Claudia Elliott | Growing with Proficiency 

PRESENTATION:

Planning a Sustainable Year in the World Language Classroom: Five Steps to Set the Foundation

Session Description:

Planning the school year can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. In this session, teachers will learn how to design a sustainable, acquisition-driven year that supports both student growth and teacher well-being. Grounded in key principles of second language acquisition, we’ll explore why comprehensible input should guide our planning and how to center communication from the start.
Participants will walk through five practical steps: mapping the year with intention, identifying communicative anchors, reusing what works, filling gaps strategically, and simplifying to avoid burnout. You’ll see how to build units around meaningful communication using stories, songs, and other rich input while maintaining flexibility throughout the year.
Teachers will leave with a clear planning framework, actionable strategies, and a vision for a year that prioritizes connection, communication, and sustainability.

About Claudia:

Claudia Elliott is a Spanish teacher originally from Colombia, now living and teaching in the United States. With a teaching career that began in 2005, Claudia has taught all levels of Spanish, including AP and IB. Claudia has transformed her teaching practices from a traditional approach to one that is comprehensible, communicative, and community-driven.
Claudia has shared her ideas and experiences with world language educators at various forums and conferences. She was honored as the 2021-2022 FFLA (Florida Foreign Language Association) Teacher of the Year and the 2022 SCOLT (Southern Conference of Language Teaching) Teacher of the Year.
Claudia is also the host of "Growing With Proficiency The Podcast" and the founder of "Growing With Proficiency The Spanish Teacher Academy," where she helps world language teachers create engaging, comprehensible, and communicative-driven classes.
 

What does community to you? 

Community means creating a safe place where everyone feels seen and heard.  Community is what keeps us connected and willing to take risks and learn.

Sophie Forker 

PRESENTATION: 

 Teacher to teacher support - how to collaborate with teachers with different teaching styles

Description:

In this interview, Sophie talks about how to work with colleagues with different styles, especially those who are not acquisition-driven. She discusses ways to find common ground, collaborate, and learn from colleagues with all language philosophies in mind. 

About Sophie: 

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.

What does community mean to you? 

 Community is showing up as my authentic self with students and building relationships with them. I love to see students making new friends in my class and how the group comes together during class, even if they aren't all best friends outside of class time.

Jocelynn Hubbard | Custom Teaching Solutions (she/her)
 

PRESENTATION:

The Intersectional Ecosystem: Building a Community Where No One Has to Hide

Session Description:

 A healthy classroom is a living ecosystem, yet teachers often carry the entire workload, leading to burnout. This session reframes classroom community by applying an intersectional lens to the students sitting right in front of us. By acknowledging the unique, overlapping identities of our learners—from the anxious high-achiever to the neurodivergent heritage speaker—we can build proficiency-oriented systems rooted in student agency rather than teacher-led compliance. We will explore sustainable systems that maintain relationships and protect teacher energy, allowing you to lead a community where every student (and teacher) can show up as their full self.

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.

What does community to you? 

 For me, community this year means creating a classroom ecosystem where no one feels like they have to hide parts of themselves in order to belong; students or teachers. I want students to feel safe taking risks, making mistakes, participating authentically, and showing up fully as themselves.

Courtney Nygaard | Heritage Spanish

PRESENTATION: How to Start a Heritage Language Program at your School

Session Description: 

Learn in detail how to propose a heritage program for your school. 

About Courtney:

Courtney is the founder of the Ascendencia curriculum for high school heritage Spanish and the Linaje curriculum for middle school heritage Spanish. Courtney’s primary focus is on engaging students in learning through content-based instruction. She believes in empowering her students to become their best selves and that the best learning takes place when students are hooked on a topic that directly relates to their life experiences.

 What does community mean to you?

This year community in the classroom looks like working toward shared goals, inside jokes, and class celebrations.

Andrea Setter-San Miguel, M.A. Ed. | Bacán for Teachers
Middle School Spanish Teacher

PRESENTATION: 

More Than “Native Speaker”: Reframing Identity, Power, and Belonging in the Language Classroom

Session Description: 

 What messages - subtle or explicit - are we sending about who is “good” at language?
In many classrooms, certain identities are centered while others are quietly minimized. Heritage speakers feel unsure of their legitimacy. Multilingual students downplay their accents. “Native speaker” becomes the gold standard and everyone else feels slightly less than.
Community cannot thrive where hierarchy lives.
In this session, I will unpack how language classrooms can unintentionally reproduce linguistic power structures and how we can disrupt them.
As a multilingual educator navigating both Latin American and U.S. educational spaces, I’ll share how I intentionally:
-Redefine what proficiency and legitimacy look like
-Validate heritage speakers without isolating them
-Normalize diverse accents and linguistic journeys
-Shift classroom language away from deficit thinking
-Build a culture where multilingualism is power
Participants will leave with concrete language shifts, classroom protocols, and reflection tools that cultivate belonging while maintaining high expectations.
Because when students see their identity as an asset -not a liability - community becomes real. 

About Andrea: 

I’m Andrea, a native Spanish speaker and veteran language educator with over 15 years of experience in bringing confidence, connection, and joy into the Spanish classroom. I specialize in proficiency-based teaching that prioritizes authentic communication and student engagement — the kind of learning that sticks and lights up a room.

Through Bacán for Teachers, I support educators with ready-to-use, culturally responsive resources designed to make teaching more joyful and meaningful. My goal is to help teachers reconnect with their passion and create language classrooms full of laughter, growth, and genuine communication."

What does community mean to you? 

To me, community this year means building an academic family where trust comes first. It’s about creating a safe space where students feel brave enough to take risks with Spanish, knowing that every mistake is supported by their peers as we build a bridge toward new cultures together.

Angie Torre | Angie Torre French and Spanish 

PRESENTATION: Tips for Teaching AP Spanish and Explanation of New Exam Changes

Session Description: 

In this session, I will share some strategies for teaching AP Spanish Language and Culture that helped my students pass the AP exam. During the five years I taught it, all but one of my students passed the test. I’ll cover the following: how to help students master the listening section and the argumentative essay, two areas that students struggle with the most, and how to teach native and. Heritage speakers. I’ll also explain the changes to the exam and how to teach those new tasks, or at least what I’ve learned so far.

About Angie: 

"With over 30 years of experience teaching Spanish (Levels I–AP) and French (Levels I–IV), I’ve dedicated my career to helping students not only become fluent but also articulate in the target language. During my 5 years teaching AP Spanish Language and Culture, all but one of my students passed the exam—an achievement I’m incredibly proud of.
My passion for sharing knowledge extends to my blog, where I connect with over 10,000 monthly readers. I offer practical teaching tips, innovative solutions to classroom challenges, comprehensible input strategies, TPRS tutorials, and tech integration ideas.
At the heart of my teaching philosophy lies the balance between comprehensible input and explicit grammar instruction. I believe students acquire language through exposure to meaningful content but also need structured grammar lessons to communicate clearly and effectively. My resources—ranging from textbooks and lesson plans to PowerPoints & digital activities—blend these approaches seamlessly, ensuring both engagement and academic rigor." 

What does community mean to you? 

 Teaching is an interactive process in which both students and teachers learn from one another. By regularly placing students in pairs, groups, and teams, I help foster a sense of belonging in the classroom. When students feel connected, they enjoy learning more and acquire language more quickly.

Premium Presentation - All-Access Pass only

 LIVE SESSION

John Sifert, Padre de cinco Resources

JULY 14 1:30-2:30pm EST 

Create a Free Voluntary Reading Program that Works!

About John:

"John Sifert has been a Spanish teacher in Iowa for the past 28 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, CI Midwest, 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, El secreto más peligroso, Seis nombres, L'isola più pericolosa del mondo, with several other novels in the works. You can find all his ideas and materials at padredecinco.com

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.

What does community mean to you? 

 Community is putting unity before units, empathy before exams, and connections before curriculum.

Courtney Bonino | Llearning Llama
PRESENTATION: 5 Student Voice Routines That Turn Warm-Ups into Community

Session Description:

Learn five simple student voice routines that turn warm-ups into moments of connection, culture, and classroom community. This session will share practical ideas for using quick votes, brackets, gallery walks, research posters, and pulse checks to help students feel seen, heard, and invested from the first five minutes of class.

About Courtney: 

Courtney Bonino of Llearning Llama has been teaching and creating Spanish resources for 9 years. 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. 

What does community mean to you? 

Community means that all students feel seen and heard. Everyone works together in a shared space to learn as a team and support one another through language learning. 

Alexis Blum  

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Routines to Keep You Sane

 Session Description: 

Routines to keep you sane as a teacher with multiple preps. We'll talk about the Rocks: steadfast, solid points in your routine to keep boundaries and balance in your classroom. Next, we'll talk Paper: activities that we collect to assess, check, and provide feedback to our students. Finally, Scissors: what can we cut, shape or change to run a smoother, more relaxed classroom?

About Alexis:

"Alexis Blum is a Spanish teacher in rural Ohio. She has been teaching for 12 years in which she has taught all levels of Spanish, was a department of one, and now works with a department of three languages. She is a trained ADI Coach, and has coached at national conferences like the CI Summit and Fluency Matters Conference by Wayside Publishing. Alexis currently serves as the Professional Development Chair for the Ohio World Language Association. She is an active presenter at state and regional conferences. She is passionate about finding joy in the everyday aspects of the classroom and making lasting connections with students. Inspired by her own experiences as a high school student, Alexis strives to share the beauty of other cultures and perspectives with her students. She also leads a student travel program, having led five student tours abroad to Spain, France, and England. She loves to travel and see her students experience a new culture.

In her free time, Alexis likes to read and spend time with her family. She loves to travel and try new adventures. She is married with one daughter and a goldendoodle. A fun fact about Alexis - she is an identical twin! "

What does community mean to you? 

Classroom community is vital to lower the affective filter and creating an environment where students are willing to take risks in their learning! I want my classroom to be a space where everyone WANTS to be every single day, and that's what a solid, positive community means to me.

Devon Gunning | La Libre Language Learning 

PRESENTATION: Let CI Do the Work: Community through Conversation in 5 Mins/day

In world language, communication should be the focus. But it's often put on the backburner with the amount of work it takes to be a teacher and support your students. In this presentation, see how focusing on conversation can actually reduce your workload! I'll show you the why, how to get set up, what 5 things you need to be successful, and how to maintain the routine throughout the year. You'll leave equipped with a daily conversation practice that reduces friction and serves as the foundation of relationships in your classroom.

About Devon: 

Welcome to Practical and Comprehensible 2026: COMMUNITY!

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've hosted this conference 7 times, and it's my favorite part of the year to host you. Thank you for being here! 

What does community mean to you? 

Community means that the students and teacher have ownership, are invested in the group's success, the classroom is fairly self-regulating, and we have a ton of fun while doing meaningful work. It's a tiny, awesome version of what the world could look like. 

Bryce Hedstrom | Hedstrom Language Resources

PRESENTATION: Creating Community with Special Person Interviews

Description:

Bryce is the creator of the Special Person Interview, a favorite activity amongst world language teachers. See how to get started, how to create community entirely in the target language by interviewing students, and how to make sure the routine always stays fresh. 

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.

What does community mean to you? 

1. Mutual respect 
2. Feeling listened to
3. Noticing one another

Courtney Jackson of Profe Zulita

Maureen Lamb, Language Tech Tools

Amy Marshall | Zona de Profes

The Power of Pause: Micro-Moments That Maximize Comprehension

Description: 

 Amy will show you how pauses and strategic silence aid in comprehension and class cohesion. 

 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. 

What does community mean to you? 

 Community in my classroom means creating a safe, supportive space where students feel valued and connected. Through shared experiences, laughter, and communication, we build relationships that encourage risk-taking, growth, and success together.

Dr. Lake Mathison

PRESENTATION:  #ThrowbackThursday: Building strong school/class community 

Why should you incorporate #ThrowbackThursday into your class routine? Originally a social media trend, grounding discussion in stories and photos from staff and students builds relationships and makes connections not just between you and your students, but students with each other and the whole school community! This session includes multiple ways to frame class discussion plus expansion ideas to target a variety of grammar points and vocab themes. This is the activity that gets my students excited and saying "Ooh yay, it's #ThrowbackThursday, this is my favorite day of the week!"

About Lake: 

Dr. Lake Mathison teaches high school Spanish as a department of one in rural Minnesota. This is her third year ungrading, and it continues to be a work in progress. 

What does community mean to you? 

 Community is creating a web of connections, inside the classroom teacher-to-student and student-to-student, but also casting that net beyond the room to the broader school population of staff and students. It's creating a space where students experience feeling seen and seeing others.

Allison Wienhold - Mis Clases Locas
 

PRESENTATION: Positive Classroom Community from Day 0 

This session focuses on positive class community-building activities in your World Language classes from the first day of school. How to set yourself up for success to build a positive classroom community before school starts, week one, and routines to sustain all year long. Specific examples of how to build, maintain, and sustain a positive classroom community this school year.

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!

Pav Dhadwal | FLE Avec Mme D 
PRESENTATION: Teaching the Whole Student: SEL in the French Classroom

Description:

I am sharing 5-10 SEL activities for French class, each with a different purpose. Some will be quick activities you can implement, and others will help tackle some of the common challenges we're encountering in our high schools in this age.

About Pav: 

Pav has been teaching high school Core French in British Columbia for over a decade and is the creator behind FLE avec MmeD. She is deeply committed to equity and justice in French language education and is passionate about creating meaningful change within the field. Pav believes in teaching French through culture, helping students connect with the language in authentic, engaging, and inclusive ways.

What does community mean to you? 

 To me, community means accountability, connection, safety, acceptance, belonging, and celebration. A true classroom community must intentionally foster all of these elements; otherwise, it falls short of what students truly need in order to learn, grow, and feel supported.

Lynne Hendrick

PRESENTATION: Building a Community of Collaborators: How to be a leader and collaborator in your school, district, and region

Join Lynne to see how you can draw from the teacher community around you to rejuvenate your practice. You'll walk away with concrete ideas on how to become a leader in your area and how to benefit from becoming a collaborator.  

About Lynne: 

Lynne Hendrick is a German teacher with 20+ years of experience in public schools.  Lynne discovered comprehension-based instruction about 10 years ago and has been on a journey of learning and growing ever since.  She teaches all levels of German plus Adapted World Language and Culture (a course designed for students with moderate to severe disabilities). Lynne enjoys collaborating and mentoring teachers and has presented at regional, state and local conferences and has led professional development classes for world language teachers in her district.  In addition to these opportunities, she has teamed up with Maris Hawkins for the past 9 years to organize and host an Edcamp-style, one-day conference for teachers in and around Virginia. In her free time, Lynne enjoys baking, reading, and spending time with her family.

What does Community mean to you? 

Community is the place I go for new ideas and renewed energy, but also for rest and support. My community is the teachers I have chosen to surround me and from whom I have learned and gathered strength.  Community is how I stay sane and how I grow as a teacher and a person. Community is everything! 

Sierra Wessels | Profe Sierra

PRESENTATION: Watch and Learn: Bringing Language to Life with TV Shows

 Description: 

My step-by-step guide on how to choose, show, and comprehensify an authentic tv show with my intermediate level students and the benefits of community, common pop references, and being able to circle structures from other units alongside my year long tv show units.

About Sierra: 

Sierra Wessels is a second-generation Spanish teacher that loves sharing her life, experiences, and learning as a language teacher using acquisition driven instruction and comprehensible input approaches on her Instagram and blog as Profe Sierra. You’ll see that she puts an emphasis on connection over curriculum focusing on using resources and methods tied to music, authentic tv shows, and leveled novels to help keep her students engaged and acquiring new language. While she has taught everything from 6th grade -Spanish IV over the last 7 years she has found her passion in working with intermediate level students and loves helping other teachers do the same.

What does community mean to you? 

 Community in my classroom means building genuine connections where we feel comfortable learning and making mistakes together. It’s filled with laughter, shared interests, and encouragement, helping us grow in language skills while becoming kinder, better people.

Diane Neubauer, PhD

PRESENTATION: Community-Building Target Language Interaction with Novice Learners 

Session Description:

Interacting with novice learners through the target language *in ways they can understand and care about* is a core passion of mine as a language teacher. I will share 3 go-to instructional activities and specific techniques for teachers to interact through the target language with their students. These strategies allow even novice level students to share their imagination, opinions, and experiences even before they are ready to speak at length in the target language. Working with students in these ways affirms their identities and sustains classroom community across a variety of instructional strategies. 

About Diane: 

Diane Neubauer, 杜雁子, taught Mandarin Chinese for 10 years in elementary, middle, and high schools before completing her PhD in Foreign Language and ESL Education at the University of Iowa in 2022. She is Clinical Assistant Professor of Multilingual Education at the University of Louisville, teaches Chinese online, and facilitates language teacher training. She is especially interested in how language teachers can facilitate students’ comprehension of target language, engagement in classroom learning, & development of intercultural competence. She has a podcast with Reed Riggs, Conversations about Language Teaching. Check her YouTube channel for language learning, sometimes featuring her flock of backyard chickens!

What does community mean to you? 

Community means in the classroom, we know and learn to care for each other. It also means going beyond the classroom to joining the community of language users we join when we add an additional language. 

Pamela Parks, "Madame Sensei"

PRESENTATION: Using Minecraft Education for Collaborative Projects

Description:

I teach Spanish, French, Japanese, and English in a tiny little portable. My classes are 32-39 students, and I want them to work collaboratively. It is too hard for me to say, “Hey class! We are playing store today!” and then set up a bunch of painted refrigerator boxes, only to have to take them down in a hurry before the next class walks in. With Minecraft Education, I have taken my French students undersea to meet Jacques-Yves Cousteau and help him observe the glow squid in its natural habitat, I have taken my Spanish students on an escape room adventure to help La Matadragones slay the dragon and win the heart of the prince, and my Japanese students learn the rules of the Japanese garden and then have to demonstrate that they understood by creating their own authentic garden. And of course, it’s easy to get students navigating a Minecraft airport, load them on a Minecraft plane, and take them on a virtual field trip to Paris or Buenos Aires… To be successful, students have to speak to each other in the target language for the entire hour and twenty minutes of class, even the first-year students. They can do it if I lay the groundwork correctly.

 About Pamela: 

My name is Pamela Parks, but my students call me "Madame Sensei." I teach French, Spanish, and Japanese to highschoolers in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. (Plus I had to cram more than 30 students into each of my classes so that I could take on an ELA class this year... Talk about whiplash...) I decided long ago that I dislike grading long exams, and what I really want to do is the fun stuff. So I moved to a game-based and project-based curriculum. I find that I get more authentic language production that way -- Students aren't worried about the sounds coming out of their mouth, they just want to win the game. Affective Filter lowered, students are 100% engaged, and I enjoy myself, too. It's a win-win-win.

What does community mean to you? 

 Community means every student builds each other up.  It is so important to keep the Affective Filter low for  students -- that little voice inside your head that says, "I can't do this.  I'll sound stupid if I talk out loud.  Everyone will laugh at me."  Community means students support each other.