Rachelle and I will be core staff at two brand-new CI conferences this month: IGNITE and Comprehensible Cascadia!
IGNITE (June 19-21) is the first-ever CI language conference for teachers of Indigenous languages here in the US. It stands for Indigenous Gathering of Native language Instructional Techniques for Educators. A few months ago, Wade Blevins of the Cherokee Nation’s Education Department asked Tina Hargaden and Ben Slavic to help him form a team of trainers, and we are truly privileged to be heading to Oklahoma with some amazing people, including ACTFL Teacher-of-the-Year nominee Darcy Pippins, and blogger and teacher extraordinaire Mike Peto.
Comprehensible Cascadia (June 26-28) is the first-ever CI conference with an emphasis on EQUITY and on non-targeted instruction. The team of trainers at this conference is thrilling: Ben Slavic, Tina Hargaden, Mike Peto, Wade Blevins, Fadi Abughoush,Annabelle Allen, Jon Cowart, Haydee Taylor-Arnold, Elissa McLean, and Janet Kyung.
At Comprehensible Cascadia, you can participate in a beginning language class for Cherokee, Arabic, or Korean (while watching coaching happen in real time), observe real kids learning Spanish or French, and learn how to make your teaching EASIER and MORE EQUITABLE.
I’ll be teaching French to a group of intermediate/advanced-level secondary students while conference participants observe; Rachelle and I will be leading a three-hour workshop “Multilingual ≠ Multicultural: Challenging Assumptions in the World Language Classroom”; and Rachelle will be giving a workshop on teaching culture without stereotyping. Rachelle will also be on the equity roundtables and the coaching team. See the full schedule here. It’s a smaller conference than iFLT or NTPRS and a great opportunity to really dive in deep and be at the forefront of justice work in language classes.
Rachelle and I will also be presenting at NTPRS in July, so if that’s where you’re headed, we look forward to seeing you there.
Anna Gilcher, PhD - Changing (My) Life with French 