Welcome to CCFLT's site
Explore the World of Languages!
Home About Us President's Page Newsletter Board of Directors By Laws

Local Chapters

 
Committee Descriptions
Conferences
Content Standards
Contests Grants Scholarships
Executive Secretary
Fiscal Statements
In Memoriam
Internet Resources
Membership & Renewal
Newsletters
Organizational Chart
Past Presidents
Peals: CCFLT's Journal
The World Has Many Voices
Why Learn a Second Language?
Why Serve on the CCFLT Board?

 

 


Mira Canion
CCFLT President
2007-2008

Mira Canion, CCFLT PresidentDear Colleagues,
Ask any second language teacher: learning another language is
important. Why doesn’t everyone agree? Often it feels like we are
pirates trying to snatch dropped coins from the treasure chest of
educational funding and national policy. How could we commandeer foreign language instruction into more prominence? In what ways could we encourage the larger community to better validate our work?

Unfortunately, too many Americans have the impression that second language study is comprised mainly of verb conjugation and endless vocabulary lists. Seems the more pertinent question is whether or not our students understand a language group’s cultural behaviors, history, economics, political institutions, and societal values. Furthermore, after several years of foreign language study, would our students be better able to help steer U.S. foreign policy, navigate a small business within a global economy, or contribute innovative solutions to global issues?

Our conference theme of Commandeering the Seven Cs may prove to address these questions by helping steer our instructional ships through the 5 Cs of the National Standards: Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. The 5 Cs propose that students purposefully use a language in order to access all types of information. That’s a shift from traditional instruction that promotes the study of language within communicative topics.

Combining with the 5 Cs are the two Cs of CCFLT. Our annual Spring Conference serves as the best foreign language professional development in the state. Some of the best classroom practices and approaches are represented in our extra workshops: thematic units, story-based, input-rich, and technology. The presenters are outstanding. Helena Curtain is considered one of the leading experts in foreign language education. Period.

Our Friday keynote luncheon speaker, John De Mado, is sure to keep you laughing. Every hour boasts a language-specifi c session: Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. There are also two technology sessions per hour. Even Saturday sessions are so packed you’ll be wishing you had an eye patch to choose just one session an hour. So jump on board and bring along a few pirates looking to steal ideas.

We extend a special welcome to our new friends from SOCALLT -- the South Central Association for Language Learning Technology -- who are collaborating with us on this year’s Spring Conference.

The 2008 Spring Conference is dedicated to our very own treasure, the late Kris Wells, who steered me in hotel selection, theme, work ethic, and passion for language teaching.
Conference Ahoy! See you in February!

Respectfully,
Mira Canion

 

 

CCFLT
P.O. Box 2384
Boulder, CO 80306-2384
Copyright CCFLT © 2007