Carol Eiber, Immediate Past President

According to our by-laws, there are three offices to be voted upon in 2013.  I am pleased to announce the candidates who have stepped forward to run for these offices.

The candidate for Executive Vice-President, who will move up to serve as president in 2015-16, is Martha Castañeda.  There are two candidates running for a three-year term as Membership Chair, Ila Hennig and Julie Frye.  Beth Hanlon is presently filling an unexpired term as Editor of Print Publications (The Cardinal) and Recorder; she is now a candidate for her own three-year term.  Their biographies and statements follow this article and they are posted on the OFLA web site:  http://ofla-online.org.  Online voting will take place between January 15 and 30; instructions on how to vote will be sent out closer to that time.  

The slate of Committee Chairs for 2013-14 will need approval by the membership as well.  The candidates for the Committee Chairs are:

          Beginning Teachers’ Committee:                               Lucas Hoffman

          Early Language Learning Committee:                    Judy McCombs

          Scholarship Committee:                                                Jody Ballah

          Secondary Language Learning Committee:          Debbie McCorkle

          College, Teacher Ed and Licensure Committee:   Gaby Semaan

          Technology Integration Committee:                         Theresa Minick

Please remember that planning for OFLA’s leadership is an on-going process.
If any office or board position interests you for a time in the future, please do not hesitate to contact one of the presidents and let us know.  

For Executive Vice President

Martha E. Castañeda is an Assistant Professor of Foreign Language Education at Miami University. She holds a Doctoral degree in Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology from the University of South Florida. She has been involved in foreign language education as a student, teacher, advocate, and researcher for over twenty years. She has taught Spanish at the high school level, university level, and has supervised foreign language teachers. Currently she directs the foreign language education program at Miami University and teaches undergraduate and graduate methods courses. Her research is grounded in her teaching, NCATE/ACTFL accreditation requirements for foreign language programs, new technologies, and a passion for partnerships with local schools. She has published one book, several book chapters, thirteen journal articles, and two conference proceedings. Her research appears in journals such as Hispania, Foreign Language Annals, Tapestry, and Education Horizons.

Vision Statement – OFLA President

The Ohio Foreign Language Association (OFLA) is an integral organization for foreign language teachers around the state and beyond. As a state level organization, it provides a venue for professional development, networking, resources, and recognitions for practicing and pre-service teachers. Since moving to the state of Ohio in 2007, I have been an active and proud member of OFLA and I wholeheartedly believe in OFLA’s vision that all students “be proficient in a second language” because it “is essential to a world-class education.” Foreign language learning contributes to the overall success of all students and if elected executive vice president of OFLA, I will continue to advocate for the teaching of all languages to all students at all levels. OFLAs strategic plan is to “build the capacity of foreign language teachers to prepare learners to demonstrate their proficiency” and to “build support for foreign language instruction.” Under the current and past presidents, great strides have been made to advance the organization’s initiatives and I would like to forge ahead with these priorities. OFLA is an organization with great teachers and students doing excellent work, and I would like to increase the visibility of teacher and students’ successes at the state and national level. Exemplary teachers and students can serve as mentors to peers, pre-service teachers, new teachers, experienced teachers. To this end, I would like to recognize excellence in language teaching and learning and create a database of teachers and students willing to serve as guides and advocates for language teaching.

For Editor for Print Publications/Executive Recorder

Brief Bio

Beth Hanlon is currently the Spanish teacher at Wellington High School in Lorain County. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Akron in 2001 and earned a master’s in Spanish and Education in 2004 also from the University of Akron. She taught for a year at Our Lady of the Elms in Akron, three years at Bellevue Senior High School in Huron County and is now in her sixth year at Wellington. She earned National Board Certification in 2009. She also enjoys working to implement technology into her classroom that enhances her teaching practices and the learning experience for her students.

Personal Statement

In July 2012, I assumed the last year of the Editor for Print Publications/Executive Recorder’s term. I spent time during the summer learning how to use WordPress, the website used to create “The Cardinal”, while creating a class website after taking a WordPress workshop. In the fall of 2012, I edited and published the first online edition of “The Cardinal” along with the assistance and support of fellow board members. I will also be the editor for the Winter and Spring 2013 editions of the newsletter.
I am now running for my own three-year term for Editor for Print Publications/Executive Recorder. I believe that my knowledge of WordPress, Google Docs and Dropbox are vital to performing the functions of this position. I use these tools daily for school and have applied my knowledge of them for editing with other board members and publishing “The Cardinal” on WordPress.

I am also running for my own term because I want to give back to the Ohio Foreign Language Association. I have been a member since December 2001 when I was a graduate student. Through the years, I have always taken so much away from the sessions at the conference and by networking with colleagues. I feel that serving on the OFLA Executive Board is a way to give back to the professional organization that has given, and continues to give, so much to me.

For Membership Chair

Brief bio

Julie Frye is a French teacher at Lexington High School in Richland County.
She is a graduate of Wittenberg University (B.A. French, 1979). While attending Wittenberg she was the youngest person inducted into Phi Sigma Iota. She also spent her junior year studying in Biarritz and Paris under the auspices of Hamilton College, NY. While there she attended classes at the Sorbonne and earned the Certificat Pratique de Langue Française and the Certificat de Phonétique appliquée à la Langue Française. She went back to school in 2000 to earn her teaching certification/licensure and completed those courses through Mount Union College. She was actually working full-time as a substitute French teacher while she earned her certification. She has been in the classroom ever since, employed by Crestview Local Schools (Columbiana, OH), Western Reserve Local Schools (Berlin Center, OH) and Lexington High School (Lexington OH).

She has been a member of OFLA and AATF from the very beginning of her teaching career and has benefitted tremendously from both. She has been serving on the OFLA Technology Team since its inception and continues to encourage the use of technology in the classroom. She also moderates a Tech Trade-off at Lexington, a twice-monthly session where they share with each other what is working in their classrooms. She has accompanied two groups of students to France since coming to Lexington and is planning a third trip for the summer of 2013. She describes her students as “merveilleux!”

Personal statement

Greetings to all you dedicated OFLA members! I have been teaching French in Ohio since 2001 and have been fortunate to meet and work with many of you in the northeast and central regions. This is my fifth year as the only French teacher at Lexington High School in Richland County, which means my first class of 8th graders are my current French V seniors. What a milestone for all of us!

I joined OFLA my very first year of teaching and immediately found it an invaluable resource. I have benefited professionally and personally from ideas shared in the Cardinal publication, dialogues posted via the listserv and friendships established at the OFLA annual conference.

In this era of social media, district funding cutbacks, and the new OTES implementation, being a member of this organization is a no-brainer! Membership is inter-personal, easy & cost-effective.

Ila Hennig is a Spanish teacher at Adena High School. She has been learning and practicing Spanish for nearly forty years by either taking college courses, attending conferences or traveling abroad to fine-tune her own personal knowledge of culture and language. Ila is always exploring ways to make learning a world language challenging, exciting and fun in the classroom. Along with her students, she has traveled to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Spain. She encourages other world language teachers to network in their own local communities with heritage language speakers and regularly attends a monthly rendez-vous with hispanic speakers in her community.
She has been learning and practicing Spanish for nearly forty years by either taking college courses, attending conferences or traveling abroad to fine-tune her own personal knowledge of culture and language. Ila is always exploring ways to make learning a world language challenging, exciting and fun in the classroom. Along with her students, she has traveled to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Spain. She encourages other world language teachers to network in their own local communities with heritage language speakers and regularly attends a monthly rendez-vous with hispanic speakers in her community.

Personal Statement

¡Hola! My name is Ila Hennig and I have been the Membership Chair for OFLA for 16 months. It has been a huge learning experience. I’ve become much more acquainted with different programs on my computer since I began! I enjoy so very much working with my colleagues on the OFLA board. It is a truly dedicated group of teachers trying to find the best way to involve and encourage the World Language teachers of Ohio in a profession that is ever-changing and ever more important in an education system that sometimes questions our worth. I enjoy encouraging teachers to join our organization to keep themselves ‘in the loop’ about these changes. For the many of us who are the only language teacher in the school it is even more important to be part of OFLA to keep in contact with our colleagues, discuss best practices, find out about workshops, and practice our language.

I hope to continue giving back to OFLA for the many years of help I’ve received from them, by continuing in my position as Membership Chair.