On November 16 the World Languages Department traveled to Nashville to attend the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) Convention. The teachers participated in workshops, presentations, and sessions from November 17-19. The convention is the largest and broadest of its kind with a focus on World Language pedagogy.
“Our goal for the trip was to spend time together thinking about the curriculum with some of the best and brightest minds in the field of World Languages. The proximity of Nashville to St. Louis was a factor in the decision to support as many teachers as possible to go and experience this unique opportunity to absorb current trends in language teaching,” said Patrick Huewe, the World Languages Department Chair. “Each teacher developed a personalized goal at the beginning of the year to research and there were many opportunities to explore resources to fulfill these goals at the convention.”
The teachers went to many sessions to learn about best practices for assessing and measuring World Language skills and cultural knowledge.
“The ACTFL Convention gave us enough time to sit down with each other and share our common teaching experiences, ideas, and future professional development endeavors, while also allowing for time to get to know each other better across divisions. We are grateful to the MICDS Administration for making this trip possible, and we look forward to implementing the big takeaways in our curriculum and instruction in the coming weeks,” said Huewe.
One of the teachers was selected to be a presenter at the ACTFL Convention this year for the first time. Lily Childs gave a presentation called Going Global: Project Based Learning with Foreign Partners. It was a big accomplishment for Lily to be chosen to present at ACTFL. Congratulations Lily!