(Let the Games begin! Opening remarks at UNC World Language Day 2023) On Thursday, April 13, following a five-year hiatus, University of Northern Colorado’s Department of World Languages and Cultures once again hosted its Annual World Language Day on campus at the University Center. As if a worldwide pandemic wasn’t reason enough to throw a wrench into our annual multilingual celebration for two years in a row, the planets would align to produce an additional three years’ wor

I vividly remember the first time I was surrounded by National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) because the difference in this group was palpable. Complaining was low, celebrating was high. Negativity was low, positivity was high. For the first time I could remember, I was in a group of teachers who talked—seemingly endlessly—about innovation in their classrooms and schools. They were clearly leaders in their field: speaking, writing, mentoring, and presenting to audiences la

by Amy Flynn, M.A. See if this scenario is familiar to you; The bell rings, your students enter the classroom and you are really pumped for today’s lesson. Maybe you are ready to teach something you loved learning yourself, or you have the most amazing lesson ever planned, and as you watch the student file into their seats you know it is going to be a class to remember. But over the course of the lesson you notice that the students don’t meet your own level of motivation f

Living in different countries as well as learning and teaching several languages to a variety of students from different nationalities...

Imagine you just finished an inspiring conference/workshop/article which finally convinced you to transition from traditional, grammar-focused instruction to a more communicative, proficiency-based classroom. But, like a rejuvenated vacationer coming home to a burst pipe in the basement, your newfound excitement is immediately doused by the realities of your institution: how can you adopt modern methods while shackled to a textbook written in the Dark Ages? Yet, you don’t hav

By Erin E.H. Austin, NBCT My final year at the first high school I ever taught at was tough. I had three different levels of French, and one of my classes had 43 students in it. (That’s not a typo.) I begged my principal for another section and argued that too many of the activities I did that were best for learning simply couldn’t be done with a class size that large. Never mind the fact that 43 juniors wouldn’t even fit inside my classroom! The rest of the conversation went

In our global world, the need for speakers of multiple languages is ever increasing. However, that is not always reflected in course...