2018 iFLT Conference

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

For anyone serious about teaching for acquisition!

Train with 35+ experienced trainers and coaches!

Krashen, Gaab, Placido, Toth, Davison, Li, Slocum-Bailey, Tatum-Johns, Paukova, Noonan, Wiechart, Boulanger, and many more!

Learn how to align your teaching practices with the principles of language acquisition.

Discover the power of comprehensible input and innovative ways to deliver it!

Conference tracks for all experience levels.

Posted in Summer 2018, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Expand Your Horizons: Bringing Variety into the Classroom

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Samantha Bremner, ELL Chair, Toledo

We’ve all been there. It’s time to teach a lesson about traditional cultures in your classroom. Break out the decorations, mix up or order the food, and settle on for another day to be discussed in World Language. For Spanish, it’s almost always Day of the Dead. It’s a valuable lesson from a beautiful culture. However, it is but one piece of the puzzle. There’s more to Mexican culture and the Spanish speaking world than this one holiday. Our job as teachers is to make the language come alive. In what better way can we do that than incorporating the beautiful cultures of the languages that we teach?

But how do we expand? Research. Google. Ask. Explore. Travel. Be curious. Continue reading →

Posted in Committee News, Summer 2018, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Making Progress One Step at a Time

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

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

As we conclude national Teacher Appreciation Week, there are several local and national events of note that have taken place over the first half of 2018 regarding the profession of teaching.
Avoiding a state-wide walkout of teachers, Arizona Gov. Ducy announced a plan in late April to raise teachers’ pay over a three-year period a total of 20% and called for restoring funding to schools. Earlier during the same month teachers in Kentucky and Oklahoma successfully took to the pavement in their respective state capitols and, after a strike of several days, were also succesful in getting a pay raise, albeit much lower than their Arizona peers. (www.cnn.com). Continue reading →

Posted in Committee News, Summer 2018, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

AATG Updates

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Dennis Boyd, AATG Ohio Treasurer/AATG Ohio Liaison to OFLA
German Teacher, Brunswick High School

AATG OHIO SPRING MEETING 2018

The AATG Ohio Spring meeting was held on Friday, April 6, 2018 at the OFLA Conference in Cleveland. Jeff Moore of Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School was elected 2nd Vice President.

AATG OHIO FALL CONFERENCE 2018

Julie Schonauer, New Philadelphia High School/AATG Ohio President Continue reading →

Posted in Affiliates, Summer 2018, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Book Review: Fluent Forever

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Derek Braun, TESOL/OFLA Liaison
Columbus City Schools, ELL Science Teacher

Wyner, G. (2014). Fluent forever: How to learn any language fast and never forget it.

The book entitled Fluent Forever is a great resource for anyone involved in the field of teaching and learning languages. This book describes a system of language learning that was developed by author Gabriel Wyner. Not only is this a great read for someone wanting to develop a self-guided language learning plan, it is rich with learning and memorization insights and applications. The author, Gabriel Wyner, is an opera singer and polyglot based in Chicago, IL. Throughout the book, he describes the history of how his love of language learning grew from his first immersion experience of learning German through a 14-week program at Middlebury Language School to becoming a polyglot, and now having learned over six additional languages. Through his immersion experiences, he developed a system to quickly build fluency by studying for short daily sessions. By implementing his learning program, he was able to learn French to fluency in five months and Russian in 9 months. He since has dedicated more time to writing and begun a Kickstarter Project to develop a language learning app that simplifies the language learning program. The app, Indiegogo, is set to release August 2018 and has become the Continue reading →

Posted in Affiliates, General, Summer 2018, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Successful Student Travel Tips

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Lindsay Dollinger, Buckeye Chapter AATSP President
Spanish Teacher, Jonathan Alder High School

I am 10 days from leading my fifth student trip overseas, this time back to Spain with a group of 20 eager, anxious, and seemingly prepared students. Often colleagues and others, when they find out I’m traveling with students, make remarks like, “Wow you’re brave!” or “I would never do that.” But, with some preparation and organization (and a little faith), you can! Briefly I wanted to share some of my tips for organizing and executing a successful trip abroad with students. Continue reading →

Posted in Affiliates, Summer 2018, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The 2018 OFLA Conference…Are you ready?

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Beth Hanlon, 2017-2018 OFLA President
Spanish Teacher, Oberlin High School

The 2018 OFLA conference is taking shape and it is incredible to watch it all come together! The OFLA board is very excited to provide this professional development opportunity for our members! I would like to take this time to give you more details in regards to the conference. Please make sure to click on the links throughout this article for additional information!

The conference has spent many years at great locations in Columbus but this year it is traveling to Cleveland! The Cleveland Marriott is located at 127 Public Square (Entrance at 1360 West Mall Drive). Please plan for valet parking at the hotel. The hotel is $139/per night plus any applicable fees and taxes. Continue reading →

Posted in Conference, Executive News, Letter from the President, Uncategorized, Winter 2018 | Leave a comment

Upcoming Events

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

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

2018 OFLA Elections
After working with the OFLA Nominations Committee, we will soon present the members that will be running for OFLA Board positions during the upcoming election! During this election cycle, as with each year’s election, a new member of the presidential track is elected to a four-year term to serve as Executive Vice-President, President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President. This four-year term gives the person time to learn the function of the board and time to develop projects and ideas for the membership. In addition to the election of a new Executive Vice-President, the Executive Treasurer, the Public Relations and Advocacy Chair and the Parliamentarian and By-Laws Chair are also being elected on a three-year rotation. These positions will begin the 2018-2019 school year. The OFLA Board also voted to accept a slate of Committee Chairs for a one-year term, 2018-2019. These candidates are elected as a slate.
The biographies and vision statements of the executive position candidates will be available in late January and voting is planned to begin at the end of February. Please watch your email for details. Continue reading →

Posted in Executive News, General, Opportunities, Uncategorized, Winter 2018 | Leave a comment

The Columbus Museum of Art Provides Inspiration to Ohio’s French Teachers and Students

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Lesley Chapman, Executive Vice President

French Teacher, Sycamore High School

I don’t know about you, but I am often on the lookout for meaningful, worthwhile cultural experiences for my students. I’m not much of a fan of going on a field trip with no real pedagogical reason. I have always believed that time out of the classroom should provide some growth opportunity that a student wouldn’t normally seek out on their own. Those experiences are not easy to come by. I was thrilled when I saw that the Columbus Museum of Art was hosting a French Impressionism exhibit (Beyond Impressionism – Paris, Fin de Siècle: Signac, Redon, Toulouse-Lautrec and Their Contemporaries, October 21, 2017 through January 21, 2018), and I jumped at the chance to take my students. This is truly a rare opportunity, as the Columbus Art Museum is the only art museum in the U.S. hosting. It is through a partnership with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Winter 2018 | Leave a comment

AU SECOURS! Translation: HELP!

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Cardinal Editor

Julie Frye, OFLA Membership Chair

Lexington High School French Teacher

This may be repetitive, and I seem to make a similar plea each year in September and January, and maybe even a third time as the annual OFLA Conference approaches!

If you are reading this article, that means your member profile is current and includes a VALID email address. As I have been updating our membership roster, especially those members who are using the OEA payroll deduction method, I am finding so many of our colleagues whose email addresses are not correct. This means that any communication we send out to the Membership (you!) is not making it to all of our members. Some teachers are missing announcements from our Professional Development team, are unaware of Board openings and nominations, don’t have access to scholarship applications, are not receiving this newsletter, The Cardinal, and will not know when registration opens for the 2018 OFLA Conference in Cleveland, because every email we send gets returned as ‘unable to deliver.” Continue reading →

Posted in Membership, Uncategorized, Winter 2018 | Leave a comment