Amy begins her presentation with several suggestions for teachers that can help them improve their practice, such as collaborating with like-minded colleagues and inviting bilingual members of the community into the classroom. When it comes to vocabulary instruction, Amy advises using backward design to plan a unit, and incorporating platforms such as Edpuzzle, Wordwall, Blooket, Kahoot and Quizlet to engage learners. In addition, Amy suggests a variety of films that are appropriate for the language classroom and the topics that they address.

In the presentation, Erinn Vincent, a Spanish teacher, shares a variety of language learning activities for kids at stations. These activities include spelling, vocabulary, reading, writing, listening, speaking, and games. Vincent emphasizes the benefits of using stations, such as allowing students to work at their own pace and fostering autonomy in their learning. She also provides specific examples of activities and resources, such as templates for digital stations and breakout room note-taking. The presentation encourages teachers to incorporate stations as a way to observe student progress and engagement in language learning.

*Please make copies of all resources in order to use them.

Jessica is presenting three speaking activities that will help improve the skills of your class. These activities can be done as a whole class or in pairs and can be applied to different vocabulary, verbs, adjectives, and more.

With an extensive experience in teaching and technology integration, Rachel shares her insights, tips, and strategies for creating an engaging classroom environment that encourages students to communicate in the language they are learning. From the importance of providing ample input to the effective use of tech tools like FlipGrid, GimKit, and Seesaw, Rachel offers practical advice for fostering speaking skills in students of all ages. Dive deep into this transformative topic and discover how to empower our students to become confident speakers in the target language.

In this session, Noemí Rodríguez discusses the use of authentic music for engaging elementary school students in language education. She emphasizes the benefits of using music and movement in the classroom, such as sparking students' interest, accelerating brain development, and fostering a sense of community. Noemí provides practical strategies for incorporating authentic music into language lessons, including using music as a timer and brain break, designing pre-reading and post-reading activities around song lyrics, and pre-teaching vocabulary before introducing a music video or movie talk. She also encourages educators to explore themed virtual spaces and engage students in activities such as March Madness with music. Overall, the presentation highlights the diverse ways in which authentic music can be used to enhance language learning in elementary classrooms.

In this presentation, Jennifer demonstrates live how she uses AI tools such as Genially, ChatGPT and Canva to create interactive and engaging visual stories for language education. She emphasizes the importance of stimulating students' curiosity and using AI as a catalyst for creativity. Niño demonstrates how to use these tools to create prompts for classroom projects, present stories with interactive elements for listening comprehension, and design interactive exercises for language learning.

In this session, Carmen shares her expertise in using drama and storytelling to teach elementary students the Spanish language. She emphasizes the importance of teaching emotions and feelings vocabulary through engaging activities such as matching emotions with sentences and silent acting. Reyes highlights the impact of drama activities on developing language proficiency, comprehension, and confidence in students. Her approach combines total physical response (TPR) and teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling (TPRS) to create an interactive and immersive language learning experience for elementary students.