No More Chaotic Starts
by Jessica Hall

The problem at the start of class usually isn't a lack of bell work ideas — it's a lack of a system. Jessica Hall cuts through the daily decision fatigue with three endlessly repeatable bell work formats (matching, fill-in-the-blank, and categories), a clear minute-by-minute routine, and practical accountability strategies that make students take the whole thing seriously. Once this routine is in place, the first ten minutes essentially run themselves — which means the rest of the class period can too.
 26 min

4 Attention Grabbing Ways to Implement a Routine
by Courtney Bonino

Bell ringers don't have to be boring — but they do have to be consistent. Courtney Bonino presents four distinct warm-up routines (relationship builder, culture builder, connection builder, and energy builder) that give students a real reason to walk in ready. With practical formats like social-emotional image grids, themed daily cultural facts, elevated calendar talk with national holidays, and student voting brackets, you'll find an approach that fits your personality and keeps students genuinely engaged from the very first minute — day after day.
 24 min

Culture through Routines
by Allison Wienhold

Known as Mis Clases Locas, Allison Wienhold shows how to weave authentic culture into class every single day without adding planning time, through sustainable routines like free reading, weekend chat, "Martes en el Mapa" country spotlights, music brackets, and quick joke-of-the-day readings. Built from years as a one-person language department juggling every level at once, her ready-to-go slide decks and honest troubleshooting advice make this an especially practical session for teachers stretched thin across preps. A joyful, low-lift way to make culture a daily habit rather than an occasional unit.
 27 min

90% Class Time in the Target Language
by Ashley Mikkelsen

Hitting ACTFL's 90% target language benchmark isn't about speaking fast and hoping students keep up — it's about a deliberate three-step plan: communicate the goal to students and families, build in real scaffolds and visual supports, and turn it into a shared team effort rather than a solo performance. Ashley Mikkelsen's "point and pause" technique and honest reminder that "speed doesn't equal success" make this a reassuring, practical session for any teacher nervous about losing students in an immersive classroom. She also offers a "Plan B" for the days target-language immersion just isn't landing.
 20 min

Boosting Student Engagement and Communication
by Georgette Leslie

Many students sit silent in language class not because they don't care, but because they're afraid — and Dr. Georgette Leslie's session tackles that fear head-on with her practical Engagement Framework (Purpose, Modeling, Interaction, Communication, Application). She walks through proven interactive strategies like role play, conversation stations, and information gaps, plus concrete ways technology and culture can amplify student voice rather than replace it. A clear, encouraging session for teachers looking to shift reluctant, quiet classrooms into confident, communicative ones.
 15 min

Language in Action: Embodied, Creative, and Connected Classrooms
by Stuart Blair

What happens when language learning engages the whole person — body, voice, identity, and imagination? Stuart Blair's "Language in Action" pedagogy weaves together drama and improvisation, sequential art and comics, language meditation, and multimodal literacy into a coherent philosophy of practice. From endangered indigenous Australian language revitalization to everyday French classrooms, Stuart demonstrates how embodied, creative, and culturally connected experiences turn language into something students genuinely live rather than merely study.
 23 min

First Five Minutes: Activities that Hook Students Instantly
by Rosa Casado

The first five minutes of class set the tone for everything that follows — and they're too valuable to leave to chance. Rosa Casado shares a menu of low-prep, high-engagement opening activities (mystery image reveals, four corners, emoji check-ins, "this or that" debates, cultural curiosity moments, and more) along with the key principles that make any routine stick: quick, predictable, low-barrier, and interactive. Whether your students walk in wired or half-asleep, these strategies pull them into the target language before they even realize it.
 24 min

Starting the Year with Clarity Using a Textbook While Teaching for Acquisition
by Claudia Elliott

Many world language teachers feel torn between their district's required textbook and everything they've learned about comprehensible input and second language acquisition. Claudia Elliott spent years navigating exactly this tension before landing on three grounding pillars — compelling input, communication-centered purpose, and human connection — that let her use the textbook without being limited by it. Through her practical cycle of instruction and routines like star student interviews, weekend chats, and calendar talk, she shows how to build a year of meaningful, acquisition-focused teaching while still meeting curricular expectations.
 49 min

Storytelling: What, Why, and How?
by Ingrid Hoel

Storytelling is one of the oldest and most effective vehicles for language acquisition — but many teachers aren't sure where to start, or how to make it work beyond the basics. Ingrid Hoel breaks it down clearly: what storytelling and comprehensible input actually mean in practice, why stories create the conditions brains need to acquire language, and how to write and deliver your own classroom stories with confidence. She shares original stories she's developed for her own students alongside a toolkit of during- and after-story activities that keep the input rich and the engagement high.
 22 min

The Magic of TPR
by LeAnne Tracey

A self-described "old school, pencil and paper" teacher who first discovered TPR in the 1990s, LeAnne Tracey shows how scripting a full TPR lesson — complete with stage notes, audience indicators, and built-in review sections — creates near-100% target language immersion and remarkable long-term retention, with former students still remembering commands years later. She walks through exactly how to gather props, organize vocabulary, and write a script from scratch, while honestly addressing the method's challenges like cold-calling anxiety and prop management. A nostalgic yet deeply practical session for teachers wanting beginners to succeed fast.
 60 min

TPR 2.0: Using Speed with Purpose
by Luisa Acevedo

Discover why movement alone isn't enough — and how adding intentional speed transforms vocabulary into long-term memory. Drawing on Krashen's affective filter hypothesis and Stephen Porges' polyvagal theory, Luisa Acevedo shows how a regulated, safe classroom unlocks the neurological conditions students need to acquire language. You'll walk away with a ready-to-use, multi-round TPR protocol that bypasses conscious anxiety and encodes words in the body — where they're hardest to forget.
 35 min

Story → Song → Output
by Liliam Farias

Songs are powerful — but only when students truly understand the world behind them. Liliam Farias' Story → Song → Output framework solves this by building deep contextual meaning before the song is ever introduced: first through a culturally rich story, then through the song itself as familiar ground, and finally through scaffolded writing and speaking output. Using her Cuba unit and the song "A Cuba Voy" as a concrete model, she shows how even elementary multilingual learners can produce confident, connected language when meaning comes first.
 16 min

Teaching for Proficiency with Stories
by Valentina Correa

Stories are one of the most natural vehicles for language acquisition — but only when they're delivered with intention and structure. Valentina Correa presents a clear seven-step teaching path: choose a story built around high-frequency words, pre-load vocabulary through TPR and games, read with gestures and circling questions, and extend learning with culturally rich activities that keep the input flowing long after the story ends. Drawing on her own Aventuras in Learning curriculum for elementary learners, Valentina shows how even the youngest students can acquire language deeply when meaning, community, and story come first.
 47 min

Once Upon a Prompt
by Silvana Ibañez

What if AI could be your co-author for compelling, level-appropriate classroom stories? This session explores how to craft precise AI prompts that generate rich narratives tailored to your students' proficiency level, your thematic unit, and your target structures — and then how to use those stories as the engine for a full sequence of comprehension, discussion, and creative output activities. Equal parts practical prompt-writing workshop and storytelling pedagogy, this session puts a powerful new tool in the hands of every world language teacher.
 28 min

Quickly Build a CI-Based Unit
by Joshua Cabral

Building a full comprehensible input unit doesn't have to take days of planning. Joshua Cabral walks you through a rich toolkit of CI activities — from picture talks and special person interviews to embedded readings, running dictations, and clip chats — then shows how a single compelling story can anchor all of them into a cohesive, multi-week unit. Best of all, he provides ready-to-use AI prompts so you can generate both your story and all the accompanying activities in minutes, not hours.
 50 min

Silent Discussions: One Strategy, Three Modes, Novice to AP
by Chelsea Lawrence

What if your noisiest engagement problem could be solved by going completely silent? Chelsea Lawrence's silent discussion strategy has students write their way through a real, purposeful conversation on colored pens, negotiating meaning, asking follow-up questions, and reacting to classmates — all without speaking a word, while a clever "language support board" lets them get vocabulary help from the teacher without breaking the silence. Adaptable from novice picture-talks to AP-level policy debates, this session offers a fully scaffolded system, complete with rubrics, prompts, and real classroom examples across levels.
 62 min

Be a Taskmaster: How to Ensure Communicative Purpose with Tasks
by Rebecca Blouwolff

Not all classroom activities are created equal — and recognizing the difference could change everything about your teaching. Rebecca Blouwolff unpacks Bill VanPatten's crucial distinction between exercises (no meaning), activities (partial meaning), and Tasks (full communicative purpose) and shows how to see your own classroom through this new lens. With vivid examples ranging from birthday calendars and crossword info-gaps to multi-week project-based units, she demonstrates how to transform what you're already doing into fully communicative experiences that generate real student engagement.
 29 min

The Socratic Seminar as a Proficiency Tool
by Cambre Santos

For heritage Spanish speakers who've internalized the message that their Spanish "doesn't count," silence in the classroom isn't a knowledge gap — it's an identity wound. Cambre Santos, who teaches in the same Massachusetts community she grew up in, presents a fully structured two-day Socratic seminar built on culturally resonant texts, layered questioning (from comprehension to philosophical synthesis), inner/outer circle accountability, and proficiency-based grading that values code-switching as a strength rather than a flaw. Moving and meticulously practical, this session includes a full toolkit: rubrics, discussion-leader cards, and observer sheets.
 27 min

Speak MORE, Book LESS
by Marissa Tate

A 25-year French teaching veteran shares her full toolbox of speaking and listening activities designed to pull students out of grammar worksheets and into living, breathing conversation — from Walk and Talk and Silly Story to the addictive Story Shrinking game and a running dictée that gets students moving and repeating naturally. She closes with an inside look at her school's dedicated Conversation Track, built for students who want four years of language without the AP grind. A practical, classroom-tested grab bag for any teacher ready to trade textbook pages for real talk time.
 40 min

Make It Stick: Vocabulary Strategies that Work
by Megan Whalon

Grounded firmly in Krashen's principle that "we acquire language by understanding it, not producing it," Megan Whalon distinguishes true comprehensible input from activities that only look communicative, then shows exactly how to introduce vocabulary in rich cultural context rather than isolated lists. Using a real Quebec-themed lesson as a model, she demonstrates how to extend new words through cultural readings, music, drawing activities, and engaging review games like the high-stakes Bomb Game and Six/Mon Crayon. A clear, well-organized session packed with classroom-ready vocabulary activities at every stage.
 24 min

What to Do When Students Are Anxious About Reading
by Margarita Perez Garcia

Drawing on her own experience crying through cognitive overload as a language learner, Margarita Perez Garcia offers eight mindful, dignity-protecting responses for the moment a student's reading anxiety boils over — from defusing classroom attention to using a designated reading station and manipulable glossary cards. She also shares calming TPR-based mindfulness breaks like "butterfly breathing" that lower the affective filter without leaving the target language. A compassionate, practical session for any teacher who has watched a struggling reader shut down or melt down in class.
 28 min

ALL-ACCESS VIP BUNDLE BONUS SESSION

Relationships in the Classroom: One Key to Professional Fulfillment
by Jill Wiley

After 25+ years teaching across high-needs US schools and now in Norway, Jill Wiley makes the case that strong student-teacher relationships are the single most powerful, controllable lever a teacher has — backed by research linking them to higher engagement, fewer behavior issues, and greater teacher joy. Through unforgettable personal stories and her memorable MAX framework (Maximize positive interaction, Appreciate every student, create joyful eXperiences, Keep it real, and seeK to understand), she offers concrete, low-effort ways to deepen connection with every student, even the hardest ones to reach. This session is equal parts moving and immediately practical for any teacher feeling burned out or just wanting to reconnect with why they teach.
 69 min

Culture, Classics, Curiosity, and Civic Thinking
by Hongmin Yu

Fifth-grade Mandarin immersion teacher Hongmin Yu shows how a single math problem about Guatemala's Festival of Giant Kites can blossom into a cross-cultural journey through Pixar's Coco, China's Qingming Festival, and the universal theme of remembering family — all while practicing real decimal math. She layers in Daoist philosophy connected to science units on adaptation and natural selection, water-conservation data tied to civic responsibility, and rich cultural projects like Mid-Autumn Festival calligraphy, traditional bookmarks, and Peking Opera masks. The session closes with a genuinely moving example of using Mandarin to help students process a real playground conflict, showing how language, culture, and SEL can fuse into one seamless, meaningful classroom experience.
20 min

Fabric of Intercultural Lives: Teaching Culture with Technology
by Amanda Lanier

There's a crucial difference between teaching culture as static content and teaching interculturally — and Dr. Amanda Lanier shows how to make that shift without sacrificing proficiency. Using fashion and fabric as a running example, she walks through a complete task-design framework (stimulus, observation, main task, debrief, reflection) that turns familiar topics like clothing or food into genuine cross-cultural exploration, connected to real global issues like fashion waste and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It's a rich, research-grounded session for teachers ready to move beyond flags-and-festivals culture teaching.
 58 min

Learning Portuguese the Natural Way
by Carla and Marlon Sabala

Husband-and-wife team Carla and Marlon, founders of Portuguese with Carla, dismantle four common language-learning mistakes — over-relying on vocabulary apps, chasing grammar rules before fluency, training on artificially slowed speech, and waiting for perfection before speaking. Drawing on linguistics research, their own struggles learning English and Romanian, and real student success stories, they make a compelling, relatable case for natural-speed exposure and early, imperfect communication. A motivating, big-picture session as relevant to language teachers as to self-directed learners.
 44 min

Using Music Effectively in the Classroom
by Menya Jefferson

With 23 years of experience teaching languages through music, Menya Jefferson shows how the right song can make a tough grammar point click while making class genuinely fun. She walks through concrete activity formats — fill-in-the-blank, lyric ordering, and group song construction — plus a full sample lesson built entirely around one song, and points teachers toward ready-made resources like Locura de Marzo and Mani Musicale's free shared activity drives. It's a practical, energizing toolkit for any teacher who wants students leaving class still singing.
 21 min

My 10 Most Popular Spanish Projects
by Andrea Olatunji

Children's book author and veteran teacher Andrea Olatunji counts down her ten most-requested classroom projects — the ones students beg to repeat — from animating classroom objects with ChatterPix to building competitive Latin Food Trucks and dressing up as Latinx artists like Frida Kahlo. Beyond the project ideas themselves, she lays out six concrete elements (student voice, clear objectives, real audience, rehearsal time, constructive feedback) that separate a genuinely engaging project from a glorified PowerPoint assignment. A fun, idea-packed session with adaptable projects for any level.
 32 min

Structured Gallery Walks
by Courtney Jackson

Gallery walks can be chaotic — or they can be one of the most powerful structured routines in your classroom. Courtney Jackson shows how to design gallery walks that give students clear roles, purposeful movement, and genuine communicative tasks as they engage with posted content. With strong scaffolding strategies and accountability structures built right in, this format moves students from passive observers to active language users — making it ideal for reviewing, synthesizing, or launching new content at any proficiency level.
 50 min

Bilingual Theater
by Elizabeth Porter

Born from doctoral research in Senegal — a country where code-switching between French and Wolof is a daily art form — Elizabeth Porter's Bilingual Theater uses the "sandwich method" to alternate native and target language lines in performance, building biliteracy rather than mere bilingualism. She shows how this technique makes even Shakespeare and Molière accessible, using AI to adapt scripts to proficiency level and "Gen Z language," with rhythm and music reinforcing memory and lowering the affective filter. A genuinely original, research-backed approach for teachers wanting to bring real performance into the language classroom.
 22 min

When Great Ideas Meet Monday Morning: Using AI to Make WL Plans Work
by Ashley Eberhart

Every world language teacher has a folder full of great ideas that never quite survived contact with real Monday-morning conditions. Ashley Eberhart's practical "Friction → Filter → First Version" framework helps you finally close that gap — not by ignoring the realities of your classroom, but by designing with them in mind. With concrete AI prompting strategies, she shows how to transform a good idea (an authentic reader, a speaking task students avoid, a PD technique that felt too big) into a workable, classroom-ready version you can actually use this week.
 25 min

Perplexed about Prompting with AI: Meet C.L.E.A.R. Prompt Protocol
by Maureen Lamb

AI chatbots default to translation, advanced vocabulary, and answers detached from your curriculum — exactly the opposite of what language learners need. Maureen Lamb's C.L.E.A.R. protocol (Clarity, Layout, Examples, Aim, Relevance) gives teachers a precise formula for building custom GPTs that act as level-locked conversation partners, tiered reading generators, and Socratic text coaches that refuse to just hand over answers. With exact scripts for Spanish, Latin, and beyond, plus a security checklist to guard against students gaming the bots, this session turns AI anxiety into a concrete, classroom-ready toolkit.
 25 min

Simple Tips & Tricks in Maximizing Your Use of Canva
by Noemi Rodriguez

Canva for Education has quietly become a powerhouse for language teachers, and Noemí Rodríguez walks through its most useful hidden features: instantly translating ready-made templates into your target language, generating and editing AI images with Magic Media and Magic Layers, transforming any presentation into song lyrics or a document with Magic Switch, and building AI-powered interactive drag-and-sort activities in seconds. Practical, visual, and packed with live demos, this session is a fast track to leveling up classroom materials without hours of design work.
 30 min

I'll Never Do Another Project Again
by Pamela Parks

Inspired by a frustrated teacher's complaint, Pamela "Madame Sensei" Parks tackles why so many classroom projects collapse into English-only group chats and AI-generated busywork — and how to fix it with backwards design. Starting from the actual skill students need (numbers and colors, ordering food, navigating an airport), she shows how to build up through comprehensible mini-games, scaffolded vocabulary support, and self-selected differentiation so the big project day actually delivers real target-language communication. Packed with vivid classroom examples from her Spanish, French, and Japanese classes, from Uno tournaments to a full French café pop-up.
 45 min

The Magic of Reading and Re-reading for Mastery
by Jill Wiley

Research shows students retain vocabulary better from rereading the same text than from reading many different ones — but rereading can feel deadly boring unless it's disguised well. Jill Wiley shares a treasure trove of low-prep, no-prep activities (Grab the Marker, Strip Bingo, Blind Retell, Volleyball Reading, and more) that get students through the same text again and again without ever feeling repetitive. Drawn from her years of CI teaching and favorite resources, this session is packed with ready-to-use classroom routines that build real fluency.
 43 min

Making a language lesson in 90 seconds using AI
by Alasdair Harris

With 85% of language teachers spending 20–60 minutes preparing every single lesson, the real classroom crisis isn't engagement — it's exhaustion. Alasdair Harris, founder of LingoTeach.ai, demonstrates how a detailed, creative AI prompt can generate a full, exploitable language lesson in 90 seconds — complete with 30+ differentiated activities, audio, gap-fills, digital homework, and dyslexia-friendly formatting. This session also teaches the prompting principles that work in any AI tool, so you leave with skills you can use immediately regardless of platform.
 58 min

Ungrading in World Language
by Lake Mathison

What if grades are actually a barrier to learning rather than a measure of it? Lake Mathison lays out a compelling, research-backed case against zeros, late penalties, participation points, and averaging, arguing they distort what students can actually do with the language — then offers a clear, staged path from small tweaks (delaying scores, dropping the numbers from rubrics) to a full feedback-only model he now uses in his own classroom. Refreshingly honest about the challenges and pushback, this session is a must for any teacher questioning whether traditional grading actually serves language acquisition.
 21 min