2019 Ohio World LanguageTeacher of the Year and 2019 CSCTFL

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

Milton Alan Turner, President
French and Spanish Teacher, Saint Ignatius High School

2019 Teacher of the Year

We are pleased to announce that Angela Gardner of Ross High School has been named the 2019 Ohio World Language Teacher of the Year. The Teacher of the Year Award is designed to recognize very accomplished language teachers that follow best practices, both state and national standards, as well as proficiency guidelines. The Teacher of the Year portfolio submitted by applicants consists of letters of recommendation from a supervisor, a current student, and a current/former parent. Applicants must also include a Curriculum Vitae/Resume; a five-hundred-word personal statement on the value of learning languages and developing cultural competence for all learners; samples of student work that reflect the goals of the State and National Standards for Learning Languages; a video of the candidate teaching of 15-20 minutes; and an interview with the Teacher of the Year Selection Committee. Continue reading →

Posted in General, Letter from the President, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment

AROUND THE STATE

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

Ryan Wertz and Kathy Shelton, World Language Consultants, Ohio Department of Education

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope 2019 will be a year full of energized teaching and learning, one marked by significant proficiency gains and intercultural development for your students. Here at the Ohio Department of Education, your world language team remains firmly committed to supporting your work through strong standards, helpful model curriculum tools and resources, a robust Seal of Biliteracy program, and focused professional development opportunities.

Update on the Revision of Ohio’s World Language Learning Standards
The revision of Ohio’s Learning Standards for K-12 World Languages is finally underway! The current 2012 standards were posted online in mid-December along with a survey tool to collect stakeholder feedback, and they will remain accessible to the public through January 21, 2019. The comments we receive will form the basis for refreshing the standards. Hopefully, you took some time to complete the survey and provide your own comments. If the survey is still open at the time this article is posted and you haven’t yet provided your feedback, we would strongly encourage you to have a say in the future set of standards that will inform your future work!

The timeline for the revisionary process was recently updated, and it is as follows: Continue reading →

Posted in Around the State, General, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment

Tips to Advocate for Languages in your Community

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

Angela Gardner, OFLA PR and Advocacy Committee Chairperson

In the last edition of The Cardinal, we shared tips for advocating for languages in your building. You can further enhance and support these efforts through some simple tips for advocating for languages and increase their reach and impact by conducting community outreach.

Tip #1-Repurpose those classroom photos

In our last article, we talked about how to snap photos of your students enjoying daily activities and using those photos to attract prospective language students in brochures or displays around the building. Maximize the potential of these photos by sharing them with parents, administrators, and local stakeholders. You can do this through a classroom newsletter, a school-based newsletter, or even through local press outlets. Provide a description of what the focus of the lesson was, and voila, you’ve got a wonderful way to not only celebrate your students’ learning, but also to inform public stakeholders and help educate your local community about practices, products, and perspectives! Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, General, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment

Starting Fresh: We Have So Many Opportunities

Posted on January 13, 2019 by

Beth Hanlon, OFLA Immediate Past President
Spanish Teacher, Oberlin High School

The ball drops in Times Square and “2019” lights up! We congratulate each other on the arrival of the New Year with kisses, hugs, and cheers…assuming you were able to stay awake! The fresh start associated with the new year is easily observed when our social media feeds become monopolized by check-ins at local gyms and recipes being posted seem a little healthier.

Many of us head back to school in early January to the final week of the second quarter and midterms exams. Others lug back the pile of midterm exams they graded over winter break and early January immediately begins the third quarter. With either scenario, January brings the middle of “the year.”

As teachers, our “new [school] year”’ can seem a little different because our fresh start comes in August. But we are fortunate because we do not need to wait until the following August to make fresh starts in order to make the current year effective, impactful, and memorable for our students. Continue reading →

Posted in Executive News, General, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment

MAKING THE BEST OF THE TIME WE HAVE: My New Year Resolution

Posted on January 13, 2019 by

Julie Frye, Lexington High School French/OFLA Membership Chair

Happy New Year 2019! I am working on a list of “19 for 2019” and wanted to share the inspiration for this idea. It comes from a podcast! I subscribe to a number of podcasts that I listen to during my daily commute, and the idea for “19 for 2019” comes from “HAPPIER, with GRETCHEN RUBIN”.

What I really want to share with you, though, is the plethora of language-related podcasts available. If you have 20-30 minutes a day (my commute is 40 minutes), for example, preparing a meal, washing dishes, walking the dog, working out at the gym, doing chores around the house, etc., and you have a smartphone or other device, I strongly recommend finding a podcast or two you love, and finding daily inspiration there. Continue reading →

Posted in General, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment

Welcome to Year Two for the State of Ohio Seal of Biliteracy

Posted on January 13, 2019 by

Lesley Chapman, OFLA President-Elect, Sycamore City Schools

As we turn the page of the calendar and enter 2019, many of us are looking ahead to the spring and to testing for the State of Ohio Seal of Biliteracy. I tested my students last year and was pleased to find that the majority of them were successful. I have used the results of the Seal testing to focus on areas of my program that might need more attention. It is also a very useful tool for encouraging students to remain in their language classes through their junior or senior years of high school since testing must occur within 14 months of graduation. Continue reading →

Posted in Executive News, General, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment

“…a little chat, a little idle talk of this and that” – Sancho Panza, Man of La Mancha

Posted on January 12, 2019 by

Barbara A. Sposet, Ph.D.
Chair, OFLA Teacher and Education Licensure Committee
Baldwin Wallace University

This month’s article includes several items of interest to university teacher-educators as well as in-service and pre-service teachers.

For university World Language instructors, methods instructors and teacher candidates: Below is a list of upcoming job fairs. They include: Continue reading →

Posted in Committee News, General, Uncategorized, Winter 2019 | Leave a comment