Workshop Trainings
ANY DEPARTMENT WITH AT LEAST 4 ACQUISITION CLASSROOM MEMBERS QUALIFIES FOR A FREE WORKSHOP!
EACH SESSION CAN BE DELIVERED ONLINE AND IS 60-90 MINUTES IN LENGTH
Second Language acquisition
Learning this will help us do what is best for our students:
1. Developmental Patterns: What can I expect from my students in terms of accuracy? The student’s internal
syllabus will be revealed. Take the tests used by researchers and learn the BIG SECRET every teacher ought to
know to make instruction developmentally appropriate.
2. Measuring Acquisition: See how researchers determine what "works." Take input-based, intuition-based, and
output-based test samples from actual studies and learn the results, which tell us a lot about what does and what
does not facilitate acquisition. This session also reviews the most important research telling us whether first and
second language acquisition are fundamentally different or similar.
3. Communication & Measuring Proficiency: What is communication? Learn what a Communicative
Approach truly is and understand the distortion typical of today's so-called "communicative classrooms." Learn more
about proficiency-based and communicative testing, the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and the Oral Proficiency
Interview, and some practical ways to test and score fluency and communicative ability.
4. Mental vs. Textbook Grammar: This introduction to linguistics will turn some conventional wisdom about
language rules on its head. You will appreciate the complexity of language and learn what it means to know a word.
5. Rule-Based Instruction: History, Research, & Theories: Learn what "traditional" language teaching
really is, take a critical look at studies that support teaching textbook rules, learn the role of output in the classroom,
and evaluate the 2 major theories that advocate teaching grammar.
6. Comprehension-Based & Communicative Approaches: What principles should guide our
classroom decisions? What does my syllabus look like? What strategies does a teacher use? These questions
answered and more!
1. Developmental Patterns: What can I expect from my students in terms of accuracy? The student’s internal
syllabus will be revealed. Take the tests used by researchers and learn the BIG SECRET every teacher ought to
know to make instruction developmentally appropriate.
2. Measuring Acquisition: See how researchers determine what "works." Take input-based, intuition-based, and
output-based test samples from actual studies and learn the results, which tell us a lot about what does and what
does not facilitate acquisition. This session also reviews the most important research telling us whether first and
second language acquisition are fundamentally different or similar.
3. Communication & Measuring Proficiency: What is communication? Learn what a Communicative
Approach truly is and understand the distortion typical of today's so-called "communicative classrooms." Learn more
about proficiency-based and communicative testing, the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and the Oral Proficiency
Interview, and some practical ways to test and score fluency and communicative ability.
4. Mental vs. Textbook Grammar: This introduction to linguistics will turn some conventional wisdom about
language rules on its head. You will appreciate the complexity of language and learn what it means to know a word.
5. Rule-Based Instruction: History, Research, & Theories: Learn what "traditional" language teaching
really is, take a critical look at studies that support teaching textbook rules, learn the role of output in the classroom,
and evaluate the 2 major theories that advocate teaching grammar.
6. Comprehension-Based & Communicative Approaches: What principles should guide our
classroom decisions? What does my syllabus look like? What strategies does a teacher use? These questions
answered and more!
Communicative Activities
Here are some of the best ways to align practice with research and engage our students:
1. Total Physical Response: A great way to start the school year, to train students to be active listeners, and for
a teacher to improve their ability to use level-appropriate language. The students gesture what the teacher says,
which can be quite fun.
2. Collaborative Personalization: How to create and organize information about students with a fictional twist.
3. Visual Storytelling: How to use images for interactive storytelling. This is one of the easiest activities for a
teacher to learn and use in class.
4. Collaborative Character/Image Construction: The teacher asks questions and uses student answers
to create a character and/or image.
5. Collaborative Storytelling: The teacher asks questions and uses student answers to co-create a story. This is
the heart and soul of the method called Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling.
6. Reading Activities: Different ways to spice up whole-class reading and guidelines for setting up book clubs and
extensive reading.
1. Total Physical Response: A great way to start the school year, to train students to be active listeners, and for
a teacher to improve their ability to use level-appropriate language. The students gesture what the teacher says,
which can be quite fun.
2. Collaborative Personalization: How to create and organize information about students with a fictional twist.
3. Visual Storytelling: How to use images for interactive storytelling. This is one of the easiest activities for a
teacher to learn and use in class.
4. Collaborative Character/Image Construction: The teacher asks questions and uses student answers
to create a character and/or image.
5. Collaborative Storytelling: The teacher asks questions and uses student answers to co-create a story. This is
the heart and soul of the method called Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling.
6. Reading Activities: Different ways to spice up whole-class reading and guidelines for setting up book clubs and
extensive reading.
