter: Benjamin Tinsley, Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania
In this workshop, we will examine and explore the what, why, and how of centering the cultural practices, products, and perspectives of Black Indigenous People of Color in the World Language classroom and beyond. Teachers and prospective teachers alike will take away concrete practices to implement in the classroom right away.
A French teacher of 14 years and lifelong student, Ben Tinsley has dedicated his professional and personal life to the pursuit of substantive diversity, equity, and belonging in education. Through AfroFranco, he has worked with teachers around the world to develop curricula that center Black and Brown voices in the classroom and beyond. Ben’s recent work has focused primarily on leveraging language acquisition and language education toward developing global literacy and 21-Century competencies. VIEW RECORDING
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, 2016 and ending June 30, 2026. 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 and I am already looking forward to the 2016-2017 Webinar Series.
Respectfully,
J.B.