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Thursday, November 18 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Language Advocacy: Planting the Seeds Every Day

Presenter: Anna Cartwright, Orchard Park High School, Orchard Park

As language teachers, we often find ourselves struggling to attract students to our program as they build their schedules for the following year. But if we built advocacy techniques into our regular routines, would we have to fight as hard for their attention? In this webinar, we will examine a framework for setting advocacy goals for teachers, for their schools and for their departments. We will explore ways to inform students and parents of opportunities to practice language skills in the community. Suggestions will also be provided about how to reach out to administrators, politicians and other influencers about the importance of multilingualism in our world.

Anna Cartwright received her Bachelor of Arts in French Language and Literature from Nazareth College of Rochester, where she also minored in Italian and obtained her teaching certifications for French 7-12 and Special Education. She completed her Master of Arts in French Cultural Studies at the NYU Institute of French Studies. She currently teaches French 2, French 2B and AP French at Orchard Park High School in Orchard Park, NY.

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Monday, December 13 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

ALL IN!: Awesome Acquisition Driven Activities for High Engagement and FUN!

Presenter: Annabelle Allen (La Maestra Loca), Bricolage Academy, New Orleans, LA

Engaging our learners in this fast-paced, screen-based world can be a challenge, but teachers are here for it! This session will introduce educators to several amazing activities that are certain to engage World Language students! They’re all acquisition driven and will help to facilitate language for every student in the class while also increasing their JOY!

Annabelle Allen (La Maestra Loca) was christened “La Maestra Loca” by her students long ago, but what she is really crazy about is building a positive, inclusive, success-oriented language community that promotes equity and anti-racist education. Annabelle’s love of students, people, languages, and of life is contagious, while her deep understanding of the nuts and bolts of teaching for communicative competence will leave you eager and inspired to return to your classrooms and start implementing all of her strategies for equitable engagement! She’s currently in her 10th year as an educator, teaching Middle School Spanish in New Orleans at Bricolage Academy.

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Tuesday, January 18 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Kitty to Lion: Building Learners’ Interpretive Skills and Confidence

Presenter: Rebecca Blouwolff, Wellesley Middle School, Wellesley MA

Build up learners’ toolbox and confidence in the interpretive mode. While reading and listening tasks rely on students’ existing literacy skills and willingness to take risks, there are many practical strategies that teachers can share with students to expand their repertoire and independence. Come learn a set of concrete steps for guiding learners to interact with authentic materials with confidence. Explore sample interpretive tasks for Novice Mid, Novice High and Intermediate Low targets. Never again feel that you and your students “can’t handle” authentic resources!

Rebecca Blouwolff has taught French at Wellesley Middle School in MA since 1998, but fell in love with middle schoolers while serving as a Fulbright teaching scholar at a collège in Saint-Omer, France. Novice students inspire her to create engaging, age-appropriate lessons focused on global awareness. She earned a B.A. magna cum laude in American Civilization and Judaic Studies at Brown University, and an M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, 2019 MaFLA and NECTFL Teacher of the Year, 2020 ACTFL Teacher of the Year, and a certified MOPI tester.

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Wednesday, February 16 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Writing to Grow: Building Blocks to Proficiency

Presenter: Greta Lundgaard, Consultant, Dallas, TX

An intentional writing plan provides opportunities to process, practice, and apply new learning in context. A writing plan enables teachers to teach grammar in context while moving students across proficiency borders. This session will highlight the connection between writing and proficiency growth and explore output and revision strategies that deepen and expand writing performances and grow language proficiency.

Greta Lundgaard is a World Language Consultant who works with world language educators at local, state, regional, national, and international schools. She taught German at all levels before serving as the Coordinator of Foreign Languages for Lewisville ISD, Texas and Plano ISD, Texas. She gives workshops on behalf of ACTFL and PEARLL and previously contributed at the National Foreign Language Center as a Senior Associate for Professional Development. Greta has served on the Board of Directors and as President of the Board for SWCOLT, as President of NADSFL, and as President of the Texas Association for Language Supervision.

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Tuesday, March 22 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

The Five Facets of Leadership

Presenter: Lyanne Terada, Horizon High School, Thornton, Colorado

Every person is uniquely qualified to lead like a multifaceted diamond. With five leadership principles based on the industry standards of diamonds known as the 4 C’s, this webinar will help polish and refine each participant’s leadership skills so that everyone can sparkle more brightly in all areas of their life.

Lyanne Terada is a Spanish teacher at Horizon High School in Thornton, Colorado. A National Board Certified Teacher and 2008 Hawai`i World Language Teacher of the Year, she infuses passion and joy for language, travel, and multiple perspectives in her classroom to inspire her students and help them develop global, linguistic, and intercultural competencies for immediate use and growing proficiency. She was an ACTFL LILL Emerging Leader in 2015, is currently facilitating LILL Cohort 4, and represents Colorado/CCFLT on the SWCOLT Board of Directors.

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Thursday, April 28 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Authentic Resources as Primary Sources for Cultural Inquiry

Presenters: Bill Heller, SUNY Geneseo and Joanne O’Toole, Ph.D., SUNY Oswego

Authentic resources can be an ideal primary source to initiate exploration of cultural products and practices. Authentic resources reflect the voices of members of target cultures as they engage in real-world communication with one another. For learners to make cultural as well as communicative meaning from authentic resources–in other words, to successfully enact NYS World Language Standards 4 and 5–teachers need confidence, skills and strategies. This webinar will explore ways to leverage the interpretation of authentic resources as a vehicle for uncovering cultural perspectives in the target language appropriate to the learners’ proficiency range.

Bill Heller has taught in public elementary, secondary, community college and undergraduate classrooms for 40 years, including 24 years teaching Spanish at Perry High School. He has been a methods and Spanish instructor at SUNY Geneseo since 2001. He is a frequent presenter of workshops, webinars and keynotes. Bill served as Conference Chair for the 2017 Northeast Conference (NECTFL) and is currently a member of the Executive Board and Content Advisory Panel for World Languages at the New York State Education Department (NYSED).

Joanne O’Toole, Ph.D., is Professor of Modern Language Education at SUNY Oswego. She currently serves as principal investigator of the New York State World Language Standards Initiative, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the NYSED OBEWL Content Advisory Panel. Joanne has held several world language leadership positions, including NYSAFLT President, is a regular presenter at local, state, and national conferences and is currently serving on the NECTFL board of directors. She previously taught secondary Spanish for 16 years.

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Wednesday, May 18 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Engaging Activities to Keep Novice Learners Speaking in the Target Language

Presenters: Valerie Greer and Wendy Mercado, Bay Shore Middle School, Bay Shore, NY

Is it a challenge for you to get your novice learners speaking in the target language? Do you feel that they haven’t learned enough yet to do activities entirely in the TL? During this webinar, we will share several fun and engaging exercises that will keep your students confidently speaking in the TL. We will provide you with ideas that can be used as early as the first few weeks of your level one classes along with easy assessment strategies that will motivate your students to stay in the target language while working on these tasks. Come join us for this webinar to learn how to take the fear out of speaking.

Valerie Greer received both her Bachelor’s &Master’s degrees from SUNY Stony Brook & has been teaching French for 24 years at the Bay Shore UFSD. Valérie has presented for LILT, NYSAFLT, NECTFL, ACTFL, BOCES & FLENJ. She won Best of NYSAFLT 2017 & Best of NECTFL 2017. Valérie served as the NYSAFLT NYC/LI Regional Director from 2017-2019 and she is the Secretary/Treasurer for NYSAFLT. Valérie helped to coordinate & re-imagine the LILT student WL competition. She has worked on the local committee for NECTFL, mentored new teachers for NYSAFLT & NECTFL & has been on the NYSAFLT AC planning committee for many years. Valérie is the 2021 recipient of the Ruth E. Wasley NYS World Language Teacher of the Year Award.

Wendy Mercado received both her Bachelors & Masters degrees from SUNY Stony Brook. She has been teaching at the Bay Shore UFSD for 24 years. Wendy has presented many times for LILT, NYSAFLT, NECTFL & ACTFL and was named Best of NYSAFLT 2017 for sessions at the 2017 NYSAFLT Annual Conference and Best of NECTFL 2017. Wendy participated in NYSAFLT’s 2017 cohort of the Leaders of Tomorrow program and is presently the secretary for ACTFL’s Language Learning for Children Special Interest Group, the LILT Webmaster, and holds several roles for NYSAFLT: Long Island Regional Director, Director of Social Media Chairperson, and Virtual Video Contest Committee Chairperson.

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