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The themes below will guide our learning during this full-day workshop on applications for the world language classroom. Instruction and supported hands on work time will be provided for the apps and web-based tools most appropriate for each theme. All instruction for these themes will also be carried out using tools that teachers can easily adopt and use in their classrooms. As much as possible, all recommended applications will be device neutral so as to be usable regardless of the devices that students and teachers have access to in their classrooms. The workshop will primarily focus on free applications and web-based tools, but some low cost options will also be introduced.

Themes will include: 1) Reexamining and reconsidering language instruction and learning in a digital age, 2) More meaningful, responsive and student-centered formative and summative assessment, 3) More feasible differentiation and single-class multi-level instruction, 4) Technology to enhance performance-based tasks, 5) Effective digital communication and distribution of materials, resources and information using learning management systems and classroom communication tools, 6) More student-centered exploration of culture, 7) Recapturing teacher time to allow for the most effective use of teacher time for instruction and support of students, and 8) Advocating for and procuring technology for use in the classroom with your students

Learning Outcomes:

Teachers completing this workshop with leave with at least one tech tool for each theme that they can immediately start using with their students to enhance instruction and learning. They will also leave with a better sense of what is possible within a technology supported 21st century world language classroom. Teachers will be better equipped to choose tools and advocate for district and building support of technology in their classrooms.

External Resources:

• The Flipped Class: Myth vs. Reality
  
• How Blended Learning Can Help Teach World Languages
  

Ben Novinger

Ben Novinger taught both IB and AP Japanese for 18 years. Additionally, he taught for 5 years as a social studies teacher. He has regularly presented on various instructional strategies and tools in the Japanese and World Language teaching community. 

Now, as  the Library and Instructional Technology Teacher (LITT) at Beaverton High School, Ben leads instructional change and the adoption of technology at the school level, as well as working with the district to ensure best tools and practices are adopted and implemented. In his position as the LITT and a member of the Professional Development Team, he has been responsible for creating and providing school-wide and small-group professional development around instructional technology, learning management systems, including Google Classroom and Canvas, Google Apps for Education, and digital research tools and skills. Ben is particularly interested in digital assignment collaboration, technology as a tool for differentiation, flipping the classroom and developing more efficient and effective assessment. He is also passionate about equity in technology and its implementation, using technology as vehicle for developing critical thinking skills and for developing independent learners and thinkers. 

Ben believes strongly that technology should not be adopted simply because it is shiny or new, but should serve teachers and their students in a fashion that enhances instruction and learning in ways that allow things not previously possible to be possible, and in ways that allow teachers more time to spend interacting in meaningful ways with their students, not less.

Social justice issues are human issues yet traditionally language teachers shy away from this type of topic. How can we best introduce such important issues to our language learners’ great opportunities to discover, connect, and help them grow as an agent of change in the 21st century? In this interactive workshop, presenter will share sample Social Justice Infused lessons with student samples, then guide participants to identify the issues, develop a lesson that promote language skills using the IPA while cognitively engaging them. The presenter will also address effective strategies to use authentic materials and technological tools. There will be opportunities to ask questions and address challenges.

Yo Azama

Yo Azama currently teaches Japanese at North Salinas High School and World Language Teaching Method course at California State University, Monterey Bay. He is a team leader of the Monterey Bay World Language Project and serves as an instructional coach at North Salinas High School. 

He has conducted numerous presentations and seminars regionally, nationally, and internationally on various topics including; Motivational Curriculum & Syllabus Design, Classroom Management, and Effective use of Technology in World Language Classroom. In 2003, he served as a member of the Instructional Materials Advisory Panel for the California Department of Education. He has also served as a College Board Advisor for AP Japanese Language and Culture Development Committee. 

He has been the recipient of numerous awards such as the 2012 ACTFL Language Teacher of the Year, Outstanding Teacher of America Award by Carlston Family Foundation, the Robert J. Ludwig Distinguished Leadership Award, and Elgin Heinz Teaching Excellence Award just to name a few. His teaching has been featured in the Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 Video Library by WGBH Boston in 2003.