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Wednesday, September 18 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Proposed Changes to NYS Graduation Requirements: How To Make World Languages a Priority

Presenters: Marie Campanaro & Barb Patterson

NYSED is in the process of rethinking graduation requirements. An overview of NYSED’s Blue Ribbon Commission’s (BRC) presentation to the Board of Regents on the proposed revisions will be shared. The BRC’s goals, their recommended four transformations and the implementation timeline will be reviewed. The NYS Learning Standards for World Languages (WL) directly relate to each of the transformations. All WL stakeholders must take action in order to ensure that WL become an integral part of future graduation requirements and teacher preparatory programs. Responses to the ThoughtExchange topics and a sample letter to Board of Regent members will be provided.

Marie Campanaro graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Secondary Spanish and English Educ from SUNY Brockport, and an MA in Elem Educ with a concentration in Bilingual Multicultural Educ. Now retired, she taught ELA and Spanish for 38 years. She has National Board Certification in WLOE. She was awarded the Lifetime Enrichment Grant: Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom; NYSAFLT Embassy of Spain Scholarship to Salamanca, NYSAFLT’s President Award, the Ferdinand DiBartolo Distinguished Leadership Award, NYSAFLT Anthony J. Papalia Award and JNCL-NCLIS Power of Advocacy Award. A past president of NYSAFLT, she remains involved as Public Advocacy Co-chair. 

Barbara Patterson holds a B.S. in Secondary Education Spanish, M.A. in Spanish and a C.A.S. degree. Barbara has taught Spanish for 31 years with experience in suburban, city and rural school districts. She is the committee chair of the NYSUT’s World Language Subject Area Committee and is the Co-chair of the NYSAFLT’s Public Advocacy Committee. As a Project Support Specialist at SUNY Oswego, Barbara works in conjunction with OBEWL at NYSED. Barbara served as NYSAFLT’s Assistant Director and LECNY’s Webmaster, Past President, President and Vice-President. She is the recipient of NYSAFLT’s President Award and received the Anthony J. Papalia Award with her Advocacy co-chair Marie Campanaro.

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Tuesday, October 29 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Out of the Box Writing Activities that Motivate

Presenter: Diego Ojeda

In this Virtual Workshop, we’ll showcase innovative writing activities that spark student creativity and motivation. Learn unique techniques that go beyond standard writing exercises, making writing fun and impactful. You’ll gain practical ideas to encourage more enthusiastic and productive writers in your classroom. Transform writing practice into something your students will look forward to!

Diego Ojeda is a passionate Spanish teacher, a comprehensible poetry author, a blogger and an accomplished world language teacher trainer and presenter. He has been recognized and awarded for his outstanding teaching style that he brings to the class and enjoys sharing with his colleagues. Diego is a native of Bogotá, Colombia, and has many years of experience teaching in his native country as well as in the United States.

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Wednesday, December 4 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Student Travel with Purpose

Presenter: Mandy Black

A panel of teachers that have experience traveling abroad with students will share their experiences. They will discuss anything from the logistics needed to make their travel programs happen to the learning experiences that they have curated to get the most out of student travel. Time will be given at the end for participants to share their experiences and to ask questions of the panel.

Mandy Black has been teaching students Spanish and English as a New Language since 1998. She has taught at all grade levels and in multiple districts in New York and North Carolina. Mandy has led trips to Costa Rica and Mexico since the early 2000s. She has worked with science teachers in her district to create a year-long class to prepare students for their trips. As a part of the class, students earn college credit and complete Project Based Learning experiences that they share with the community upon their return from travel.

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Thursday, January 16 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Higher Education Meets the Revised NYS Standards

Presenter: Dr. Erin Kearney

Achieving successful and meaningful learning outcomes for world language learners requires seamless collaboration among educators across all grade levels and educational stages. However, coordinating expertise, information, and insights can often be challenging. In this panel session facilitated by Dr. Kearney, educators from K-20 contexts will share their perspectives on implementing the revised NYS World Language Learning Standards. The discussion will explore emerging needs within the field and offer strategies for fostering greater collaboration to enhance language education outcomes.

Dr. Erin Kearney is Professor and Chair of the Department of Learning and Instruction at the University at Buffalo. Drawing from her experiences teaching French for 8 years and in teacher education for 15 years, Erin is focused on supporting learners, teachers, teacher educators and researchers to enhance language learning and intercultural experiences in world language classrooms and in all multilingual classrooms and school spaces.

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Tuesday, February 11 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Standards With Authenticity & Zest

Presenter: Swaz Piron

The shift to revised standards presents an opportunity to update curricula, though it may feel intimidating. In this workshop, the presenter will provide insights to help teachers navigate this transition, offering practical examples of strategies and activities that can be immediately applied in the classroom. The tasks presented will be suitable for any language and proficiency level, focusing on all three modes of communication. There will be a strong emphasis on using the target language and incorporating authentic resources.

Françoise “Swaz” Piron was born in Geneva, Switzerland, to a French mother and a Belgian father. She retired in 2021 after 35 years of teaching French. She served as the 2024 President of NYSAFLT and spent over 20 years contributing to the NYSed French state exams. Swaz has presented numerous workshops at local, state, and national levels. Honored as a “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques” by the French government, she remains active in the field as a consultant for assessments, curriculum development, standards integration, and as an editor and translator of classroom readers.

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Thursday, March 20 — 7:00 PM (1 hour)

Maximizing Your Authentic Resources

Presenter: Maris Hawkins

We as teachers know that we need to use authentic resources, but unlike teacher created materials, they do not come with lesson plans attached! It can also be overwhelming finding a resource that works for your class. In this session, we will discuss what to look for in authentic resources and then we will discuss two strong lesson plans: one for an interpretive reading and one for an interpretive listening. We will also discuss how to level these lessons up or down, so you can use one resource in many levels.

Maris Hawkins holds a Masters in Teaching and a BA in Spanish and Art History from the University of Virginia. She presents frequently on proficiency based instruction and has participated in numerous podcasts including We Teach Languages. Her co-authored book, Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory goes to the classroom, aims to help educators visualize how to put principles into action. She has taught all grade levels and currently teaches elementary and middle school Spanish at Capitol Hill Day School in Washington, DC.

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Tuesday, April 8 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

One-Way Dual Language Immersion: Nuts and Bolts for Implementation or Expansion

Presenter: Francesco Fratto & Katherine Kirschner

Join our presenters to learn how they articulated the Herricks Public Schools’ dual immersion one-way program; the steps they took to implement the program and ways to anticipate the many bumps in the road. Explore the goals of the program, how they are measured, and entry requirements.  Learn the logistics: finding qualified teachers, retaining students, balancing L1 and L2 literacy development, and ensuring content knowledge. Advocacy is key, but how do you do it? 

Francesco L. Fratto was a Spanish teacher with over thirteen years of teaching experience. He holds degrees from SUNY New Paltz, Boston College, and Adelphi University. He currently serves as the K-12 Director of World Languages, Spanish Dual Language Immersion (DLI), and English as a New Language for the Herricks Public Schools, New Hyde Park, NY. Mr. Fratto has overseen the expansion of the DLI program from the elementary level to the secondary. The immersion program is currently the only fully articulated K-12 DLI program in a NYS public school. Over the years, Mr. Fratto has been very active in the profession. He served ACTFL, NECTFL, NYSAFLT and NYSAWLA in various capacities. 

Katherine Kirschner has been teaching Spanish at the Herricks School District on Long Island for over 18 years. She has been teaching one-way Spanish dual language immersion to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders since 2017. Katherine led the curriculum writing and articulation for transitioning the program’s pioneer cohort to the secondary level. She has presented at the 8th International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Immersion in Salt Lake City, UT and at the La Cosecha Conference based in Santa Fe, NM. Katherine deeply values high-quality professional development and opportunities to exchange ideas with other DLI teachers and experts.

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Tuesday, May 20 — 4:00 PM (1 hour)

Leveraging Generative AI for Interpersonal Communication and Competency

Presenter: Dr. Kevin Gaugler

This workshop explores how Generative AI can support interpersonal communication and intercultural competency in the world language classroom. Participants will learn how AI tools can stimulate conversation, provide feedback, and create culturally relevant activities to enhance language learners’ critical thinking and communicative skills. Through demos and practical activities, educators will consider strategies to integrate AI into classroom instruction.

Dr. Kevin Gaugler is a Professor of Spanish and Assistant Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. He is a former recipient of the ACTFL Award for Excellence in Teaching with Technology. He is the author of the technology chapter in the latest edition of the “Teacher’s Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction”. Dr. Gaugler currently he serves as co-chair of the MLA’s task force on world languages and AI and co-chair of Marist College’s steering committee on AI.

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