Reconnecting to people, practice and purpose:
The CT COLT Professional Learning Series
CT COLT is pleased to offer five workshops for our third CT COLT Professional Learning Series. Each session in this professional learning series will begin with thirty minutes of a live presentation, which will be recorded and available afterwards, followed by an opportunity to connect, network, and chat with other language teachers in small groups. There are five sessions in this series, each with a different presenter and topic, offered from 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. on Thursdays: September 22, December 8, January 12, March 23, May 11. Cost is free for CT COLT Members and $10 for non-CT COLT members, unless noted otherwise.
Workshop #1
Our first workshop in our Reconnecting to people, practice and purpose: CT COLT Professional Learning Series is: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Language Classroom presented by Yensen Sierra Lambert on Thursday, September 22 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. The workshop will begin with thirty minutes of live presentation, which will be recorded and available afterwards. Following Yensen’s address, there will be an opportunity to connect, network, and chat with other language teachers in small groups.
Yensen Sierra Lambert was born in The Dominican Republic and moved to New Jersey with her family as a child. She attended Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where she graduated with a BA in International Studies and Spanish. Yensen's twenty-two-year-old teaching career began in New York City public schools where she taught middle school Spanish. During her time in NYC, she attended Hunter College, where she obtained a Master's Degree in Romance Languages. After NYC, she taught in Florida and Georgia, where she served as department chair of an international boarding school. Over the last twelve years, Yensen has taught every level of Spanish, including AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature. She has also served as an AP Reader, and a College Board Consultant, and has been recently appointed to the AP Spanish Language Development Committee. In addition to her teaching experience, Yensen is a published author of AP prep book and is currently working on the teachers' edition of a proficiency-based Spanish book series. In addition to teaching, she enjoys reading, running, and weekly trivia nights with colleagues.
Workshop #2
Our second workshop in our Reconnecting to people, practice and purpose: CT COLT Professional Learning Series is: My name has an accent mark, and so do I: Understanding and empowering our Heritage Language Learners presented by Dr. Celia Chomón Zamora on Thursday, December 8, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. The workshop will begin with thirty minutes of live presentation, which will be recorded and available afterwards. Following Dr. Zamora’s address, there will be an opportunity to connect, network, and chat with other language teachers in small groups.
Dr. Celia Chomón Zamora currently serves as ACTFL’s Director of Professional Learning and Certification. Dr. Zamora has served the language education community since 2005, where she has worked as a K-12 language teacher and administrator in public and private school settings, a postsecondary language program instructor, assistant director, Quality Assurance Senior
Manager, and researcher. The daughter of first-generation immigrants from Venezuela and Cuba, Dr. Zamora is a passionate advocate of heritage language learners. She currently serves as a scholar for the Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP). Dr. Zamora completed her doctoral degree in Spanish Applied Linguistics from Georgetown University, where she was awarded the Harold N. Glassman Distinguished Dissertation Award in the social sciences. At ACTFL, she is currently focusing on providing a platform to amplify the voices of underrepresented language learning communities, developing resources and communities of support for less commonly taught and Indigenous languages, and continuing to advocate and support heritage language learners and teachers.
Workshop #3
Join us for the third event of our 2022-2023 Professional Learning Series! We are thrilled to have Jessica Haxhi, the Supervisor of World Languages for New Haven Public Schools in Connecticut. She was ACTFL President in 2021 and is a past President of AATJ. She served on the NECTFL Board from 2006-2010, the ACTFL-NCSSFL Can-Do Statements Committee, and the CT COLT Board. Previously, Jessica taught Japanese for 20 years and taught world language methods at local universities in CT. During this workshop Jessica will share her wealth of knowledge about the best practices that are joyful for both students and teachers. The workshop will begin with thirty minutes of live presentation, which will be recorded and available afterwards. Following the presentation there will be an opportunity to connect with the presenter as well as other participants.
Japanese home organizer Marie Kondo talks about how to determine whether to keep an object based on whether it "sparks joy." Let's apply this concept as we consider which practices spark joy for us and our students as we reconnect back to our classrooms and rediscover our purpose this year. We'll also discuss which practices might deserve a thank you and "sayonara" based on what we have learned.
Workshop #4
The fourth installment of our Reconnecting to people, practice and purpose: CT COLT Professional Learning Series is: Creating a Communication - Focused Classroom presented by Heather Sweetser on Thursday, March 23rd, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. The workshop will begin with 30-40 minutes of live presentation, which will be recorded and available afterwards. Following the presentation there will be an opportunity to connect, network, and chat with other language teachers in small groups.
Workshop Description
ACTFL’s 2022 Language Teacher of the Year, Heather Sweetser received her M.A. in Arabic at Ohio State in 2012. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, she joined the Army in 1998 and learned Arabic at the Defense Language Institute, becoming an Arabic interpreter. Experiences with languages in the U.S. Government inspired her to become a language instructor focusing on intercultural competence as a core part of language fluency. Currently Heather teaches beginning through advanced Arabic at The University of New Mexico, and is one of the co-creators of the wecanlearnarabic.com website.
Workshop #5
Our final workshop in our Reconnecting to people, practice and purpose: CT COLT Professional Learning Series is: Why are we even doing this?! presented by Mike Travers on Thursday, May 11th, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. The workshop will begin with 30-40 minutes of live presentation, which will be recorded and available afterwards. Following the presentation there will be an opportunity to connect, network, and chat with other language teachers in small groups.
Workshop Description
Mike is a Spanish teacher at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts and has taught learners both Spanish and French at the novice and intermediate levels. Mike is very active in professional learning communities through MAFLA, NECTFL, and ACTFL, where he presents, facilitates or participates in conferences and workshops to continue learning more about proficiency-based teaching. He has presented on the topics of grammar, curriculum writing and language learning and the brain. Apart from conferences, Mike is the vice president of MAFLA, a member of the NECTFL advisory board and has collaborated with districts and teachers across the country on different curricular projects.