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
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
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
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
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
Lesley Chapman, Executive Vice President
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
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
Jonathan Harris
Executive Recorder and Editor of the Cardinal, OFLA
Spanish Teacher, St. Gabriel Consolidated School, Cincinnati, Ohio
“The art or craft of writing is a clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness,” said award-winning author John Steinbeck when he was asked about writing. I found this quote while writing this article for The Cardinal, with a topic of writing an article for The Cardinal. I’d like to take a moment as we start a new year to remind ourselves about The Cardinal and why we need authors and articles. This is not a shameless sales pitch. You won’t get paid, no eternal glory, but you will help other members of the world language Continue reading
Dina Marsala, OFLA Editor of Electronic Media
French Teacher, Avon Lake City Schools
This past November I had the opportunity to attend my first ACTFL Convention in Nashville. Visiting Nashville was a dream come true with the live bands, country music history and I even got to meet Elvis! The Convention itself had so many learning opportunities even for a seasoned teacher. Many of the sessions that I attended focused on proficiency. I’d love to share with you my experience and a few take-a-ways.
I was lucky to be able to attend a workshop given by Linda Egnatz, 2014 ACTFL Teacher of the Year. Her session was titled Proficiency as a Tool to Focus Curriculum, Instruction and Continue reading
Holly Haputa, Professional Development Chair
Spanish Teacher, Avon Lake High School
I am ecstatic that my hometown is hosting this year’s annual conference! The session line up has a fantastic variety of topics and we are in the heart of the city center. All we need is you, hopefully your plans are in full swing to attend.
Teacher-driven professional development tops my priority list. In an effort to assess and meet your needs as educators, I ask that you complete the following survey by February 19, 2018: https://tinyurl.com/2018OFLAPD. Please be honest with your responses so we can design future professional development opportunities around you, your needs, and your preferences. Once the survey is complete, results will be posted. Continue reading
The Cardinal 