ACTFL offers institutions a variety of workshops catered to PreK-12 language educators. These workshops are grounded on a foundation of proficiency and standards-based teaching practices, all targeted toward providing educators with the tools to guide their learners to the next level. We are always working on launching new workshops covering a wide range of topics – be sure to refer back to this page for updates!
PreK-12 Workshops
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Requesting a Workshop:
Before submitting your workshop request to ACTFL, it’s important to review all of our offerings to ensure that you identify the most appropriate workshop for your institution’s context. You’re ready to submit a request if you know:
- The title for the specific workshop you wish to arrange (see options below)
- The dates that you have available to schedule PD
- Who your participants are or have a plan to recruit them
- Your budget and/or administrative process for funding approval
Not ready to make a request and have questions?
Check out our latest half-day workshops!
Perfect for grounding your teachers with critical ACTFL principles and publications, convenient for virtual delivery and limited PD scheduling availability!
Foundations of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
What is proficiency and how can I focus my instruction on helping my learners continuously develop and strengthen their proficiency? Examine the characteristics of the major levels of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and identify what changes as learners move through the Low, Mid, and High sublevels across the Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced ranges of proficiency. Apply that understanding to analyze and adjust classroom tasks to guide learners to demonstrate the targeted level of proficiency.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Hours: 3.5 (including 15 min break)
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
- In-Person
Foundations of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages
The World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages provide the framework for designing curriculum, planning instruction, and guiding learners. Standards put the focus for language programs on what learners should know and be able to do (and how well). Experience the process for using the standards to develop a unit of instruction. Reflect on how these standards can help develop “world-ready” learners.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here:
Hours: 3.5 (including 15 min break)
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
- In-Person
Foundations of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements
The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements capture the key elements of proficiency to guide educators as they design tasks for learning or assessing language performance and to guide learners as they monitor their progress along the proficiency continuum. Unwrap the components of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements and discover how they are connected, linking language and culture. Identify specific strategies to help learners develop and apply what they need to raise their language performance to a higher level. Support your learners by focusing on what they can do!
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here:
Hours: 3.5 (including 15 min break)
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
- In-Person
Guiding Learners to Higher Levels of Proficiency
What really counts to move along the proficiency continuum (from Novice, to Intermediate, and towards the Advanced level of proficiency)? What strategies are effective for developing proficiency using each Mode of Communication? Through the lens of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements, unpack the elements of proficiency and what they mean for planning effective tasks. Experience and analyze a variety of examples from one sample unit of instruction. Identify one class you are teaching and use that as a lens through which to apply your learning. Guide your learners to develop the language functions and confidence to move to higher levels of proficiency.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 7.5 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 7.5 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
Developing & Assessing the Three Modes of Communication
Begin by developing a shared understanding of what language proficiency is across levels and how to support learners’ progress towards proficiency goals. Develop a toolbox of strategies to design purposeful units and performance tasks in the three modes of communication (Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational) and identify day-to-day learning activities that support language goals. Apply the principles of backward design and the use of authentic resources to effectively plan meaningful learning experiences in the target language. Explore the assessment of language skills in each mode of communication as well as strategies for involving learners in self-assessment for ongoing proficiency growth.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 7.5 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 7.5 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
AAPPL Familiarization
This workshop is an introduction to the AAPPL. The AAPPL is a web-based proficiency and performance assessment of K-12 standards-based language learning. It assesses tasks across the three modes of communication as defined by the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. Participants will learn the traits of learners at Novice, Intermediate, or Advanced as well as strategies for moving students along the proficiency continuum. Additionally, participants will work together to develop a student-friendly rubric (K-12) and prompts appropriate for each proficiency level.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 8 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 8 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
OPI Familiarization
This workshop familiarizes participants with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, ACTFL Rating Scale, and the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). The OPI is a valid and reliable means of assessing how well a person speaks a language. This workshop includes presentations by ACTFL staff or facilitators, examples of ACTFL OPIs conducted by our certified testers, as well as activities that will solidify your understanding of each major proficiency level.
Note: Participants who complete this workshop are not eligible to apply for Limited (Novice Low – Intermediate High) or Full (Novice Low – Superior) OPI Tester Certification. This workshop is appropriate for language educators who do not wish to pursue OPI Tester Certification.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here (this applies only to synchronous and in-person deliveries).
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom (conducted fully by facilitator)
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 8.5 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - Asynchronous via on-demand modules (no facilitator)
Course can be open for up to one month maximum
Hours: 12 (estimated for completion of modules) - Hybrid (on-demand modules and two 1.5 hour Zoom discussion sessions with facilitator)
Course can be open for up to one month maximum
Hours: 15 (estimated for completion of modules and discussion sessions) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 8.5 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
Writing Guidelines Familiarization
Intended as an introduction to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012 – Writing, this workshop introduces participants to the major and minor level descriptors and the criteria for assigning a global writing proficiency rating. Participants explore a variety of writing tasks across levels of proficiency, evaluate language samples based on the criteria as described in the guidelines, and design appropriate writing activities and writing assessment prompts at the four major levels.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 7 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 7 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
The Role of Grammar in the Development of Proficiency
This workshop focuses on how to approach grammar from a functional, proficiency-oriented perspective. After exploring a framework for addressing grammar functionally, participants will be guided through hands-on activities to evaluate their existing materials, rethink the treatment of grammar inside individual courses and across the curriculum, and design activities intended to help students acquire grammatical structures at various levels of proficiency.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 8 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 8 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
Integrating Skills and Modes for Curriculum Design
This workshop focuses on how to build a curriculum that is designed to keep students making steady progress in terms of overall proficiency. ACTFL facilitators will focus the workshop on achieving Intermediate, Advanced, or Superior levels of proficiency in various skills (Speaking, Writing, Reading and Listening) and modes (Interpersonal, Presentational, Interpretive) depending on the needs and aims of your program, faculty and students.
Maximum Participants: 30
Language of Delivery: English
Please see our detailed agenda here.
Delivery Options:
- Synchronous on Zoom
Can be scheduled as one day or split over two days
Hours: 7 (including 1.5 hours of breaks) - In-Person
Scheduled as one-day/full-day workshop
Hours: 7 (including 1.5 hours of breaks)
Requesting a Workshop:
Before submitting your workshop request to ACTFL, it’s important to review all of our offerings to ensure that you identify the most appropriate workshop for your institution’s context. You’re ready to submit a request if you know:
- The title for the specific workshop you wish to arrange (see options above)
- The dates that you have available to schedule PD
- Who your participants are or have a plan to recruit them
- Your budget and/or administrative process for funding approval
Not ready to make a request and have questions?