Higher Education Events

Given the rising costs of higher education, paired with a highly competitive job market, college students--and their parents--are thinking about their careers even as freshmen. Language departments often respond to that concern by promoting language learning courses as an entrée into exciting careers. However, basic language courses rarely incorporate career-related content in a systematic way and many instructors feel unprepared to teach about professions they have not been trained in themselves. It is possible to reconcile these different perspectives!

This session explores best practices and activity rubrics that enable students to practice new language skills "live" with native speakers of their choosing from around the world. Through a variety of new technologies and services, learners can select native speaking partners from any country they choose and can put newly acquired language to use in the "real" world, which increases curiosity, cross- cultural communication, engagement, and motivation.

A concern of many instructors today involves teaching students with learning disabilities. While many of our students may experience learning challenges, they all have distinct learning abilities to build upon. Because specific difficulties and differences may not be identified until well into the term, instructors must strive to make learning accessible for all from day 1, relying on best practices and continual interaction with students. In this session, our facilitator will provide a brief overview of the research on learning differences and how they impact foreign language teaching and learning and will then share detailed recommendations and sample activities that demonstrate how to maximize the learning opportunities for all students.

Due to the changing face of collegiate education, today's foreign language departments are having to innovate and retool their programs. Yet, few clear models that help guide programs through the what and how of curricular revision exist. In this talk, Kate Paesani, co–author of A Multiliteracies Framework for Collegiate Foreign Language Teaching, will discuss how the concept of literacy and the framework of multiliteracies pedagogy can help foreign language departments organize programmatic change and what tools to use to implement a literacy orientation in pedagogical practice

Many of the editors at higher education publishing companies began their careers as language instructors and/or graduate teaching assistants. Crossing out words and suggesting others in an author's draft is only a small part of the content development process in college educational publishing these days. As the focus of a learning company changes from content provider to learning services developer, we'll talk about the changing responsibilities of today's "editor," what role each editor plays, the qualities that make each editor successful and the digital topics today's editors spend a lot of time thinking about these days

Pair and small-group activities lie at the heart of communicative language teaching. They increase student talk, remove the instructor from center stage, and create optimal conditions for the negotiation of meaning and metalinguistic talk that promote acquisition. But these activities, particularly in classes taught by novice instructors, may fall short of their communicative potential. This session draws on principles of language acquisition to present a model for designing (or modifying), presenting, and managing pair and small-group activities

More and more, language learners and instructors are implementing a blend of new strategies, technologies, and practices that transform experiences. This session explores some of the new considerations that a move to digital has for language programs. The facilitator will end with sharing some ideas for a NextGen platform in progress

Recent brain research suggests that our ability to learn is deeply rooted in relationships. Both the teacher-learner relationship and the emotional environment of learning affect learner performance. Activities within Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) typically focus on relationship building and personalized sharing among learners, with the instructor playing a peripheral role as observer or facilitator. Yet, the teacher-learner relationship can surely benefit from classroom-appropriate, personalized sharing by the instructor as an active participant, as well.

Presentation will be conducted in Spanish. Discussion will include ideas on how to facilitate instruction using the flipped model and how to get students motivated and engaged.

Drawing on parallels from second language acquisition and game design, this session explores ways in which digital games can facilitate meaningful interaction in second language teaching and learning. The session will explore a multidimensional approach to interaction and digital games by examining interactions in games themselves, around games, and about games. Participants will engage in sample class activities and have an opportunity for brainstorming additional ideas for their own classroom. This virtual session will be interactive and collaborative