CT COLT World Language News Exchange is published three times a year:
Fall/Winter (December)
Spring (April)
Summer (July)
Each issue of the newsletter contains the following major sections:
Advocacy
Personal Perspectives
Methods and Motivation
Themed section
CT COLT News
Organizational News
News from Connecticut Schools
Article Submissions
We welcome any and all articles that deal with any of these topics. Articles should be between 500 and 1,000 words, and in an editable form, Google Docs is preferred. Photos should be sent in the JPG format. Please send/share an electronic copy of your submission to newsletter@ctcolt.org, and be sure to include your full contact information (name, school/district, position, social media handles) and a headshot.
Signe Damdar teaches French at Vernon Center Middle School to excited young learners. A former high school exchange student to France and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Benin she embraces language and cultures and amazing global citizens.
Signe loves cooking international cuisines, traveling with her family, kayaking, and reading picture books.
damdars@ctcolt.org
Melissa Tubbs is a Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Coach at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, CT. A longtime French teacher and proud member of AATF and CT COLT, she was recently chosen for the ACTFL Leadership Initiative for Language Learning Cohort 4, and the AATF 2021 Leadership Academy. She loves gardening, reading and playing with her dogs!
Ruby Banks, Hamden High School I am not Italian, but I have always been interested in the Italian language and culture. I can remember being 8 years old when my mom asked me “Honey, if you could go anywhere in the whole world, where would you go?” I said “Candyland” but my second choice was […]
Milton Alan Turner, Saint Ignatius High School, Cleveland, OH The recent Disney film Encanto tells the story of the Madrigal family whose members often have magical gifts. But there is one member, Bruno, who has apparently deserted the family under secret and shameful circumstances. The popular song We Don’t Talk About Bruno is about the […]
Melissa Tubbs, Artwork Contest Chair When you inherit the organization of a student event as I did with the CT COLT Poster Contest in 2020, you tread lightly and learn all you can for the first year. The Student Events Coordinator, Judith Ojeda, planted the seed about “growing” the contest right away, however, and it […]
Signe Damdar, Vernon Center Middle School Perhaps you’re a teacher of a less-prominent world language in your school and you’re wondering how to increase enrollment in your language classes. Perhaps you’re a teacher who wants to connect with students in a special way outside of the classroom but you lack athletic skill or experience for […]
Karla Rivadeneira, UConn Neag School of Education In order to graduate with my Master’s from UConn, I had to complete an inquiry project. I worked with my fellow CT COLT interns, Kat Santiago-Moltavo and Larry Sacramento, on researching translanguaging as a pedagogy in the classroom. Translanguaging pedagogy is the notion of using ones’ entire linguistic […]
Jill Griswold, Glastonbury Public Schools This February, 7th and 8th grade students at Smith Middle School in Glastonbury partnered with the Pulsera Project to carry out a successful fundraiser to support Central American artisans. The after school club of about 25 dedicated students raised over $2,500, selling nearly 500 colorful, woven bracelets (pulseras) and 3o […]
Samuel Merkatz, Kingswood Oxford A diverse classroom provides a wider array of perspectives, ultimately making learning languages a more fulfilling and educational experience. I have long considered Classics a multifaceted discipline, not just on account of its sprawling curriculum, but also by virtue of its rich history…