A Time of Thanks

I have returned from ACTFL and loved that I got to see so many people (albeit many of them in passing due to the size and pace of ACTFL) - yes, my CI/ADI cup was definitely refilled this past weekend. With these experiences still fresh in mind and with Thanksgiving week upon us, I would like to dedicate this blog post as time to express my own gratitude. As I reflect upon this past year professionally, I realize that I have much for which to be thankful:

• Thank you to Linda Li, Betsy Paskvan, Michelle Whaley, Haiyun Lu, Justin Slocum Bailey, Elicia Cardenas, Annabelle Williamson, Eric Richards, and Skip Crosby for your conference L2 classes/demos over these past years. At this summer's Fluency Matters Conference, I served as the Latin instructor for the adult language classes. When I first was asked to do this, I almost immediately turned it down, because I thought, "I have never done something like this before! I am not conference language instructor material! Who am I to do this? I am the one who is observing these teachers at conferences - I am a better observer than instructor!" However, it was for this very reason, i.e., I have observed so many of these master teachers leading L2 demos and teaching labs at conferences, which led me to accept this challenge. And you know what? I had a blast teaching the Latin class! But I can take absolutely no credit for what I did. I simply took what I had observed you do in your lab classes/L2 demos and "Latinized" it with my own spin. 
• Thank you Wayside Publishing for the above teaching opportunity at the Fluency Matters Conference.
• Thank you to Martina Bex and Elicia Cardenas for hiring me to work in your online Acquisition Boot Camp (ABC) class and in-person Acquisition Academy. While these courses are designed for those new to CI/ADI theory and instruction, I can never get enough of hearing you both teach about second language acquisition - my foundation and knowledge of SLA continues to grow and to become stronger because of you!
• Thanks to Voces Digital/CI Summit for the opportunity to serve as a coach/cohort team member. With so many talented and knowledgeable CI/ADI folks out there, I do not take it for granted that you wanted me to be a part of your team.
• Thank you to Margarita Perez Garcia and Adam Giedd for your novice level Spanish readers/novellas. As a novice-level Spanish reader, I now am truly understanding what novice-level reading should contain in terms of sheltering vocabulary, repeated sentence structures without feeling repetitive, and compelling subject matter! At ACTFL, I bought some other novice-level Spanish readers both for me and my department. I just finished reading El Pelo Incontrolable by Grace V. Sotomayor Mantri and absolutely loved it (and I felt SO SUCCESSFUL that I was able to read it!).
• Thank you to Comprehensible Iowa. You put on a FIRST-CLASS regional conference with wonderful presenters and great hospitality - this is why smaller, regional conferences are so important! I am definitely returning next summer.
• Thank you to Eric Richards for the last two collaborative blog posts. At ACTFL, people mentioned how much they have enjoyed them. I have really enjoyed working on them with you, and I look forward to future collaborations. I have definitely learned a great deal from you these past few years, so thanks for giving my blog some credibility with your posts!

Finally thank you to all of you who read this blog. While I was at ACTFL this past weekend, I could not get over the number of people who approached me and thanked me for this blog. Thank you all for thinking that I have something to say. To be honest, I am nothing special in terms of being a blogger. I do not feel that I am coming up with anything original or groundbreaking - I just happen to be the person who writes things down. I still write this blog as if only twelve people (specifically Latin teachers) read this, so I am always amazed afresh that other language teachers find value in what I write here. I am definitely humbled by this.

I hope that you will have a restful Thanksgiving break away from students!

Shared Thoughts on In-person Conferences - Another Collaborative Post with Eric Richards

This is another collaborative post with Eric Richards - this one was unplanned! However, both Eric and I independently had planned to release a post about in-person conferences on our individual blogs unbeknownst to each other. When we realized that we touched on many of the same points about the importance of in-person conferences, we decided to combine them as one blog post.

My post surrounds reasons why I am going to ACTFL this week, and Eric's post encompasses his reflections on in-person conferences upon attending a FLAM regional conference. Hope you enjoy this!

Keith Toda - Why I am Going to ACTFL

This weekend in Philadelphia is the ACTFL Convention, the national conference for World Language teachers, and I will be attending. It has been YEARS since I last attended one (it was in 2017 in Nashville). I had been on the fence about attending this year's convention, because one of the downsides for me is the sheer size of it - THOUSANDS attend the ACTFL Convention, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed by that. However, this past summer's CI Summit's headquarter hotel was in the downtown Philadelphia area right across from City Hall and not too far from the convention center where ACTFL will be located. Since I was already kind of familiar with that area after this summer, that was a major factor in my decision to attend.

However, what is my main reason for attending ACTFL this year after not having attended since 2017? Quite honestly: I need my CI/ADI cup filled. My cup is low, and believe me, there are only but a few drops in it. In the world of education, the months of late September, October, and November are HARD and can suck the joy out of teaching (I just recently learned that this time period is known as DEVOLSON - the Dark, Evil Vortex of Late September, October, and November - and let me tell you, this is REAL! It finally has a name!). This is the time of the year where I hate being a department head, cannot stand students, and everything related to work feels like such a chore and a burden. I do not feel like I have/am exhibiting any joy in my lessons, and it is so toilsome to teach. In short, I am weary.

I need to be around my CI/ADI people - people who get me; people over whom I still fanboy because they are seasoned, experienced teachers; people who by their sheer example and friendship both motivate and encourage me to be a better CI/ADI practitioner; people whose presentations I attend and walk away feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. And going to an in-person conference like ACTFL where I will see many of these people is my incentive.

Although many conferences are heading towards being digital in nature (and I completely understand the reasons why), there are some aspects which can only be achieved by attending an in-person conference:

• Personal - There is something about sharing a common learning experience together with other people in the same room and being able to interact with the presenter and others who are there. Blogs and digital environments can only go so far in experiencing this.
• Reflection - On a recent blog post, Eric Richards says it best:

I also find that many times when I attend a conference, something “unexpected” sticks. It is usually something that I heard, saw or experienced that I was not necessarily expecting or anticipating. Many times, this “unexpected” really sticks with me, and I find myself deeply thinking about it for a long period of time. 

• Distraction-free - In-person presentations force me to be present in the moment and allow me to take it all in, while during a digital talk, I will multitask (send emails, watch videos, complete a Wordle, check sports scores).
• Connections and Community - All of the CI/ADI people whom I am hoping to see at ACTFL are those whom I met first previously at in-person conferences. As I said, I still fanboy over them and still cannot believe that they know my name! Over the years, we have "talked shop," discussed our lives over coffee or dinner, and have learned from each other during these times. This is not to say that this cannot happen digitally - I think that it would just be different though.

At ACTFL, I am looking forward to just being Keith Toda, attendee, and not Keith Toda, presenter or Keith Toda, trainer/coach. I am looking forward to being able to attend sessions being "present and all there" in the moment and not half-heartedly thinking about my own upcoming presentation during a session. I am looking forward to learning from others either from their sessions or over a meal as we discuss and process what we learned that day.

So if you see me at ACTFL, please say hi! I hope that your cup will be refilled there too!

Eric Richards - Reflections and Insights on In-Person Conferences

I recently attended and presented at the FLAM (Foreign Language Association of Missouri) St. Louis Regional Conference. It was a great experience, not only motivating and inspiring. It was wonderful to see familiar faces and also get to know new educators. It was also rewarding to see my colleagues from right here in the St. Louis area presenting! They were all great presentations, and I took away so much to implement in my own classes. Overall, it was a fantastic experience - and a much needed one! The energy and comradery really helped invigorate me!

It also got me thinking about conferences, specifically in-person conferences. I found myself reflecting on why in-person conferences still matter in a digital world. I mean, in the age of virtual meetings and online networking, why hold in-person conferences at all? It is easy to connect from anywhere via digital platforms. Do we even need in-person conferences anymore?

I understand there are benefits to online conferences, but face-to-face events bring unique benefits that are difficult to replicate online. Let me share why I believe that in-person conferences remain incredibly important in today’s digital world.

Authentic Connections

In-person conferences offer an environment where participants can genuinely connect. The spontaneous conversations that happen in hallways, during lunch foster, and before or after the conference create a sense of comradery and connection that is difficult to achieve over a screen. These moments can lead to lifelong professional connections, mentorships, unexpected insights, and collaborations that often feel more meaningful and lasting.

Focus and Engagement

Attending a conference in person brings a level of focus and engagement that can be hard to maintain in a virtual setting. In-person participants are less likely to be distracted by home or work tasks. They’re more likely to immerse themselves in presentations, workshops, and discussions, gaining a deeper understanding of topics and finding more value in the event.

Atmosphere

Attending a conference in person is energizing. The chance to step away from daily routines - and surroundings - and join a community of like-minded individuals can spark new ideas and inspiration. In-person events offer an atmosphere with a tangible energy that can help participants to think creatively, set new goals, walk away with a sense of accomplishments, and bring a renewed energy back to their classrooms.

Hands-On Learning & Immersive Experiences

Finally, in-person conferences allow for hands-on workshops and immersive experiences that online events can’t always match. Whether it’s attending live demonstrations, or participating in interactive sessions, these experiences can enhance learning and make it easier to apply new knowledge. (Plus, I enjoy physically thumbing through a book or reader at the vendor tables!)

In any case, I believe that virtual events have their place. However, I still believe that in-person conferences are still the best way to connect, grow, and get inspired - and re-energized!
(And for the record, I never want to see in-person conferences go away!)

Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!

Purposeful Communication with Movement: A Collaborative Blog Post with Eric Richards

This is a continuation in my series on purposeful communication.

This is my first of what I hope are many collaborative posts with Eric Richards. I first met Eric at the 2023 CI Summit in Savannah. Both of us were assigned to serve as team members/trainers for the same cohort (woohoo - go Cohort 2 with Gary DiBianca and Andrea Schweitzer!). Although I had never formally met Eric before, I did know of his name (and that he was an ACTFL Teacher of the Year Finalist for 2021!) and had seen him present digitally at the 2023 Voces Digital Spring Conference - I was very impressed with both his presentation and very comfortable online demeanor and delivery. When Eric and I were on the same team, we hit it off, and since he teaches German and I am a Latin teacher, we were the ones tasked with doing the cohort L2 demonstrations since the majority of teachers in the cohort were Spanish and French teachers. I always learn so much about CI/ADI pedagogy from taking part in/observing L2 demos where I do not know that language, so I was able to see Eric daily demo PQAs in German (and a later presentation on writing) - all of Eric's demos/presentations were so good that I have now "Latinized" his first week PQA lessons for my own classes!

Anyhow, Eric recently wrote up a post on his own blog about his reflections on my presentation on purposeful communication at Comprehensible Iowa this past summer (read his post - it is a good one!). He had also emailed me about how he implemented a purposeful communicative activity involving movement with his classes similar to my pizza topping bellringer, which in turn motivated me to facilitate one based on his list of PQA questions. 

As a result, I asked Eric to write up his experience for this blog, and in turn, I would then add my own activity inspired by this. I hope that you will enjoy and learn from our posts here!

Eric Richards - Four Squares for more Purposeful Communication 

This school year, I’ve been considering the role of communication in the classroom, how I deliver content, and how I engage with my students. As I gave thought to this, I realized that I need to adjust the way I communicate and how I approach some activities in class. I need to be more purposeful in my communication and engagement with my students.

That is, I need to communicate (more) in a way that allows me and my students to:

• learn about each other and ourselves (build our relationships through language)

• learn about the world around us (learning information)

• entertain/create with language in fun, engaging ways (language play)

But why?

According to Bill Van Patten, “Language use without purpose is not communication.” That is, we may be using the language, but without purpose, communication may not be happening – and I definitely want communication to happen in my classroom!

(Let’s fast forward a bit.)

As I adjusted lesson plans for this school year to better meet my goals, I started thinking about if there was a way to get a little extra “bang for your buck” with the activities. After a bit of reflection, it hit me – incorporate more movement with the activities!

But, before we move on, let’s quickly review a few reasons why movement in the classroom is beneficial (for both students and teachers):

• Increased Focus and Attention: Short movement breaks or incorporating physical activity helps students refresh their minds, improving focus and concentration.

• Enhanced Learning and Memory: Movement activates multiple areas of the brain, which enhances learning, memory retention, and cognitive function. 

• Improved Behavior and Reduced Disruptions: Regular movement opportunities help reduce restlessness and behavioral issues. (Plus, it supports kinesthetic learning.)

• Increased Engagement and Enjoyment: Incorporating movement makes learning more engaging, which can help increase student interest.

So, with that in mind, I began incorporating movement into my lessons. Note: I kept it simple! I was not about to reinvent the wheel, and I sure was not going to throw all my lessons out and start over! As they say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Here is what I did: 

I made a quadrant in the middle of the room. (I have a deskless classroom, but you can simply label 4 corners/areas in your classroom to substitute the quadrant, if you don’t have space.)

That’s it!

Then, I started incorporating movement into activities that helped me achieve more purposeful communication. Note: I sometimes incorporate movement activities at the beginning of class and sometimes at the middle or end. It just depends.

Also, did I mention that I kept it simple?

Here are some examples of the activities:

I use this one the second day of German I. We are focusing on (very) good / (very) bad.

• This is another activity from the first week of German I. Once they are comfortable the structure, e.g., “Can you play ____?”, you can incorporate a new vocabulary word (using both text and pictures):

• Again, don’t reinvent the wheel! Use what you have and simply build on it! In this example, I simply added “good (well)” to an already familiar structure. It allows you to build in new vocabulary while also changing the “feel” of the question.

Here is another example of how you can level an activity. In this pizza topping activity, which I stole from Keith Toda, I had them sort the toppings on their note sheets (paper) according to how each student liked – or disliked – a topping. Then, they got up and moved accordingly (in the quadrant - good or bad -) as we had a discussion. Again, I repeat, don’t reinvent the wheel! Take what you have and level it up and down where you can!

As this was in German II, I led the discussion and questions at a more appropriate level. Obviously, they know “good” and “bad”, so I incorporated vocabulary like "majority" and "minority", e.g. After they moved, I would say, "Oh. The majority of the class likes pepperoni on their pizza." This scenario also gives you the chance to level up and introduce a structure like, “Would you eat ….”, e.g., “Would you eat a pizza with broccoli on it?” Or, introduce a relative clause like, "Would you eat a pizza that had broccoli on it?"

Not only did this provide a chance for oral input - because they had to listen to which topping I said and what questions I asked – it also gave the chance for students to respond and answer ‘why’, e.g., “I don’t like onions. They taste bad.”

Observations

1. This is a simple, effective, and well-received activity. The students enjoy it, and they appreciate the opportunity to get up and move around. In fact, when we do different activities that don’t involve movement, they ask if they can get up and do something similar. (And when I say ‘no’, I see plenty of frowns.)

2. Also, using a quadrant for movement is simple to incorporate into existing activities; in other words, it is low prep! It can easily be used to implement question and answer responses. Plus, you can adjust the level of the questions to fit the appropriate level of target language. That means, you can use the same activity for different levels! 

3. In addition, incorporating four squares and movement into your lesson gives students the chance to learn about others and use the language in an enjoyable, engaging way – both non-verbally and verbally. In other words, they are (literally) moving with purposeful communication.

Lastly, I will give you a couple of things to consider. Students will sometimes move to quadrants where their friends are, even if it isn’t their true answer. This can lead to side chatter (not in the target language) between peers and cause distractions. It also can bring about a lack of attention to the oral input that you are giving (in the target language). To help with this, you need to model the activity. You need to work with students and set expectations from the beginning – and stick to them! Don’t forget to explain to them that you are trying to make this enjoyable and effective for everyone!

Tip: It is okay to make them sit back down and get back up and do the same activity again until they meet expectations. 

Also, some students can be hesitant to get up and move. They are sometimes tired, “not in the mood”, etc. In this case, you’ll need to decide if you want to encourage them to participate or let them sit this one out. You just need to find the balance that works for you (while also not abandoning your expectations!)

I hope this helps get things “moving” in the classroom! Please let us know how it goes in the comments below!

Keith Toda - Moving Purposefully with Four Corners PQAs

When Eric had contacted me about how he was using movement with PQAs, especially with the pizza topping bellringer, I had never thought about connecting PQAs and purposeful communication with movement. However, I thought that this was a great idea! My PQAs were definitely getting rather stale (both teacher and student were hitting a wall when it came to academic motivation), so I decided to try out asking PQAs as a Four Corners activity.

At the time in my Latin 2 classes, I had just given a purposefully communucative, cultural lesson in Latin about popinas (restaurants), so the next day, I decided to ask students a series of questions related to fast food restaurants in a "Four Corners" kind of way (where student would respond by moving to that corner of the room which corresponded to their answer). Each corner of the room was numbered accordingly, and I projected the first slide. 

After students moved to their corners, I would then ask invidual students opinion questions:  "tua sententia, estne Carlos rectus? Taco Bellne optimum cibum Mexicanum habet?" After asking this a few times about different students, I then revealed my pick: "mea sententia, Chipotle optimum cibum Mexicanum habet." Then I proceeded to the next question and repeated the process.

Observations

1. I love these kinds of PQAs, because EVERY student has an opinion about fast food! I loved it that students would "argue" with each other and with me about which fast food restaurants had the best food!

2. Students really wanted to hear my opinion on which fast food restaurant had the best X - maybe they wanted to learn about me, or maybe they wanted adult validation for their answers!

3. I loved it when a particular corner would just have 1-2 students - I am glad that they felt safe enough to "voice" their opinion even if "unpopular." They were usually the ones whom I would ask the follow up opinion questions.

4. Because this involved every student moving, students got to see others' responses (which is different from a traditional PQA where I may ask individual students or ask for a show of hands). 

5. This activity definitely shows that purposeful communication does not always have to be verbal - we can still learn about ourselves and each other non-verbally. 

6. As a teacher, I learned a lot about my students, even if it was just about their favorite fast food restaurants!

7. This activity lasted about 10 minutes.

***************************************************************************************************************Anyhow, Eric and I would love to hear your experiences in the comment section - hope you can use these in your classrooms!