AZLA PRESIDENTS' LETTERS
Dear AZLA Members,
It is my pleasure to introduce myself to you as this year’s president of AZLA. My name is Maggie Fountain and this is my third year working with AZLA. I began my language experience, like perhaps many of you and your students, in high school. No one in my family spoke or had studied Spanish, but I immediately fell in love with the language. I studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, and cherished immersing myself in the language, culture, and history of the country. I became a high school Spanish teacher at my high school alma mater and then for sixteen years at Desert Vista High School in the Tempe Union High School District. I taught all levels and served as the Department Chair. I currently work as the Content Specialist for World Languages in the Tempe Union High School District.
It is my privilege to invite you to this year’s annual fall conference. It will be AZLA’s very first virtual conference! It will be held Saturday, September 26th from 9am to 3pm. Due to the restrictions in place because of the pandemic, this year’s conference will now be held exclusively from your own living room! Our annual theme is “Connecting Through Languages.” This theme is critical during this time. When we selected it back in December, we couldn’t have imagined how relevant it would become in today’s world. We want to encourage our members to connect with one another in a world that can feel more distant and uncertain than ever. We will begin with a morning keynote given by L.J. Randolph Jr., Ed.D., on “Social Justice in the World Language Classroom”, followed by an afternoon of virtual sessions to choose from. To read more about our keynote presenter and his session click on the website http://www.azla.info/events/fallconference.
We look forward to “seeing” all of you at this fall’s conference.
Take care,
Maggie Fountain
AZLA President 2019-2020
As your current president of the Arizona Language Association, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and I hope that you are all off to a good start.
In Germany, we have a custom called Bleigiessen. On New Year’s Eve, a candle is lit and small chunks of lead are melted over the flame of the candle. The molten lead is then poured into cold water where it hardens immediately. Next, each person determines what he or she sees in the hardened lead figure. This shape will determine the future of that person for the new year to come. This year, my lead figure looked like a “fishing pole,” which supposedly means that I have “luck on the hook.” Hopefully we all have a bit of luck in the year to come.
As we look back on 2018, here are some of our AZLA highlights:
In case you did not have a chance yet to register to attend AZLA’s Spring Workshop on February 2, 2019 at the Kyrene School District’s Office, I would strongly encourage you to do so before January 20, 2019. This year, our workshop leader is Lynn Fulton-Archer, whose presentation is titled “Using Language Functions as a Framework to Support Learner Proficiency”:
Proficiency is often defined by a learner’s ability to carry out various language functions at specific levels. This workshop will help participants understand and identify language functions and understand how they help students build their own language ability. Participants will explore a variety of resources including the Academic Language Function Framework and the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can Do Statements to help them plan for greater student interaction in the language regardless of instructional level or context.
I would like to further remind you to consider applying for or nominating someone for one of the following awards and scholarships (Due date: 3/31/2019):
I look forward to welcoming many of you at the AZLA Spring Workshop.
Sincerely,
Melanie Mello
Dear AZLA Community,
It is an honor to write you as your new 2016-2017 AZLA President. I would like to share some highlights of our 2016 AZLA Fall Conference titled “A to Z → Language Learning and Assessment” which was hosted by South Mountain Community College from September 30th to October 1st.
The conference was a great success and brought together more than two hundred K-16 language educators from different parts of the state, from elementary immersion teachers to college language professors.
Our distinguished guest Dr. Francis J. Troyan, from Ohio State University, conducted a workshop on Friday and Saturday focused on designing and implementing Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA) to improve language learning and instruction. Dr. Troyan presented an overview of IPA guidelines for how to design IPA tasks for Novice, Intermediate and Advance levels to inform the backward design of a unit. He emphasized the importance of using authentic text during instruction and IPA tasks. After Friday’s workshop, Dr. Troyan joined us to AZLA’s traditional soirée at the Raven Golf Club’s restaurant Grill 36.
In addition to Dr. Troyan’s workshop, our conference offered over twenty concurrent sessions and networking opportunities focused on instruction and assessment. K-16 teachers and administrators from different parts of Arizona shared their area of expertise during these engaging sessions. Teachers left inspired and ready to implement new ideas to their classrooms.
During our AZLA Annual Business meeting, we recapped the 2015-2016 academic year by presenting our current AZLA Executive Board members, now including Cristina Ladas, who fills the new position of AZLA’s NCSSFL Associate Member (and will continue on as our Immersion & Early Language Committee Chair as well). In the spring we also welcomed two new members to the extended board: Anaid Jordan, from Pima Partnership Performing Arts High School in Tucson, as our new Southern Regional Representative, and Peter Thomas, from Shonto Preparatory School in Shonto, as AZLA’s Native Languages Chair. During our annual election on October 1, 2016, Carmen Scales, Sr. Lecturer (Spanish Lower Division Coordinator) from SILC, Arizona State University in Tempe, was elected to serve as our 2016-2017 President-Elect. Congratulations, Carmen!
Furthermore, we had the honor to recognize and surprise Sofía Wolhein as AZLA’s 2016 Outstanding Young Educator. Dr. Karina Collentine from Northern Arizona University nominated Sofía last spring while she was teaching at Sedona Red Rock High School; this year she is at NAU.
Two $500 AZLA scholarships were awarded to outstanding students: Luana Paredes Sánchez, nominted by Laura Zinke from McClintock High School, won at the secondary level, and Jared Guiou, nominated by Miko Foard from Arizona State University, won at the post-secondary level.
Among the attendees, we had the honor to have Gail Guntermann who has made invaluable contributions to our educators’ community. Our 2016 recipient of the $500 Gail Guntermann Professional Development Fellowship was awarded to Anaid Jordan from Pima Partnership Performing Arts High School in Tucson.
Best of Arizona from AZLA’s 2015 Fall Conference was given to Al Martino who represented AZLA at SWCOLT 2016 in Honolulu. Aiden Fleming was nominated by AZLA and won the SWCOLT 2016 Friend of the Profession Award. Jennifer Wortzel from Basha High School was also recognized as our AZLA 2015 TOY (Teacher of the Year), and then represented AZLA at SWCOLT 2016. We are privileged to have our very own AZLA board member, Jocelyn Danielson Raught, represent Arizona as SWCOLT 2017 President. Her contributions to the language community are countless.
Finally, I would like to thank Mariana Bahtchevanova for her service as our 2015-2016 President, and Antonella Dell’Anna for her busy year as Immediate Past-President, 2016 Events Chair, and Exhibits Coordinator. My appreciation goes out to all our board members for their hard work, enthusiasm and dedication to our association. Your work is changing the history of Arizona! Loida Gutiérrez, thank you for your support in providing the venue at SMCC and donating your time to facilitate all the preparation prior to and during the conference. Thank you to all exhibitors, sponsors, presenters, and student marshals; without your support, this conference would have not been possible. All of you AZLA members, THANK YOU for your contributions to the profession. We cannot do it without your help!
Have a wonderful rest of the year! See you March 25th for our Spring Workshop at the Kyrene School District.
Warm regards,
Patricia Fernandez, M. Ed.
AZLA President
Dear fellow language educators,
On February 20th, 2016, Cactus Shadows High School hosted the AZLA spring workshop entitled “Are you ready? The NEW Arizona World and Native Languages Standards.” The workshop brought together more than one hundred educators from all over the state teaching languages at different levels of the K-16 educational system: from kindergarten immersion teachers to university professors. Arizona’s World and Native Languages Standards, which were approved in May 2015 and will be fully implemented during the 2016-2017 academic year, provide a concise and complete description of what learners should acquire and be able to do in the target language as they move through the process of studying another language. I am very happy to say that the workshop was not only well attended but also very successful and the feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive.
The workshop was led by a team of outstanding language educators who have played an essential role in the revision of the standards: Doni Nasr, Lisa Berkson, Cristina Ladas, and Jocelyn Danielson Raught. Doni, Lisa, Jocelyn, and Cristina are among the most experienced and dedicated language teachers in our state. All of them are currently serving on the AZLA board. Always on the frontline of our profession, these truly inspirational educators have been working selflessly and tirelessly to promote the field, improve the quality of language education, support teachers, and educate administrators, parents, and legislators. Their interactive presentation and hands-on activities familiarized the participants with the scale of proficiency levels, the three modes of communication, the content of the nine strands of the standards as well as with key concepts such as performance and proficiency. It also provided educators with a roadmap to guide them in the implementation of the standards in the language classroom. Understanding the descriptions of how language learners demonstrate performance of the three modes of communication is crucial for planning and assessment. At the end, the workshop participants left inspired to improve their teaching practices and achieve greater levels of teaching effectiveness.
After lunch, workshop attendees were joined by a panel from the Arizona Department of Education and Cave Creek Unified School District. Our panelists were Tammy Waller, Director of K-12 Social Studies and World Languages (Arizona Department of Education), Dr. Jana Miller, Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning (Cave Creek Unified School District), Maura Yildirim, Director of Rules and Procedures in Certification (ADE), and Aiden Fleming, Deputy Director, Policy Development and Government Relations (ADE). After a brief description of their job and responsibilities, the panelists answered a wide array of questions from the audience. During the engaging question and answer session, attendees were able to learn more about issues related to state legislation and language programs, the role of the director for social studies and world languages, dual language immersion programs, the instruction of Native American languages, and teacher certification among others. We are very excited to share with you that one of our panelists, Aiden Fleming, received the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT) Friend of the Profession Award for his contributions for the development of two bills for AZ language programs: SB-1242, Arizona Critical Language and Economic Development Pilot Program (which passed in 2014) and SB 1239, State Seal of Biliteracy Program, which was passed unanimously be the Education Committee of the AZ House of Representatives on March 2, this year.
AZLA has a long history of advocating for and advancing the profession of language teaching at all levels and across a variety of institutions and programs. Last month, for example, we created a new sub-committee on Native American languages in order to better represent their voice on the AZLA board. I would like to urge you to get more involved in our organization and in the language teaching community. As a member, you can contribute in many ways: you can share your ideas, innovative practices, student success stories, exciting events, or issues and suggestions; you can write short articles for our website; you can help us plan conferences and workshops and you can present or participate in them; you can provide us with valuable feedback; most importantly, you can advocate for the profession by encouraging and inspiring your peers and administrators and by getting them involved in AZLA. It is our responsibility and our job to make the case for languages.
Finally, I would like to thank all board members whose hard work, enthusiasm and creative ideas help the profession improve and move to higher levels. I would also want to thank all of the engaged and involved AZLA members for their contributions. We cannot do it without your help.
I wish you a productive, creative, and enjoyable rest of the semester!
Dr. Mariana Bahtchevanova
