Devon & PopSuite by Longtail Education 
From Concept to Creation: The Making of Tech Tools That Put Educators First

Hot take: a classroom tech tool isn't helpful if you need training just to use it. You shouldn't need to manage 13 different apps that don't communicate with each other to run your classroom. And you actually don't have to settle for searching through giant libraries of disorganized flashcard lessons created by other users. *Shock face* Your tech tools should actually put you first and help you teach exactly the way you want to teach! Join host Devon and Zoë Burge of Longtail Education as we get real off-the-cuff about busting misconceptions about tech tools in the classroom and put TEACHERS back into the conversation about meaningful tools to get to the student outcomes you're looking for. Whether you LOVE tech or you HATE tech, this presentation is for you. You'll walk away with a transformative shift that tech should work for YOU - not the other way around. 

About PopSuite by Longtail Education:

We’re an edtech company fueled by a team of content creators, educators, developers, and designers who are passionate about supporting the educators fueling the future of learning.

We’re dedicated to helping students succeed and teachers win. This commitment led us to develop a powerful suite of digital tools designed to take classroom learning to the next level.

 We work closely with Devon to create a suite of curriculum and tech resources to unlock the acquisition-driven classroom experience that both teachers and students deserve. Our teacher-driven tools take all the content creation out of curriculum and put mastery front and center. We're excited to get to know more about you this conference in partnership with Devon. 

Allison Wienhold - Mis Clases Locas
Supportive Speaking Activities

Celebrate students speaking with activities that support conversation. Leave with engaging and differentiated speaking activities for any World Language class

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!

Profesora Delgadillo

CELEBRATE Output with Hexagonal Thinking!

How can language teachers creatively assess and support learners’ output? Examples of how language teachers can integrate hexagonal thinking strategies confidently to engage and elevate target language usage & processing will be shared and explained. Experience what the process of hexagonal thinking can look like in a language class and walk away with ideas to get started. 

About Profesora Delgadillo: 

Bertha Delgadillo, NBCT is a HS Spanish teacher in Savannah, GA. Originally from Tampico, Tamaulipas, México, she empowers world language teachers through sharing effective engagement & student agency strategies to create a joyful and impactful learning experience. In 2023, Bertha was the Georgia World Language TOTY.

Joshua Cabral 
Sorry (not sorry), But Your Students WILL Keep Asking to Do These Activities

Learn 10 activities that can be easily adapted to any language or level. Fill your teacher toolbox with ways for students to engage enthusiastically and authentically with the target language in all modes.

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.

Timothy Chávez
Languages as Lenses: Designing Thematic Units for Cultural Insights and Social Justice

Learn how to carefully design thematic units -- not to be confused with topical units -- at all levels! This session will focus largely on how the use of thematic units can help students develop cultural perspectives, particularly through a lens of social justice.

About Timothy:

Timothy is in year 9 of teaching Spanish and is a researcher by nature who adores reading about language acquisition and then putting that research into practice by developing his own, unique tasks for students. He is also a queer educator whose goal is to always find ways to incorporate the identities of marginalized groups into his curricula and lessons.

Courtney Bonino | Llearning Llama
ARTful Lesson Planning: 12 Simple Lessons for Any Art Unit

Get 12 practical and authentic art lessons that you can implement in your art unit this year! From becoming an artist to being a tour guide to analyzing artwork with your 5 senses, you’ll leave this presentation with tons of outside-the-box lessons!

About Courtney: 

Courtney Bonino of Llearning Llama is in her 8th 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.

John Sifert, Padre de cinco Resources
Calendar Talk is WAY More Than Just Calendars!

Calendar Talk is a beginning of class routine to get student's minds engaged in the target language. It may involve basic concepts such as the date, weather, and temperature, but it can go well beyond these ideas. John Sifert will share how he uses Calendar Talk to link language to students' lives and interests in order to jumpstart the beginning of class. This session will be in English, with examples in Spanish, but relevant to all languages.

About John:

John Sifert has been a Spanish teacher in Iowa and Texas for the past 26 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 has presented at ACTFL, Practical and Comprehensible, IWLA, CI Iowa, KSWLA, Comprehended!, Conference in the Cloud, Growing with Proficiency, and CI Reboot.

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.

Nothing is more important than family, so when not focused on language acquisition, John spends all his free time with his wife and 5 children in the tiny, (but amazing) town of Belmond, Iowa.

"World language teachers teach the world more than language."

Ben Tinsley | AfroFranco
Cultivating Global Literacy: Comprehensible Folktales in the Modern Language Classroom

About Ben: 

A teacher of almost 2 decades and a lifelong student, Ben has dedicated his professional and personal life to the pursuit of substantive diversity, equity, and belonging in education. In the classroom, he has had the opportunity to work with teachers and schools around the world to develop curricula that center Black Indigenous Communities of Color and other historically marginalized peoples.

Ben’s recent work has focused primarily on leveraging language acquisition and language education toward developing global literacy and 21st-century competencies.

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Sherry Sebesta - World Language Café
LIVE: Ideas to Get Students Speaking More Target Language in Class 

3-4 pm EST July 31 

What is the single most important thing that you can do to help your students communicate more effectively this year?  Get them speaking more in the target language!  In this presentation, you'll learn simple tips and tricks to get your students speaking more target language which will dramatically improve their language skills.

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.