Our summer is slowly coming to an end. This summer, for me, has been unlike any other summers in the past. I spent a lot of it learning & reflecting. Throughout these learning experiences, I found out that so many WL organizations & individuals stepped up to provide free and affordable PD for WL teachers. I am so grateful for those opportunities and I embraced each as best as I could. On some occasions, I needed to take a break, but I am glad I compiled a list of the ones I could revisit.

I choose to focus on the positive. I am so happy to report that in the middle of the pandemic, inside our WL teacher communities, there has been an overflow of opportunities to learn from generous organizations and powerhouse WL leaders. 

Here is a collection of FREE powerful professional learning on a wide variety of topics imaginable. I want to invite you to check these out (or revisit) at a time convenient to you:

1. Blended Language Learning: Design and Practice for Teachers by University of Colorado Boulder – The course is designed for educators who desire structured instruction in building a powerful blended language course.  See what people are saying about this course.
2. ACTFL has created a rich selection of remote learning materials that is worth looking at. In addition to complimentary access to their selected  publications as well as to eight virtual learning modules during the months of June & July along with a free membership opportunity to first year members, ACTFL provides public access to powerful training and resources online. If you haven’t checked it out, get ready to take some notes!
3. IFLTA, the Indiana Language Roadmap , and Israel Herrera also hosted the Nation’s Best of the Best World Language Teaching and Learning Series. These sessions were full of impact and packed with strategic content to better serve our students in the months ahead. You can catch the replays of their sessions at IFLTA’s YouTube Channel.
4. The National Foreign Language Center  Virtual Summit captivated the attention  of WL teachers worldwide from July 21st – July 23rd and beyond, but why stop there? The sessions are available via NFLC’s YouTube Channel until the end of August, and trust me, these are sessions you will not want to miss. They are each 30 minutes in length and strategically packed with best practices, tips, and inspiration for all WL teaching approaches. Seriously, there is something for everyone.
5. My dear friend and colleague Diego Ojeda never ceased to show his dedication and pay tribute to our beautiful Spanish language and teaching profession by offering impactful PD sessions for Spanish teachers in Spanish.  His sessions are useful to all WL teachers, but I must say his sessions are a must for AP & IB Spanish teachers as he has a treasure of knowledge and expertise to offer in these particular areas. You can access his workshops via his professional development  web page.
6.  AVANT – MFLA hosted  Empowering with Languages Summer Series, and they certainly delivered on that theme and beyond! These sessions did not disappoint in quality. If you missed any sessions or if you would like to catch the replay of these  sessions, you can access the replays here!

If you are an organizer of any of the above mentioned PD series and you are reading this, I just want to say “THANK YOU” from the bottom of my heart as you contributed to a beautiful network of PD opportunities.

Free Professional Learning Through Dynamic Facebook Groups

1. Transformation Through Acquisition Driven Instruction is my professional learning community via a Facebook Group and I want to invite you to be a part of it. Every Wednesday at 6  PM ET, we get together to learn from powerhouse presenters and sometimes via heart to heart informal conversations. You can access the past  presentations by requesting access here or you can catch our next live event every Wednesday by joining the Transformation Through Acquisition Driven Instruction Facebook Community. Here are some of our past topics:
2. My friend, Claudia Elliott, also has an incredible professional learning community via the Facebook group Growing with CI. She offers weekly PD sessions and once you join her group, you will have access to past and present PD sessions that have been hosted inside her empowering community. Trust me, you will also want to join her PLC. Claudia is committed to supporting her online community and is a master teacher who is passionate about comprehensible input and building strong relationships with students.
3. I am blessed to have many wonderful friends who are an inspiration to me through their online communities. My friend Christina Margiore aka Super Señora also has a new but growing Facebook professional learning community,  Let’s Talk World Language Teaching . I want to invite you to join her as she is also hosting short weekly chats. Her passion is leading her students to output and she is a queen at hosting Socratic seminars.
4. For all things technology, you cannot miss out on joining the Rachel Lucas’s Tech For World Language Teachers Facebook Community. She has always offered PD sessions inside her community even before school closures, but as soon as the entire nation transitioned to virtual learning, Rachel went into overdrive mode with the life saving support she provided non stop to meet the tech needs of teachers nationwide. Talk about servant leadership!

This blog post turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated, but I am glad because there is just so much out there to prepare us for what’s to come. The one thing I knew before school closures that has become more evident now is that  we don’t have to do this alone and we are stronger together.

Remember que ¡Sí se puede!