Bertha Delgadillo, NBCT
Creative Presentational Speaking Assessments that Lead to Refreshing Results

Looking for creative ways to assess & find out what language your students have acquired? Examine a variety of ideas and tweaks to reengage your learners in presentational speaking assessments without losing your mind.  

About Bertha: 

Bertha Delgadillo, NBCT is a HS Spanish teacher in Savannah, GA. Originally from Tampico, Tamaulipas, México, she  empowers world language teachers & learners through sharing practical engagement & student agency strategies all while placing students at the center of the learning experience.

Sophia Forker 

How to Manage 4+ Preps and Make it Home in Time for Dinner

Do you teach more than one World Language? Do you teach more than one level? Do you teach more than one language AND more than one level? I do and it's a lot of work! I love teaching language, but often we World Language teachers find ourselves stretched even thinner than other subject teachers (who are already stretched thin!) This year I have learned valuable strategies to cut down on my prep time while also differentiating in my classes and teaching for acquisition. It isn't a perfect system, but I am excited to share what's worked for me with all of you!

About Sophia: 

Bonjour! ¡Hola! Hi! I'm Sophie, a French and Spanish teacher from Brooklyn, New York. I'm passionate about language acquisition, especially in tandem with queer affirming and antiracist pedagogy. I have taught both middle and high school in NYC public schools and have worked in traditional foreign language as well as dual language settings. I love learning about facilitating language acquisition in the classroom and I'm excited to share with all of you! In my free time I love spending time with my partner and our two dogs, Kevin and Snoodles.

Jocelynn Hubbard | Custom Teaching Solutions (she/her)
3 Keys to Unlock Limitless Student Potential in Your Classroom

In this session Jocelynn will share 3 keys needed to create a world language classroom where you AND your students will thrive this year and beyond. Each key will be shared along with practical ideas for immediate implementation. Let me give you a FREE tool to elevate your lessons and information to empower your students. 

About Jocelynn:

Jocelynn Hubbard helps teachers spark joy during the learning experience by creating an inclusive and welcoming classroom environment for ALL their students. She is the founder and managing director of Custom Teaching Solutions, LLC and host of The Culture-Centered Classroom podcast. She has 16+ years of experience in education as an educator, speaker, professional development creator and facilitator. Driven by a passion to see the diverse people of our world feel welcomed, affirmed, and celebrated, she provides training on becoming and remaining culturally competent. As a wife and mother of five, her goals include squeezing in time for exercise, finding moments of joy each day, and parenting each of her children as unique individuals.

Jocelynn received a B.S. in Education from Miami University (OH) and an MA in Education from The University of North Carolina – Pembroke. She also has a graduate certificate in Gifted & Talented instruction from The University of North Carolina – Charlotte.

Yanina Jimenez 
How to Create MASTERY & LASTING Learning

Whatever you teach needs to be mastered & remembered by your students. This session will teach you HOW with very practical strategies!

About Yanina: 

Yanina is a classroom teacher, international speaker, and author of the book: Brain-friendly Teacher, How to Create Lasting Learning through Classroom Design & Instruction.

Pav Kaur of FLE avec MmeD
Fun French Games to Play on Jeu-Di or Any Day of the Week! 

It's the end of the school year and you're running out of stamina. As a BC high school teacher who has to teach a whole semester without ANY prep time, here are my students' favourite French games to play. You can play these every week on JEU-di or any time when you need easy, low-prep, and high engagement activities. 

About Pav: 

Hey there! I am a sixth year Core French teacher from British Columbia, Canada. I am passionate about making cultures the main meal in Core French. I am also the face behind FLE avec MmeD where I help teachers go beyond the textbook in the French classroom. I am very passionate about centering social justice and diversity in the Core French classroom. 

Jennifer Degenhardt & Theresa Marrama, Authors and World Language Teachers

Reading: Reaping the Rewards (FVR to Finish the School Year) 

It's that time of year - again. You have Kahooted and Gimkitted, Doodly-ied and Google Slid. The school year is almost over, but not quite, yet when you reach into your top hat to pull out some magic for the remaining weeks, you find it empty. What is a teacher to do? We say: READ. Jennifer Degenhardt and Theresa Marrama will discuss how to use Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) to your and your students' benefit so that you all can feel a great sense of accomplishment in the final push of the academic year.

Just because FVR is an individual activity doesn't mean it can't be communal. Jennifer and Theresa will show you how to get the most out of reading comprehensible novels, so you can get the most out of your students. Let the act of reading help you help your students show you what they have learned. The organization can be on you, the onus on them!

About Digilangua: 

We are Jennifer Degenhardt and Theresa Marrama and we have taught languages for over 40 years combined (not each!). Having taught French and Spanish from the elementary through college level, we believe that students - no matter their age or language level - must be engaged with the second language in accessible, but purposeful ways. Enter onto the scene: short novels written consciously with the language learner in mind. Between the two of us we have over 120 books in five different languages - and that number is growing! Our books run the gamut from mystery to real life adventure, biography to fantasy; within those that feature cultural, social, economic and political themes, inclusion of underrepresented populations, identity and more.

John Sifert, Padre de cinco Books, (he/him)
Classroom Jobs- How to Start Using Them TOMORROW (and beyond)!
World language teachers are pulled in a thousand different directions by duties, committees, paperwork and just about everything BESIDES actual teaching. Classroom jobs can help you regain some of that missing time, AND help build community in your classroom.

About John:

John Sifert has been a Spanish teacher in Iowa and Texas for the past 25 years. His focus in the classroom is to provide comprehensible input through stories, novels, and song. He is also passionate about teaching students about life-long skills such as perseverance, respect, and kindness.

John also creates a variety of classroom materials and is the author of La isla más peligrosa, La decisión más peligrosa, Seis nombres, L'isola più pericolosa del mondo, with several other novels in the works.

Sarah Barrientos Svatos | The Stress Free Spanish Teacher (she/hers)
FRESH Ideas of Activities to Do AFTER a Reading!

FRESH ideas for the end of the school year! Discover new & innovative ideas that you may not have tried yet! Elevate your students' learning experience by implementing new approaches that foster their engagement with the content and themes of the CI readings you're using in class. These activities will encourage your language learners to delve deeper into the themes studied and gain a more profound understanding of what they have read in your lessons. 

About Sarah: 

Sarah is a licensed K-12 Spanish teacher known for creating comprehensible texts for middle and high school students. She draws on her experience living and working in three different countries and becoming fluent in four languages through both academic study and immersion. 'The Stress Free Spanish Teacher' can be found in Spain and is currently learning her fifth language.

Jenniffer Whyte - Afro-Latina Teacher
What Do I Do with All These Black History Resources?

Are you bombarded (or don't have enough) Black History resources for your classroom and not sure how to organize them or place them in the correct units? In this presentation you will receive tons of resources in order to incorporate Black History into your Spanish classroom year-round and learn how to categorize them in all your units. 

About Jenniffer: 

Jenniffer Whyte teaches Spanish at The Donoho School for levels 1, 2, and 3 in the high school and teaches Pre-K and Kindergarten Spanish classes at the elementary school. Her keynotes, conference sessions, and conversations are a demand for many world language instructors today. She loves to help teachers incorporate Afro-descendants in their classroom year round. 

Dr. Kami J. Anderson
The Color of Language: Centering Students of Color in the World Language Classroom

Devon and Dr. Kami Anderson have a power-packed conversation around her most recent book, The Color of Language: Centering students of color in the world language classroom.

About Dr. Anderson: 

Dr. Kami Anderson is an interculturalist, scholar & language advocate. She is the founder and CEO of Bilingual Brown Babies, a revolutionary online program for Black families and bilingualism. She’s a passionate life-long teacher and the go-to girl when it comes to language, Blackness and identity. 

Courtney Bonino of Llearning Llama
IPAs Are Not Just for Happy Hour

Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) are based on authentic resources and are used for evaluating student proficiency in the three modes of communication (Interpretive, Presentational, Interpersonal). Learn where to find authentic resources, how to create, administer and grade an IPA! 

About Courtney: 

Courtney Bonino of Llearning Llama is in her 7th year of teaching Spanish. Her experience is mainly as a high school teacher, but she has taught every level from preschool through Spanish 4 Honors. Courtney has a Masters in Foreign Language Teacher. She loves providing teachers with authentic and practical activities to make Spanish class fun! She has a passion for virtual field trips, proficiency based tasks, and incorporating culture in the classroom. 

Joshua Cabral from the World Language Classroom Podcast
Step 1: CI Through Interpretive Reading...then what?

CI novels are not just an understandable story. They provide opportunity to explore culture, history, social justice, art, music, and so much more. 

About Joshua: 

Joshua Cabral has been teaching French and Spanish at the elementary, middle and high school levels for 26 years. He regularly presents workshops on language proficiency and cultural competence at state, regional and national conferences.  Joshua has done extensive graduate work in Applied Linguistics and second language acquisition and consults with schools and districts throughout the USA working toward building and improving proficiency-based programs. Joshua is passionate about access to education and also works closely with schools in Haiti and Nicaragua where he travels to work with teachers and students.  He is also the host of the World Language Classroom Podcast.

Meg Fandel Vernon 
2 Basic CI Upgrades: Circling & TPR 

Refresh and upgrade two comprehensible input skills so you can employ them last-minute or with little planning.
Learn the basic steps for effective integration of these skills AND learn how to "upgrade" these activities into enrichment or extension activities.1) TPR (total physical response) and potent follow up activities 2) Circling: The power of repetition

About Meg: 

Meg teaches Spanish at Merrill Middle School in Des Moines, Iowa. She teaches exclusively with Comprehensible Input and TPRS strategies while embracing an ever-changing need to provide a welcoming, inclusive, supportive classroom. Meg is passionate about all things middle school and regularly educates teachers through conferences, workshops and her mentoring group.

Meg was the 2017 Iowa World Language Teacher of the Year and organizes the Comprehensible Iowa conference as Chair of Presentations and Social Media. Her passion is to support teachers and cultivate effective, joyful classrooms.

Amy Marshall / Zonadeprofes
MASH - The perfect way to create a story in a game format

Creating stories with a class can be very fun, but can also be wild with a class of students yelling ideas, opinions and preferences. Let’s talk about how to conserve energy and engage your students as you weave an epic story with a game that many of us know from childhood: MASH (mansion, apartment, shack, hotel)

About Amy:

Amy Marshall is a dynamic and energetic Spanish teacher who teaches with a variety of techniques that fall under the umbrella of comprehensible input. 

Sarah Melo M.Ed of Melo Math
Enseignants : 1ère à la 5e année - Comment enseigner le vocabulaire des nombres 1 à 100 jusqu’à 900 000

À partir des erreurs comme 13/30/31 ou 44/84, je vais présenter un système logique, étape par étape, afin d'aider les élèves à apprendre le vocabulaire difficile des nombres 1 à 900 000. À l’aide des vidéos d’enseignement et l’explication de la conscience phonologique et de la valeur de position, les élèves peuvent apprendre les nombres 11 à 16, 30, 40, 50, 60 et 60 à 99 avec une progression envers les plus grands nombres.  Ce système peut être utilisé dans n’importe quelle langue et les vidéos sont disponibles en anglais aussi.

About Sarah: 

Sarah Melo (M.Ed) is a French immersion teacher from Manitoba, Canada, a mother, a former math resource teacher and counselor. She has also taught in England, Japan and China. After completing her Master’s degree, Sarah developed Melo Math in both French and English to help parents and educators guide children in math using everyday items. Sarah’s passion is to help children learn the magic of math in French and it all starts with learning the tricky vocabulary of numbers!!! 

Tracy E. Rucker 
Practical Strategies to Build Communicative Proficiency in our Diverse Classrooms

Our unique role as World Language Teachers allows us to promote cultural awareness while helping students develop communicative proficiency skills. Developing students’ social and emotional skills is more important than ever as students engage in online, in-person, and hybrid learning environments. Real meaning rests in the nucleus of the multitude of strategies we use to get students to communicate. Designed with the busy teacher in mind, this presentation explores practical strategies to engage learners as we focus on community and relationships with a myriad of high leverage student-centered activities. 

About Tracy: 

Tracy Rucker incorporates interpersonal communication and global awareness into the classroom through authentic resources and technology. Rucker creates meaning by discussing real-life topics, like body positivity and harassment in schools as skill-building strategies.

Sherry Sebesta - World Language Café
Using Boom Cards to Improve Student Proficiency and Save Your Sanity!

Boom Cards are an amazing way to improve student speaking, listening, and writing skills with minimal effort on your part.  This session will teach you how to use the Boom platform and add self-correcting, digital flashcards with native speaker flashcards to your teacher toolbelt for sub plans, teaching tricky grammar points, and class review.

About Sherry:

Sherry Sebesta is a veteran HS French and Spanish teacher and creator of World Language Café. She blogs about best teaching practices and creates innovative resources to engage students based on her experiences raising her own kids bilingually and watching how they naturally acquire language skills.

Allison Wienhold - Mis Clases Locas
Freshening Up Weekend Chat

Is chatting about the weekend getting stale in your classes? Learn specific ways to give your weekend chat a refresh, while continuing to build a positive classroom community. 

About Allison:

Allison Wienhold of Mis Clases Locas has 10 years of experience as a #deptof1 secondary Spanish teacher. She has a passion for using novels, CI-based stories, music, and movement in a #deskless class. Allison loves to save busy teachers' time!

Elodie Channa | Comprehensible Input ON
Building community through CI

What is more engaging and compelling to students than to talk about themselves? By using activities such as Card Talk and Special Student Interview that center around genuinely getting to know our students, we can build classroom communities all while acquiring in the TL.

About Elodie: 

Elodie Channa is a high school Core French teacher in Ontario, Canada. She is passionate about increasing language acquisition while creating welcoming spaces for students. Her teaching approach revolves around CI and weaving francophone culture. She is one of the two teachers behind the account Comprehensible Input Ontario.

Devon Gunning | La Libre Language Learning (host)
Your Best Unit Ever! 5 Keys to Less Planning, More Culture, and More  Proficiency

The topics and skills don't matter nearly as much as how you organize them. The brain acquires language in a certain pattern. The student brain relates to different ways of living and being in specific ways. Let's finally make your resources WORK FOR YOU instead of you working so hard to find resources that work.

These 5 keys to your best unit ever unlock the magic of great moments in class: deep intercultural connections, more natural proficiency, more opportunities for students to speak and listen, stronger motivation, and a stronger connection with you as the teacher. 

About Devon: 

Welcome to Practical and Comprehensible 2023: REFRESH!

My mission is to help world language teachers discover a practical, teacher-friendly approach to best practice and true community in your classroom: through the power of CI and meaningful social justice resources & PD.

I work with teachers & districts in curriculum work, self care planners, French & Spanish resources, and the Practical Proficiency Network - a PD membership and community to connect you with like-minded, health-conscious and CI focused teachers.  

Allison Litten 
Clip Chat: Next Steps

Using short videos in class is captivating and lends itself to easy personalization. I will show you specific steps that will engage your students and and lead to organic output.

About Allison: 

Allison has been teaching French at the Marion Cross School in Norwich, VT for 20 years, and she lives in neighboring White River Junction. In 2015 her elementary French program expanded so that all students, from kindergarten to sixth grade, now take French. She blogs about her classroom experiences at www.cicanteach.com. Allison grew up in Scituate, MA, and holds a B.A. from Williams College and M.A.s from Middlebury College and the University of Mississippi. In March 2019, she was named Vermont Foreign Language Association Teacher of the Year. She is passionate about working and collaborating with teachers, and she makes it a point to find the best vegan restaurants and most interesting running routes in the various cities to which she travels. At home, she enjoys spending time with her cat, friends, and family; training for obstacle course races; and watching stand-up comedy.

Lauren Monique | Parfaitement bilingue (she/hers)

How I Planned a Month of Lessons... In Less Than 3 Hours
Discover how I planned a month of French lessons in less than 3 hours... and how you can speed up your own planning too!

About Lauren: 

My mission is to help language teachers make their teaching more sustainable so they can feel prepared, enjoy their work and better support their students. I am the creator of Intentional Teaching, a PD program that helps teachers streamline their planning and systems so they can leave their work at school and meet the needs of their struggling learners. 

Rachel Nye | Safe Space Teaching
The Discipline Shift: How to Get Consequences to Stick

In this session, you'll get a 5 step framework for how to shape positive behavior in your classroom by switching up the way we think about discipline. 

About Rachel: 

Rachel is a special education teacher with certifications in elementary education & child and adolescent trauma. She strives to support educators with practical behavior management strategies through online education courses and her Behavior by Design Membership.

Angie Torre of Best PowerPoints and More for Spanish and French
How to Set the Foundation for a Comprehensible Classroom

Many teachers have told me, “I tried using the target language 90-100% but I gave up,” or, “I tried using comprehensible input, but it didn’t work for me.”  Often, teachers struggle because they haven’t set the foundation for use of the TL.  In this session, I’m going to talk about the necessary steps to create an environment that enables the use of the TL and in which CI thrives.

About Angie: 

I am Angie Torre. I taught Spanish & French in CA for 31 years. As a Consulting Teacher, I helped teachers with curriculum development, TPRS strategies, and classroom management.

I teach with an emphasis on comprehensible input. In this workshop, I describe many ways to incorporate CI into a lesson.

Meredith White
There's No Place Like Chrome: Google Chrome for Workflow, Organization, and Comprehensible Planning

As language teachers, we can't focus on being comprehensible and compelling when we can't find resources or get our work done. In this session, Meredith will show and share her favorite uses of Google Chrome to plan for her students, align with her colleagues, and stay organized, calm, and intentional. (Featured extensions shown with examples from the teacher's own classroom: Split Scissors/Glue, Pinterest, Loom, Screencastify, Bitmoji, Clipboard History Pro, YouTube Screenshot, & Mote.) Then, Meredith will show and share her favorite organizational tips for keeping her Chrome browser organized and purposeful: tab groups, resource folders, website folders, "open all", and more. (All resources shown will be shared in real time for attendees editable and free.)

About Meredith: 

Meredith White is a Spanish Teacher and Instructional Technology Coach in Gwinnett County Public Schools, metro Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2019 Peachtree Ridge High School Teacher of the Year and the 2020 Georgia World Language Teacher of the Year.

Erin Coleman, M. Ed. | The Engaged Spanish Classroom
Building Strong Interpretive Assessments with Erin Coleman from the Engaged Spanish Classroom

Do you love proficiency based grading? Whether you feel like an expert or a newbie to this approach, Erin is here to help you build and improve your assessments for the interpretive communicative mode. You will walk away with actionable strategies to enhance the variety and validity in your interpretive assessments!

About Erin: 

Erin has ten years experience teaching high school Spanish in MA. She loves to incorporate games, digital activities, and culture into her classroom and lessons. Erin is passionate about making the switch to proficiency based grading and planning, and she loves sharing as she learns! 

Alexia Cruz, Cruz Connections

“But I’m Not Hispanic”: Creating a Culturally Responsive World Language Classroom Community for Diverse Learners

How can you defeat the question “I’m not Hispanic. Why do I need to learn this?” in a classroom of diverse students? In this session, you will learn some tips and action steps to shifting the disengagement and disconnection in your classroom just in time for the end of the year or your planning session for next year.

About Alexia: 

Hola! My name is Alexia Cruz and I am a Culturally Relevant Curriculum Coach. In my 10 years of teaching Spanish to high populations of students with special needs and English Language Learners, I have helped middle school and high school students navigate through achieving proficiency in Spanish (even if they are not Hispanic) and build real-life application skills using culturally relevant practices.

In the past two years as the CEO of Cruz Connections, I have expanded my scope in coaching humanities high school educators to create culturally relevant curricula for all learners. By coaching educators through differentiation practices and a bird's eye view of their curriculum, they have been able to amplify student voice and choice by providing students agency and a sense of belonging in their classrooms.

Bryce Hedstrom| BryceHedstrom.com
New Language, New Setting: What I’ve Learned Teaching a New Language

I had three months to learn Latin before I started teaching it. In this session I’ll explain what I’ve re-learned and learned about communicative language teaching along the way.

About Bryce: 

Bryce has taught elementary to college level students for more than 30 years. He now teaches and coaches teachers full time. His teaching emphasizes proficiency and includes storytelling, authentic culture, reading, music, student engagement… and plenty of laughter.

Maria Jernigan of Redshift Education

I flat-out STOPPED preparing for school. 😯 Here’s what happened.

It's wild, I know. Some may even say, stupid. But for a whole year, I ONLY thought ahead about each Spanish class (levels 1-6) in the 15 to 30 minutes before class started. And guess what? It was the best year, with the best results, that I've EVER taught. Join me, Maria Jernigan of Redshift Education, to learn how you can STOP making endless documents -- and START listening to your students instead.

About Maria: 

Maria Jernigan teaches high school Spanish and is the Founder & CEO of Redshift Education -- the indie game studio that creates immersive, quest-based video games for students learning Spanish. In Redshift Education's immersive worlds, students speak aloud to work together and solve real-problems using the target language. How neat is that?!

Meanwhile, in the classroom, Maria teaches 100% in the target language and with project-based learning (PBL), laser focused on getting students comfortable using the language. Check out youtube.com/MariaJernigan for her free content on 100% TL teaching + PBL for language classes... in a way that actually SAVES you time instead of eating it!

Diane Neubauer, PhD
Finishing the Year Well: Units Based on Films & the Original MovieTalk Format

Using full-length films in the original MovieTalk approach, in which each scene is shown twice, can fill teachers' need for structure & lower prep time, and students' desire for something fresh & new. I'll demonstrate how to minimize prep to choose a film, prepare for class, and how to extend the unit to include reading and assessment. Ideas are based on Ashley Hastings' original MovieTalk approach.

About Diane: 

Diane has been a Chinese language teacher since 2007 & finished her PhD in 2022 (Foreign Language & ESL Education, U of Iowa). She is especially interested in how language teachers can facilitate students’ comprehension of target language, engagement in classroom learning, & development of intercultural competence. 

Tia Parnell from Parfaitement Parnell
Building Community Through Project-Based Learning

In this presentation, we will explore how project-based learning can be designed to include real-world problems and activities so our students can collaborate and learn problem-solving strategies together. Building a connection between peers not only facilitates learning but also strengthens student confidence by creating an environment that encourages collaboration and support.

About Tia: 

Tia is an elementary French Immersion teacher from Ontario, Canada. She is also the owner of Parfaitement Parnell, a small business where she creates modern & engaging resources for French teachers and parents. 

Ben Powell, Modern Foreign Languages Teacher from England
Is Your Input REALLY Comprehensible? How to Easily Use Metacognition to Fully Unlock the Learning Process for all Students

Do your students know what and why you are teaching them? Metacognition is the super simple and highly effective teaching hack that will change the way students approach their learning.

About Ben: 

Ben is from England and is a qualified teacher of modern languages with a master's degree in education who teaches in state secondary schools. He currently teaches French and German from beginners to A Level (pre-university qualification), but has also taught Chinese and English as a foreign language. He is interested in the techniques behind effective and engaging language acquisition and loves talking about pedagogy and sharing ideas with colleagues. 

Sierra Wessels | Profe Sierra (she/hers/ella)
Refresh Novel Reading with Literature Circles

Using leveled, comprehensible readers in world language classes is a tried and true method for comprehensible input. However, if you're looking for a new, fresh, fun, and differentiated way to teach novels in your classes-- look no further! You should try using literature circles! Sierra will be talking about THREE different and unique ways to teach novels using literature circles that she has used in her own classes with both novice and intermediate language learners.

About Sierra: 

Sierra Wessels (Profe Sierra) is a second-generation Spanish teacher in central Iowa who is presently teaching Spanish 1 and Spanish 3 on 90 min blocks in a department of two. In 2019, she had the opportunity to student teach with Allison Wienhold of Mis Clases Locas and during that experience saw firsthand the power of acquisition driven instruction and comprehensible input methods and she’s never looked back. Now, she shares her journey as a newer teacher on her blog and social media where you can see her using comprehensible readers, authentic resources, games, lots of movement, and various CI tools to guide her students on the path of proficiency based language learning.