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VOLUME 31 NUMBER 2
April 2012
Affiliated with the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching, the Central States Conference and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
In This Issue
Presidents Letter Page 1 Board of Directors Page 2 Ad Page 3 Past President Article Page 4 Spring Conf. Ad Page 5 Spring Session Proposal Page 6 CSCTFL Report Page 7 2012 Spring Conf. Page 8&9 Awards 2012 Page 10 Grants &Awards Info. Pa ge 11 Outreach Info. Page 12 Membership Info. Page 13 ACTFL/CCFLT Why join Page 14 Goodbye/ Hello Page 15 TOY Article Page 16 Board Info. Page 17 Ads Page 18 Tech Article Page19/22 Announcements Page 23/24 Upcoming Conferences Page 25
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Advertising rates and policies: Post Secondary Representative: You are invited to advertise Anne Becher, CU Boulder...................................................anne.becher@colorado.edu in the CCFLT Newsletter. Commercial ads, which At-Large Representative: support the mission of CCFLT Stefan Betley, Holyoke High School..............................................betleyst@hcosd.org and are of interest to the Lilliana Endicott, World Language Center....................................lmendicott@aol.com profession, including tour and book ads, are accepted a the Non-Voting Appointed Members: following rates: Cristin Bleess, Executive Secretary, Castle View H.S. ......... execsec.ccflt@yahoo.com Size of ad Charge Size of Valerie Cody, Editor .................................................................... valcody7@yahoo.com Copy Susan Murray-Carrico, Web Master.......................................susan.murray@asd20.org Full Page $250 7 X 9 Half Page $125 7 X CCFLT website: http://www.ccflt.org 4 Half page $125 3 X 9 CCFLT Listserv E-mail Address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCFLT/ Page $75 3 X Use this address to send a message to the Listserv after joining 4 To change the email address to which your CCFLT Listserv email is sent, go to: http://www.ccflt.org/listserv.pdf and follow the instructions.
Prices indicate a one-time submission in the newsletter. If you have questions regarding appropriate software or design files for ads, contact the Editor at valcody7@yahoo.com Advance payment is appreciated. Make checks payable to CCFLT and send to: Cristin Bleess CCFLT Executive Secretary P.O. Box 1703, Castle Rock, CO 80104
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CSCTFL Wrap-Up
Numerous world language teachers from Colorado attended the 2012 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin March 8-10. This is the annual regional conference for states in the Midwest, including Colorado. For a few days, all the movers and shakers in world language came together. As great as our CCFLT conferences are, this is a way to expand ones network and see what is going on in the Midwest, said Anne Becher, CCFLT Board member and Spanish instructor at CU-Boulder. The conference consisted of workshops on Thursday and Saturday and sessions all day on Friday and Saturday. Twenty-six workshops were available on a widerange of topics, including workshops presented by Laura Terrill (on writing), Paul Sandrock (assessing language performance), and Helena Curtain (thematic planning). In addition to these well-known presenters, there were many other workshops offered from German and Spanish Immersion Days, visits to immersion schools (French, German, and Spanish), how to use films in class, how to stay in the target language, and familiarization of ACTFL OPI, just to name a few. Becher, who attended the OPI workshop, commented that by attending the OPI workshop, she feels she can better prepare her teacher candidates at CU-Boulder to score an Advanced Low or better on their OPI. Debbie Cody, CCFLT President and World Language Coordinator and French teacher for Pueblo Schools, attended the workshop by Helena Curtain on thematic units, said she came away with many great ideas and useful tools that will immediately benefit her and her entire district. With almost 200 sessions presented over two days, CSCTFL offers something for everyone. Some of the most popular are the Best of sessions. These sessions were presented at each states annual conference and voted on by attendees to be the best session of that conference. Mira Canion, Spanish and German teacher at Erie HS, represented Colorado with her session 7 Irresistible Activities that Connect Teens with Reading. Ana Martin-Mejia, faculty and World Languages Coordinator at Community College of Aurora, said that she was impressed with the solid methodology foundation of the sessions in which presenters established their framework at the beginning of their presentations. Martin-Mejas ah-ha moment during the conference came during a session on differentiated instruction presented by Emily Spinelli, AATSP Executive Director, Jackie Moase-Burke, and Anne Nerenz. During this session she realized that we tend to focus on covering everything in each lesson instead of ensuring that all students can perform the most important tasks in them. Martin-Meja believes that this realization will make a major impact on what she teaches and what she wants her students to really able to do. Codys favorite session was presented by teachers involved with the TELL Project (www.TELLproject.com). This session focused on characteristics and behaviors that effective teachers demonstrate to ensure student learning. During the session she realized that while none of us is perfect, we can do many things to constantly improve. Outside of the workshops and the sessions, the conference is a wonderful opportunity to network with teachers from around the Midwest. Meeting up with acquaintances and friends from other states, as well as meeting new people, is an integral part of attending a conference. Networking is possible during exhibitor breaks (the exhibit hall was full of companies with great tools, technology, and trips for language teaching!) or during evening events, such as the AATSP-sponsored poetry reading by Milwaukee poet Brenda Crdenas. If you have the opportunity to attend CSCFLT next year in Columbus, Ohio (March 14-16), you should go. The conference is a mixture of workshops and sessions that provide practical classroom tools, research findings, and national trends. Cody said it best: Hearing about national trends keeps us fresh and professional. If were not moving forward, well be left behind. See you in Columbusbut well see you in Loveland at the 2012 Spring CCFLT Conference before then!
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inform teaching, providing feedback that helps students grow, rubric design, and creation of performance assessments that involve all three modes of communication (interpersonal, presentational and interpretative). Assessment-according to this model--is an inherent and key element of the learning activity
Now that Colorado world language teachers are becoming more adept at teaching with our new model content standards, its definitely time to learn to design assessments that measure what and how we are teaching. At our Spring Conference held February 25, 2012 at the U.S. Air Force Academy, CCFLT President Debbie Cody, Past President Anna Crocker, and ACTFL President Elect Toni Theisen shared many very useful ideas for assessment with the more than 100 teachers in attendance. The topics they covered included using formative assessments to continually
itself--not just what we do after its over to assign a grade. We are grateful to our hosts at the U.S. Air Force Academy who provided us with a comfortable space and a delicious breakfast and lunch. Even if you were unable to attend the conference you can still access the powerpoints and many useful assessment-oriented resources via a wikispace that Toni has set up: https://ccflt2012.wikispaces.com/
WANT TO BECOME A MEMBER OF CCFLT? Need to renew your membership? Want to update your contact information? Its only a couple of clicks away at www.regonline.com/ccflt. Whether youre joining for the first time, renewing, or just updating your information, click on the Join Now button to begin the process!
CCFLT membership pricing (all memberships are valid for one year from date of enrollment):
Current teacher - $40.00 Retired or first-year teacher - $30.00 College student - $20.00
If you have any questions about membership, please contact CCFLTs Executive Secretary at execsec@ ccflt.org. COLORADO CONGRESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS www.ccflt.org April 2012 Page 8
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2012 FALL CONFERENCE SAVE THE DATE!!! We are returning to the awe-inspiring
Due to popular demand, we are returning to: Air Force Adademy, Colorado Springs, CO !!
Kristine Van Deraa, Embassy of Spain Scholarship Recipient with Rosario Outes, Embassy of Spain Representative Janine Erickson, Lifetime Membership Award
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FALL 2012
DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2012 FALL INNOVATION GRANT OF $500.00 FALL INNOVATION GRANT OF $250.00 New Teacher Conference Scholarship to attend the Fall Conference
SPRING 2013
DEADLINE: DECEMBER 1, 2012 The Genevieve Overman Memorial Service Award: Presented to a world language educator for dedicated and long service to the teaching profession, as well as commitment and leadership in serving CCFLT. The Excellence in Teaching Award: Presented to a world language educator who has excelled in classroom instruction. The Program Leadership Award: Presented to a world language educator who has provided exceptional leadership and innovation in programs beyond the classroom level. The Kris Wells Memorial Creativity Award: Presented to a world language educator who has demonstrated exceptional creativity and innovation in the field of world languages, whether in teaching, administration, or materials development. The New Educator Award: Presented to a world language educator in the first five years of teaching, who exhibits a great deal of potential in developing ideas for world language education. The Friend of Foreign Languages Award: Presented to an individual or group from outside the world language teaching profession who has made significant contributions to the teaching and learning of world languages.
New Teacher Conference Scholarship: To attend the Spring Conference MONETARY GRANTS:
If you have an idea for a project for your classroom, please consider applying for one of the following grants: Ronald W. Walker Memorial Grant ......$1000 Spring Innovation Grant .........................$250 Spring Innovation Grant .........................$500 Student Contests: Video and Essay Contest will be back in the Spring of 2013!
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Name Address City School Email Address Home Phone ( ) Levels you teach or administer Work ( ) Language(s) State Zip
Membership: CCFLT membership is one year from your enrollment date. All memberships last for one year from that enrollment date. If your dues are not current, please mark your dues payment below: Professional: First-year teacher: Student:. Retired:.. $40.00 $30.00 $20.00 $30.00
Total payment: ...... $ Remit total amount due by check payable to CCFLT.
Please forward this form and payment to: CCFLT Cristin Bleess P.O. Box 1703 Castle Rock, CO 80104 Questions? Contact Cristin Bleess at: execsec@ccflt.org
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CCFLT bids farewell to~ and welcomes~ Board members: Rebecca Schwerdtfeger Leslie Davison Aixa Maldonado Sarah Sexton Anne Becher Liliana Endicott New Board members: Cristin Bleess Lisa Bloomer Amy H. Flynn Becky Loftus Katie Lorimer Fawzia Ahmad
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COLORADO TEACHER OF THE YEAR NOAH GEISEL ON THE LOVE THAT FuELS HIM A MESSAGE FROM OUR TOY There was a lot of amazing sharing and learning at the ACTFL Convention that CCFLT hosted in Denver in November. One of the highest impact sessions I attended was the TOY Box presentation led by our very own Toni Theisen, along with several other ACTFL Teachers of the Year. They each shared a favorite activity for knocking it out of the park in the World Languages classroom. During the question and answer segment of their session, Toni and Ken Stewart answered a question about their grade books that has since transformed my classroom. They both said that rather than divide their grade book into homework, tests and participation, they place assignments in categories that correspond to the standards. Additionally, they do NOT grade homework! The justification is that homework serves as a formative assessment to let students and teachers know where students are and what adjustments need to be made. The summative assessments are what matter as they represent what students know and are able to do. The point on homework is an important one. I have long fretted over my grades, readily admitting that for many students they were not an accurate representation of their language learning. Because many students do not complete their homework, the zero grades add up and have a big impact on their overall grade in a class. As a result, the grade can represent not what students know and are able to do but rather how good they are at completing their work. I still think I have a long way to go in improving my grading systems but the changes I made this semester as a result of the TOY Box session are pushing me in the right direction. My new grading system looks like this: 60% Assessments of Communication Standard 20% Presentational Mode
30% Participation 10% Bell Starter I still assign homework several times a week. Students know that it will not be graded (though we do go over it in class). I explained to them the rationales of formative and summative assignments as well as that of how zeros disproportionately impact grades. The one caveat I gave them is that to be able to re-take a summative assessment, they must have completed all homework assignments that led up to said assessment. Some have figured out that because I do not check their work, they can do it after getting a low test grade but these students are in the minority and it is a trade-off I can live with as they are still doing the skill-building work needed to succeed on the assessments. Fully 40% of my grades are still not based strictly on the state standards and I know that I need to improve in this area. But a month into the first semester, the new system is working better than the old. Students grades are a better reflection of their learning and by intentionally thinking about making my assessments standardsbased, I am creating better assessments. There is still a lot of work to be done but I am confident that I am on the right track to improving my instruction and students experiences in my class by focusing on backward planning and improved grading practices.
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Tickets are on sale now for the sweeping retrospective of designer Yves Saint Laurents 40 years of creativity. The exhibition opens to the public March 25. Get details about the Denver Art Museums Yves Saint Laurent programming, including YSL Pairings, Best Spring Break Ever: Design Days, Untitled #45 (Haute), Fashion Studio Demonstrations, and the members-only preview. http://www.denverartmuseum.org/
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1. www.voki.com
DESCRIPTION: Students can create a talking avatar. Students can make a Voki that looks like them, or they can choose from a variety of characters. They can then customize it by adding their own voice. Students can use their telephones or a microphone to record their voices and add it to the Voki. When they are done, they can send it to you by email or upload it to a wiki or blog. I ask my students to embed the Voki in a wiki on Blackboard.
PROJECT IDEAS: Try using Voki to have students record a weather report or to sing songs that would help them remember verb conjugations or grammar points. They could also record a description of themselves or even recount a story about something that happened in the past.
2. www.makebeliefscomix.com DESCRIPTION: This is an online comic strip maker that allows students to choose characters with different moods, choose a variety of backgrounds and to write words and thoughts for the characters. Click on the Teacher Resources tab on the bottom for 21 different ideas for using the site.
PROJECT IDEAS: This is a great way to get kids to visualize a story and to show their comprehension of a text that they have read in the target language. Students could also write their own story and present it in comic strip form. This could work for any level even beginning level 1 students who could show COLORADO CONGRESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS www.ccflt.org April 2012 Page 19
their understanding of greetings and introductions by writing a comic about two people meeting each other for the first time. In addition, you could use it to assess students use of preterite and imperfect. I have used it to have students retell the story in a song that we listened to and also to summarize a piece of literature we read in class. Students can print the comic when they are done, or copy and paste it into a document, wiki or blog.
3. www.blabberize.com
DESCRIPTION: Blabberize allows users to speak through a picture. It is similar to Voki, but students can upload their own photo and then animate the mouth to speak using their voice. Just like Voki, students can record using their phones or a microphone. Click on these links for some fun examples of Blabberizes in French and Spanish. PROJECT IDEAS: You could ask students to give a description of an object. Choose a photo of the object they are describing and then animate it to talk about the object. You could also use it to retell a story or give a book or movie review. Students could even choose a photo of a famous figure in history and give a biography of the person.
5. www.4teachers.org
DESCRIPTION: 4teachers helps teachers integrate technology into the classroom using 12 different resources. Teachers can use these resources to create their own lessons with technology, or they can search for lessons already created by other teachers. It includes rubrics, quizzes, Web lessons, classroom calendars and much more. Trackstar is one of these resources and it allows teachers to keep a list of websites that students can use to do a webquest. For each website, teachers can type directions or explanations for the students. Simply give the students the Track # and they can access all of the resources you have prepared for them. You can also browse by theme so you may be able to find a Track that is already created.
PROJECT IDEAS: Use Trackstar as an introduction to a unit. Let students research background information on their own and navigate their way through websites in the target language. You can also create a quiz for your Track to assess the knowledge the students gained from the webquest.
6. SMART boards
DESCRIPTION: If youre lucky enough to have a SMART board (I just got mine 3 weeks ago ), there are many activities you can use to engage students. Use the activities and games in the Lesson Activity Toolkit. There are numerous templates you can use to create quick activities for students to use to COLORADO CONGRESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS www.ccflt.org April 2012 Page 20
practice new vocabulary or grammar. And dont forget to check out www.exchange.smarttech.com to borrow ready-made activities from other teachers. You can search by country to find SMART activities in the target language. Below is an activity where students have to rearrange the words to create a logical sentence. It is a great way to practice adjective placement. PROJECT IDEAS: Try creating a blank SMART notebook page with images of new vocabulary words. Underneath, type the names of each item in a text box. Allow students to drag the name of the item to the image. Then use the templates (games and activities) to do more activities with the vocabulary, for example, rearranging words to create a logical sentence, categorizing images or matching keywords. Some high school students are a little hesitant of the SMART board at first, but once they try it, they will be energized to come to the front of the room and try it out! Its a great way to assess students individually.
7. www.lyricstraining.com
DESCRIPTION: Lyricstraining is a great way for students to improve their aural proficiency through music videos and songs in the foreign language. Students choose a song in the target language, then choose easy, medium or hard. They will see a video of the song, with the lyrics underneath. In the easy category, the students have to type in one word of the lyrics every few lines (while listening to the song) and in the hard category, they have to type in all the lyrics! If they dont type fast enough, the song will pause until they catch up. PROJECT IDEAS: I often study songs with my students in class choosing a song based on a certain grammatical structure or on a theme. Try picking a song that is on Lyricstraining. The kids will have fun learning the lyrics of the song. They can even play it as a game and keep track of their high scores.
9. www.wordle.net
DESCRIPTION: Wordle is a website that will allow you to create a cloud based on a text. The words that appear most frequently in the text will appear larger and the less frequent ones will be smaller. You can change the appearance of the cloud by changing the layout, the font and the color scheme. You can print them or save them in Wordles gallery. To create the Wordle, simply paste in the text, or paste in the URL and click create. Below is an example of a Wordle based on an article on the importance of learning a foreign language.
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PROJECT IDEAS: Wordles are great to use as an introduction to an article in the target language. Students will be able to see the most important vocabulary words before reading the passage. You could also ask students to bring in articles on current events and present a Wordle to the class based on the article before reading the passage.
10.
www.funtasticface.com
DESCRIPTION: Funtasticface is an online photo-editing tool. It allows you to upload a photo, or choose one from their database, and change it. You can add different noses, mouths, hair, eyes, accessories and much more.
BEFORE: AFTER:
PROJECT IDEAS: My students used Funtasticface to give before and after descriptions of people. They used to imperfect to describe what someone used to look like and the present to show what they look like now. My students wrote the descriptions, but you could also use it as an oral presentation to the class. Its a great way to practice adjective placement and agreement. My kids posted their photos and descriptions on a wiki in Blackboard, but they could also print it out or upload it to another online source.
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Mark your calendars for April 18, 2012 and come join the fun!
This daylong event includes competitions, workshops, cultural presentations and many other language immersion activities in which high school students from throughout Colorado and Wyoming may participate. UNC has sponsored World Language Day for over 40 years and last year we welcomed over 1200 students and teachers. Competitions are scheduled for high school students in grades 9 through 12 of Spanish, French, German and Chinese while cultural activities and entertainment are open to all attendees. The University of Northern Colorado will also award Outstanding World Language Teachers in recognition of their language teaching accomplishments. These awards will be presented at the teachers luncheon by the Departments of Modern Languages and Hispanic Studies to honor professional excellence among teachers of world languages in secondary schools. Visit the WLD website at http://www.unco.edu/wld for additional information and to view photo galleries and videos of previous events. If you have questions or would like additional information please contact the UNC faculty director: Melitta Wagner-Heaston at: melitta.wagnerheaston@unco.edu
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Registration is now open for the second bi-annual International Forum on Language Teaching,
July 17-19, 2012 to be held in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado! You can find all the details, registration information, travel info and more at ifltconference.org We are excited about a new format focused on Learning Labs and Experiential Learning Sessions. Youll be able to observe the best teachers using comprehensible input strategies-TPR, Storytelling, StoryAsking, Readers Theatre- to teach real kids from 1st grade to 12th. Featured presenters and speakers include: Dr. Stephen Krashen, Berty Segal Cook, Leslie Davison, Bryce Hedstrom, Kristy Placido, Carol Gaab, Jason Fritze, Ben Slavic, Linda Li, Annick Chen, Diana Noonan, Karen Rowan, Gayle Trager, Carmen Andrews, Laurie Clarq and many others. We hope you will be able to attend our iFLT conference this year in the mountains of Colorado! Diana Noonan, Leslie Davison, Jason Fritze, and Jan Coone, Co-Directors
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THE CCFLT NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION SERVING EDUCATORS OF ALL LANGUAGES AT ALL LEVELS
Do you have a great unit that you teach? Do you have some ideas for activities that address the Colorado Standards? Do you have some techniques that help students achieve proficiency? Or perhaps you have some differentiated activities or tried and true methods to motivate students. Are there ways you include culture in your teaching? How do you make connections with language to other contents; perhaps you coordinate with an art or social studies teacher. The CCFLT Newsletter would like to include articles about teachers and teaching in its publication so that we can benefit from one anothers expertise. Please consider sharing your successes in the classroom. Articles and ideas for submission should be sent via email to the president, Debbie Cody at codydebbie@hotmail.com. Articles and ideas should be in the form of an MS word.doc attachment. If you wish to submit photos, please submit them as jpg files and the submission should include a brief bio of the author.
Up-coming Conferences
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