Workshop Description

This workshop will familiarize participants with multiple strategies and activities for using children’s literature to teach language and culture. The workshop will be of benefit to teachers of all languages and all levels. Beginning with a discussion about the linguistic and cultural benefits of including children’s literature in the language classroom, the presenter will then lead a discussion of various approaches for teaching grammar, provide an overview of the PACE model, and demonstrate how the model can be used to teach grammatical structures embedded in children’s texts. Additionally, we will explore various frameworks for teaching culture through children’s literature. Participants will devise a lesson plan that includes a variety of children’s books in their respective language(s) and how they would teach a variety of grammatical structures along with specific aspects of the target culture through these books. Participants will develop an awareness of multiple methods for teaching culture and grammar through children’s literature and be equipped to incorporate these techniques in their instructional contexts. 

About Workshop Instructor

Dr. Brian Hibbs is an associate professor of education at Dalton State College. He teaches courses in applied linguistics, language teaching methodology, and the role of culture in language teaching and learning. His professional interests include second language acquisition, intercultural competence, study abroad, and faculty development. From 2017-2020, Dr. Hibbs was the director of the USG Goes Global’s summer study abroad program to Madrid, Spain.

Workshop Description

• Unpack triggers to build boundaries that serve you
• Understand the importance of setting boundaries
• Personalize boundaries to take back into the classroom
• Acknowledge the challenges that come with setting boundaries including communicating and maintaining them

About Workshop Instructor

Workshop Description

About Workshop Instructor

Workshop Description

Do you want to use and incorporate music into your instruction but have no idea where to start? Do you want to increase your students’ exposure to Afro-Latino materials? Have you ever wondered why teaching materials often don’t feature Black students? Join Ebony Thorton for a workshop where she will unpack the importance of providing tangible representation for Black Students in the Spanish classroom. Teachers will walk away with a series of engaging lessons and materials that will make Black students feel seen, represented, and valued. This workshop will provide strategies and methods teachers can use to introduce Black and Afro-Latino voices and perspectives into their instruction that go beyond “Afro-Latinos during Black History Month”.  

About Workshop Instructor

Ebony Thornton is a Spanish teacher currently employed outside the greater Atlanta area. In her almost 20 years of teaching, she has worked in Middle and High School and has a passion for making students see the relevance and real-world application of language learning in a global society. She also wants to make her class fun, engaging and interactive. In 2018 she created #BlackWLTeachers as a way that Black Language Teachers can network and connect across social media platforms on ways to ensure that the World Language classroom is welcoming and affirming to Black students, and dispel preconceived notions that people may have on what it means to be and look multilingual. When she’s not cheering on the University of Alabama sheen joys being active, listening to classic 90s Pop and R&B, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends.

Workshop Description

In this workshop, attendees will learn and play old-school games like Fly Swatter, Jeopardy, and Basketball and new-school games like Blooket and Gimkit (with and without technology) to understand the student’s point of view and the rules.  There will be time to create the games based on a unit of study of your choice.  Attendees will be able to start the school year armed and ready to go with several games. Bring vocabulary and grammar notes for beginning units, along with a computer, and let the fun begin! These games apply to all levels and languages, so come and play! 

About Workshop Instructor

Michelle Parris currently teaches Spanish 1 at Haynes Bridge Middle School in Fulton County and is a veteran teacher of Spanish and English/Language Arts, having taught in middle and high schools in Maryland and Georgia for 30 years. She earned her B.S. in Elementary and Kindergarten Education with an emphasis on the visual and performing arts and a minor in Spanish from Pennsylvania State University and her M.S. in reading from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, she is serving as the department chair at Haynes Bridge Middle School and was co-department chair at Elkins Point Middle School where she was selected as the Teacher of the Year in 2002-2003. She has presented at the FLAG Conference and has conducted a variety of workshops in her schools. Michelle thoroughly enjoys sharing her teaching tips with other educators and has been a mentor to student teachers as well through the years. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends watching movies, traveling, and being a foodie.

Workshop Description

In this workshop, participants will learn multiple strategies in creating accessible and engaging teaching materials. Participants will also have time to research, modify, or create teaching materials to take away and use in the target language. Part 1: Introducing Gwinnett Dual Language Immersion Model: We will start by introducing the Korean Dual Language Immersion program model we are currently implementing and how pioneer teachers of this program were motivated to create lessons that are accessible to students of all language backgrounds.  We will then introduce our first strategy of building a phonic program using cognates, visuals, TPR and recordings. Participants will have the opportunity to create a list of cognates and prepare a lesson in the target language.  We will share how we increased student understanding and language production by using social language lessons, partner activities, games, and sentence stems.

After lunch, we will continue the topic of increasing language productivity with older elementary students.  We will share our strategy of a scheduled digital listening, speaking, and writing program followed by conferring to create a low-risk environment for students to practice their language. Participants will break into small groups to come up with commonly used phrases and topics to create speaking lessons according to the target language and age group. Then we will discuss small group differentiation strategies.  We will share how selecting, modifying, and using materials according to students language and cultural background increased student engagement and proficiency. Wrapping up, we will acknowledge that the work ahead of finding, modifying, and creating teaching materials to increase language accessibility for students requires human and financial resources.  We will share our story of partnering with University Word Language departments and reaching out to the community to get support for our program.  

About Workshop Instructor

Jennifer’s family moved between Korea and America during her childhood. She was educated in both countries and developed the proficiency and love for both languages while growing up. Early on, she knew she wanted to be involved in Elementary Education and wanted to use her bilingualism in her field. Jennifer graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education, ESL endorsement, and a Math Endorsement and started teaching. She taught primary grade levels in a general classroom which limited the opportunity to use her bilingualism fully. She then moved to Korea and taught English there for two years. Seeing a class full of children develop in a second language was rewarding and confirming of the field she chose. With now a family of four, she moved back to the United States and continued her education at Walden University for her Masters. The opportunity came when Parsons Elementary school was hiring to open up a Korean Dual Language Program and she took the job as a kindergarten pioneer teacher. She is now responsible for 50 children in developing math, science, and literacy in a second language. It is her fourth year in the DLI program and she is excited to share her experience.

About Workshop Instructor

Workshop Description

With mindfulness and mental health becoming such an important topic for everyone from young to old, I would like to teach an one day in-person Chinese Qigong workshop to teachers. I will start with a brief introduction to the history and origin of Qigong in China, and then teachers will experience it by learning a one thousand year old Qigong set called Eight Pieces of Brocades. There are 8 movements in this set, each movement is corresponding with a health benefit. Teachers will learn each one in detail and practice it till they know how to do it on their own. The takeaway for the teachers is a 10-minute Qigong set that they can use on a daily basis to relax their body and mind and recharge their spirit!

About Workshop Instructor

Jiaxing Weng is the founder of and a Tai Chi instructor at Mingle Chinese Services and a Chinese Teacher at North Springs High School. She is passionate about cross-cultural understanding and dedicates her time to teach and share the Chinese language, martial arts, and culture. Ms. Weng grew up in China before coming to the U.S. for advanced degrees. Ms. Weng has always been interested in martial arts and started her journey in learning and teaching Tai Chi in 2013. She is certified to teach various forms of Qigong and Tai Chi, including Yang 10 and 24 forms.