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 Span

ish 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.

2022 World Language Professional Learning Series

Understanding Standards-Based Curriculum Planning, 

Thursday, May 19th, from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Recorded and can be viewd at NYSED - World Languages: Professional Development

Understanding Vocabulary Development in Standards-Based Teaching, Thursday, January 13th, from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Understanding the Role of Grammar in Proficiency Development Parts 1 and 2, 

Thursday, February 24th and Thursday, March 3rd, from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Understanding Standards-Based Lesson Planning, 

Thursday, March 31st, from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

**All OBEWL workshops and conferences are offered free of charge to educators working in NYS schools.  Educators can earn CTLE credit by attending live events or viewing the recording and scoring at least a 7 out of 10 on a multiple-choice post assessment.**

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.

Click here to register:

https://nysaflt.org/virtualworkshops/

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.

Click here to register:

https://nysaflt.org/virtualworkshops/

Information provided in this section is attributed to Candace Black and is an exurpt from the OBEWL December Newsletter

Unit Plan Exemplar Development for World Languages at the Checkpoint A Level

The NYS World Language Standards and Professional Learning Initiative will be conducting a Unit Plan Exemplar Development Program for World Languages at the Checkpoint A level from January through April of 2022.  NYS educators who are teaching a world language other than English at the secondary level (Grades 7-12) and who can commit to collaborating with regional colleagues from January through April of 2022 are invited to complete and submit an online application by no later than December 31, 2021.  Educators from district, charter, and non-public schools are welcome to apply.  OBEWL is seeking at least three (3) teachers in each world language in each of seven (7) regions of New York (Capital-East, Hudson Valley, Long Island, Mid-State, Mid-West, New York City, and Western NY) for this program.

Selected applicants will participate in three (3) after-school virtual meetings once a month from January - March 2022 and one (1) in-person meeting in their region during a school day in April 2022.  If there are not enough applicants in a single region, then a multi-region or statewide group will be created for that language.  In the latter case, all four (4) meetings would be virtual to avoid extensive travel by participants.  Prior to completing this application, prospective participants must secure permission from their building principal to be able to attend the one (1) in-person meeting in their region during the school day. 

To be considered for this program, applicants must complete and submit the online application by no later than December 31, 2021.  Applications will be reviewed the first week in January.  Selected candidates will be notified no later than January 8, 2022, along with the dates of each meeting.  Those participating in the program must attend all four (4) meetings and submit a Checkpoint A Thematic Unit Plan for the language they teach by no later than April 30, 2022.  In return, participants will receive CTLE credit for all meeting times and a fixed stipend of $225.

OBEWL plans to run similar Unit Plan Exemplar Development Programs for Checkpoint A at the elementary school in the fall of 2022 and for Checkpoints B and C in the winter/spring of 2023. 

Click here to apply: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclH595YOJcRhUKPe-kZex9K8i3-IQ0DOg6oRdp2Aa3z0_9pA/viewform

NYSAFLT VIirtual Workshops 2022~ First in a Series

Kitty to Lion: Building Learners’ Interpretive Skills and Confidence

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

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.

Click here to register:

https://nysaflt.org/virtualworkshops/

                NYSAFLT Annual Conference 2021

NYSAFLT 2021 will be a hybrid conference with

on-site,virtual, and pre-recorded options.

Location: Ramada by Wyndham (Formerly Holiday Inn) Syracuse/Liverpool, NY

Date: October 22–23, 2021

https://nysaflt.org/annual-conference

AATF NAtional Convention

The AATF National Convention is underway! The theme of this year’s convention is “Laissez les bons temps rouler: Explorer la diversité du monde francophone.”,  and is taking place virtually.  Many topics will be addressed during these exciting sessions including sessions on professional development, instructional practices, program growth and advocacy, just to name a few.

The main sessions of the convention will take place June 29^th through July 15^th on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Sessions begin at 10am.

In addition to the mains sessions, Pre-Convention Workshops will take place June 15^th, 22^nd & 24^th. Dates for Post-Convention Workshops are July 27^th, July 31^st, August 10^th and August 12^th.

Special events include a “Welcome to the Convention Evening”on June 29^th, An Evening Concerton July 6^th and a “Soirée Divertissante” (Awards Ceremony) on July 15^th.

Earmark Wednesday, June 30^th at 11:30 am EST as our own webmaster, Kimberley Harter will be presenting her version of National French Week.

Also, on Thursday, August 12^th at 5:00 pm SHF president Regina Symonds, and SHF Teacher Representatives Tracy Rucker and Kimberley Harter will be hosting a back-to-school workshop for SHF sponsors.

Information regarding the full program and registration can be found by clicking on the link below:

https://frenchteachers.org/2021-convention-program/

The AATF National Convention is free to all AATF Members. 

SUMMER INSTITUTE 2021

https://nysaflt.org/summer-institute-2021/

THE NYSAFLT WEBINAR SERIES 2020–21

Rethinking Grading Practices in a

Communicative Classroom

Monday, March 22nd - 4:00pm (1 hour)

Presenter: Melanie Thomas, Spencerport CSD, Spencerport, NY

As teachers shift their classrooms to focus on communicative proficiency, we need to look at our grading practices. How can we modify our grades to reflect students’ skills and abilities with the language? Students need to be graded on what they know and can do in the target language. Do our grades reflect that?

Melanie Thomas teaches Spanish at Spencerport CSD. Her experience includes levels I, III, IV and V in conjunction with Syracuse University. She holds her WL National Board Certification. Her MATL from the University of Southern Mississippi focused on the knowledge, skills, and theories in language, language acquisition, and language instruction. This background in SLA supports her strive to teach with Comprehensible Input to help learners acquire the language they study. @senoramthomas
senoraMThomas.blogspot.com Find me on YouTube: bit.ly/CIvids

Please click below to learn more and register for this webinar:

https://nysaflt.org/webinars-current-series/

Joshual Cabral - World Language C lassroom

Language and Culture: The Path to Global Citizenship

Virtual Workshop: March 20th  - March 30th, 2021

https://wlclassroom.com/language-and-culture/

NYSAFLT Spring Conference

AKA - NYSA-Fair  Online Conference

Friday, March 5th from 4:00pm to 5:00pm and 

Saturday, March 6th from  9:00am -3:30pm

Live and Pre-Recorded Sessions

Please click below to learn more and register for this webinar:

https://nysaflt.org/springconference/

THE NYSAFLT WEBINAR SERIES 2020–21

Thursday, February 25 — 4:00 p.m. (1 hour)

Anchor Standard 2: Accessing Culture through Language Functions

Presenters:
Joanne O’Toole, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY
Bill Heller, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY

“Use the language to…” are the words that both introduce Anchor Standard 2, Culture, and define the relationship between language and culture embedded in the revised New York State Standards. Examine how joining the key language functions with content from authentic resources provides a cultural context for communicative tasks in any mode. Explore how the performance indicators inform culturally-contextualized target-language task design at each proficiency checkpoint.

Joanne O’Toole, Ph.D., is a Professor of Modern Language Education at SUNY Oswego. She has held several world language leadership positions, including NYSAFLT President and NECTFL Director. She currently serves on the NYSED OBEWL Content Advisory Panel Executive Committee. She is a regular presenter at local, state, and national conferences. She previously taught secondary Spanish for 16 years.
Bill Heller has taught students at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels for 40 years including 24 years as the high school Spanish teacher at Perry Central Schools. He has been a methods and Spanish instructor at SUNY Geneseo since 2001. He has done workshops, preconferences and keynotes at local, state, regional and national conferences for World Language teachers. He is currently serving on the Executive Committee of the NYSED Content Advisory Panel for World Languages. Bill has served on the NYSAFLT Board of Directors and as Conference Chair for the 2017 Northeast Conference (NECTFL). He and his rescue pup, Sadie, live in Warsaw, NY.

Please click below to learn more and register for this webinar:

https://nysaflt.org/webinars-current-series/