A conversation with Carolina Gieczewski was exactly the reset that I needed! Carolina is one of the best teachers in West Hartford and there are several reasons why, but the most impactful reason is her purpose for students. Originally from Argentina, Carolina loves who she is, her culture and language, and feels grateful to be […]

French teachers across the country who’d completed a challenging 2020-2021 school year were still quite eager to add to their pedagogical and cultural knowledge bases. Indeed, an impressive number of workshops were planned for the annual American Association of Teachers of French  2021 convention, scheduled this year in New Orleans.  However, because of Covid restrictions, […]

My primary educational experience can be divided into two experiences. From the age of five through eleven, I was a student in the California education system. I was placed in an ELL program as soon as I joined first grade because I had learned Spanish at home and stayed in the program until I was […]

Wow, there are a LOT of acronyms in my author title for this article. For clarification, my name is Melissa, and I am the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers nominee for the Leadership Initiative for Language Learning, an annual cohort of emerging educational leaders in world language learning organized by ACTFL. (I think I can […]

Since elementary school, I have been exposed to some level of foreign language education, not to mention the exposure within my own household to Latin American culture through my Chilean mom. As an infant I was surrounded by the beautiful phonetics of the language, through lullabies and stories, terms of endearment and words of warning. […]

Spanish students and alumni of Branford High School volunteered their time throughout the summer of 2021 to design web pages using HTML and WordPress for UConn’s El Instituto: Institute of Latino/a, Caribbean and Latin American Studies. These students had successfully completed the UConn ECE Latin American Studies course .

The two got their start in Glastonbury under the strong and passionate leadership of Christy Brown and Rita Olesak. Meghan acknowledged that they owe a lot of credit to Glastonbury. “We grew up in a culture of collaboration and high standards. We were allowed to take risks with the goal of improving language learning for […]

Last July, AATSP held its national conference in Atlanta, Georgia: Celebrando la diversidad: El español y el portugués/Celebrando a diversidade: O espanhol e o português. I was eager to attend, disappointed that I hadn’t been able to present at the 2020 conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and eager to engage with colleagues from across […]

The first idea that comes to mind when thinking about learner ownership of learning probably goes something like this: the learner oversees their own process of learning. And that would be a correct way to start thinking about this concept. However, there is much more to it that meets the eye. Most people – educators […]

On Friday, November 5, 2021, in honor of the AATF’s National French Week, West Haven High School celebrated with a French lunch in the cafeteria.  As students entered the cafeteria, French teacher Madame Gina Reichert had French bistro music playing, and was poised to serve students dessert, along with help from a few French students […]

ACTFL’s annual meeting included a strong showing of advocacy-related discussions and panels. From language teacher recruitment and retention to best practices in strengthening programs in less commonly taught languages, these presentations accurately reflected the multi-faceted nature of advocacy for our profession.

The COVID pandemic has caused significant disruption and I have noticed some reluctance in interaction among students within our school community.  To help bridge the gap and bring a sense of normalcy, I believe that emphasizing Communities from the World Readiness Standards can help our students become more excited to use the target language and […]

I feel so very fortunate this year. After three years in my current K-4 position, I was able to move off a cart and into a partial classroom. “Partial” because the back third of the room is still used for general school storage. Even so, I am thrilled to have my own space. Also new […]

The summer of 2021 seems so distant yet so many of the takeaways from the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL) Summer Summit shine bright.  For me, it was a time for planting instructional seeds and networking with colleagues.  It was also a reminder to me of how lucky we are as World Language […]

What a year it’s been! While writing this letter, I could not decide what would be most helpful for our membership and community. Inspiration? Support? CT COLT updates? Important research? In the spirit of differentiating and meeting your social and emotional needs, I invite you to read only the squares that are most helpful or […]