Digital Connection + Professional Development
Whether you are a pre-service or practicing teacher, there is so much to be learned from others via the groups, conferences, and websites mentioned below. Subscribe to the newsletters, join the groups, and attend the free webinars — these are easy ways to gain invaluable, often free, information!
In an effort not to double-list resources, those mentioned in interviews or history pages are included within those pages, but not necessarily here. Explore those other sections to learn more!
This section will be focusing on language education-specific resources.
Let’s help each other — if you know of other resources of groups, please send them to me so they can be added to this page! A lot of the resources below are Spanish-skewed because that is the community I interact with, so I would love to include other voices!
General Language Education Facebook Groups (not specific to a particular language)
Bilingual Education Facebook Groups
Other Language + Education Facebook Groups
YouTube Channels to Subscribe To
Kaitlin Leppert (Wisconsin teacher + interviewee!)
Sarah Breckley (a Wisconsin teacher!)
Educator and Language-Related Instagram Accounts
There are so many great language educators to follow on Instagram. I learn so much from the people I follow, and it is a great way to learn about what day-to-day life looks like as a language educator!
Books and Teaching Materials
Groups and Organizations
Non-Bilingual Spanish Teachers
Sarah Breckley (a Wisconsin teacher!)
Teaching to Acquire (a Wisconsin teacher + interviewee!)
Growing Global Citizens (a Wisconsin teacher + interviewee!)
Speech and Child Language Development
En Mis Palabras Speech (she went to UW-Madison!)
French Teachers
Chinese Teachers
Spanish/English Bilingual Teachers
Spanish/English Bilingual Teachers cont.
Podcasts to Listen to
Blogs and Individual Teacher Websites
Growing Global Citizens (a Wisconsin teacher + interviewee!)
Professional Groups and Resource Websites
Chalk Academy (Mandarin Chinese and Korean teaching resources)
Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)
Professional Development Opportunities
These opportunities are not just for practicing teachers! Many conferences will be more than happy to allow pre-service teachers to attend (you may even be able to get a reduced rate!).
CSCTFL (Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)
March
ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo
Novemember
WAFLT (Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers) Summer Institute
August
November
Accepts proposals
November 5-6th
Accepts proposals
FREE
WAFLT (Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers) Virtual Power Hours
Informal monthly chats with other language teachers in Wisconsin
FLESFEST (hosted by Wisconsin Network for Early Language Learning)
Late February
Free + Online in 2021, not sure going forward