Regardless of the level at which we teach, we are always looking for creative and innovative ways to support and develop students’ skills across the three modes: interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal.  In addition to developing student proficiency, we want our students to be motivated – how to we make that happen?  And once we make that happen, how do we sustain it?  How can we as world language teachers foster and cultivate an environment in which students are motivated and not merely compliant?  And how is motivation related to proficiency?

In this workshop, participants will explore ways to promote student ownership of their proficiency and move from a student centered environment to one that is student driven – one in which they are truly part of the creative process.  If you are looking for storytelling strategies, ways to get ahead of student anxieties, or you could use some alternatives to traditional assignments, assessments, and prompts – ones that give students ownership of their proficiency across the modes – this workshop is for you!

Friday Keynote Speaker:  Linda Egnatz ACTFL TOY 2014

Peak Performance: Proficiency Begins with Design & Innovation 

Saturday Keynote Speaker:  Angela Dávila OSPI World Language Program Supervisor

Thursday, October 12th Pre-conference workshop (9:00 - 4:00)$65 (includes workshop, lunch and 6 clock hours)

Paris Granville:  Authentic Folktales to Spark communication and Culture

• Explore how to use folktales as the focus of motivating, language-rich thematic units that teach and reinforce language and cultural concepts.  
• Participate in highly engaging model teaching.  
• Gain strategies that empower novice learners and teachers to remain in the target language.  
• Take away curated folktales in Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish, templates, activities and rubrics. 
• Presenter will model Folktales from Ecuador, Louisiana, and French Polynesia.
• Participants will have an opportunity to create their own folktale unit.

Saturday, October 14th (2:00 - 5:00) Post-conference workshop: $25 (includes 3 clock hours)

Linda Egnatz: Proficiency as a Tool to Focus Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Proficiency is a critical lens for identifying how to help language learners achieve their goal to be able to use a new language.  What teachers assess determines, and may limit, what students believe they have to learn. Discover how using a proficiency filter increases student skills and retention, guarantees vertical articulation and drives performance-based curriculum. Designing for proficiency strengthens classroom instruction by teaching grammar communicatively and by putting vocabulary and structure in a supporting role for purposeful language use. Learn how to make proficiency goals the main focus of both instruction and assessment to ensure that learners experience a smooth transition across a vertical program.