Marty Abbott

Thursday Keynote: Language Educators: Shaping the Future in a New Era! Unprecedented changes in our world have made language education a critical ability for all our students as they prepare to live and work in a global society. How does that impact today’s classroom and tomorrow’s reality? The presenter will identify key issues that language educators need to consider in order to build upon our successful past and prepare to meet the challenges of this new era.

About Marty Martha G. Abbott is currently the Director of Education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Prior to this, Marty served in the Fairfax County Public Schools as a language teacher, foreign language coordinator, and Director of High School Instruction. She has served on national committees to develop student standards, beginning teacher standards, and performance assessments in foreign languages. She was President of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in 2003. Marty also was co-chair of the national public awareness campaign 2005: The Year of Languages. She holds her B.A. degree in Spanish with a minor in Latin from the University of Mary Washington and a Master’s Degree in Spanish Linguistics from Georgetown University.

Marty will also be presenting a session: Advocacy for Language Programs: It’s Everybody’s Business Discover Languages...Discover the World! is a sustained national campaign to build support for language education through the business, government, and academic communities, as well as the public at large. In this session, the impact of the campaign will be explained as well as other national initiatives of importance to language educators. In addition, the presenter will outline ways that individual teachers, language departments, and language organizations can capitalize on the resources available to keep the momentum building for attention to the critical national need to build our nation’s language capacity.

Friday Featured Keynote:

Marcia Roberts

Friday Keynote: Brain Compatible Strategies Enhance Student Learning! It’s a New Era of Teaching and Learning! (Based on the research of Marzano, Reeves, Jensen, Sousa and Marcia Tate’s Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites) As world language teachers, we’ve been cross curricular when cross curricular wasn’t “cool.” We’ve taught history, geography, biology, etiquette, sports, and more, just in another language. We were using TPR long before the newest brain research which recommends that students need to move. Really! We’ve moved more desks than custodians, conducted more skits than drama teachers, and sung more songs than some chorus teachers! Discover why educational researchers and neuroscientists recommend certain strategies for long term memory. These latest research-based strategies will positively reinforce what you are currently doing, as well as encourage you to incorporate them into your lessons more consistently and pervasively!

Marcia will also be presenting a workshop: Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites! 20 Instructional Strategies the Engage the Brain. Experience 20 instructional strategies that maximize memory and minimize forgetting. Increase learning for students by integrating activities that include drawing, metaphors, music, and storytelling in order to teach curriculum that meets national and state standards. Explore the research that shows why the brain prefers these strategies over others. Ensure that your students’ brains, as well as your own, will retain key concepts, not only for tests, but for life! This workshop has been called both professionally and personally life changing and lots of fun!