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Welcome to SWCOLT-AZLA 2025 at Gila River Resort & Casino - Wild Horse Pass. 
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Venue: Palo Verde C clear filter
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Friday, January 24
 

8:00am MST

Art for Language’s Sake - Integrating Art into World Language Programs
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
The presenter will focus on how to connect art with language study to convey aesthetic principles and cultural values of the target language and enhance learner motivation to meet their needs of social emotional learning. Through some practical examples of the course components of Culture through Chinese Calligraphy, attendees will walk away with a universal recipe for all languages in creative ways of integrating art and culture to spice up target language instruction as well as to enrich and strengthen a world language program.
Speakers
LL

Lin Li Hall

Program Director, University of Nevada, Reno
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

8:00am MST

Back to the Future, an Adventure into the AP Unit of Science and Technology
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
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Grab your DeLorean and join us as we talk about science and technology in the AP Classroom. Where we’re going, there aren’t any roads, but there are some clear paths, and we’ll explore them together, keeping an eye out for lightning storms as we go. This session will share the parts and pieces that one group of teachers have put together to explore this theme and to teach this unit. All resources and activities will be shared with participants, and the session will be held like a classroom-lots of talking, doing, brainstorming, and expanding. Come and join us as we go back to the future!
Speakers
avatar for Jennifer Newman-Cornell

Jennifer Newman-Cornell

Educator, Northwest Career and Technical Academy
I teach Spanish II, Spanish III, AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish Literature and Spanish V.  I love to collaborate and work in PLCs with other teachers.  I am the Professional Development Chairperson for the Professional Language Association of Nevada (PLAN-the Nevada state world... Read More →
U4 Ciencia y Tecnología Back to the Future SWCOLT 2025 Resources pdf
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

8:00am MST

Keeping It Collaborative - Building Communication at Every Level
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
In this session, we will experience and discuss a variety of ways to incorporate collaborative strategies focused on language building and language acquisition. Each of the activities is specifically designed to create opportunities for student collaboration, engagement, and motivation with minimal prep. Participants will walk away with a bank of reading, speaking, writing, and listening strategies that can be easily scaffolded for any level and incorporated into any unit.
Speakers
avatar for Sally Barnes

Sally Barnes

Hi all! My name is Sally Barnes and I am a consultant for Seidlitz Education and co-author of 7 Steps to a Language-Rich, Interactive World Language Classroom (2nd Edition). I am a former Spanish teacher and world language district coordinator with 12 years experience in the field... Read More →
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

8:00am MST

Meet Your Arizona AATSP Chapter!
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Are you an educator of Spanish or Portuguese? Come meet your officers of the Arizona chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and find out about our organization's activities for you and programs for your students. These programs include the National Spanish Exam, Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica, and Annual Poster Contest.

Presenters: Hope Anderson, Lacy Chavez, Laura Zinke
Speakers
LC

Lacey Chavez

Tempe High School
Exhibitors
avatar for Laura Zinke - Vista Higher Learning

Laura Zinke - Vista Higher Learning

Consultant, Vista Higher Learning
Vista Higher Learning develops transformative language and literacy solutions that meet the needs of every language learner—those acquiring a new language, enhancing a second, or perfecting their native language. We empower educators with innovative, research-based programs that... Read More →
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

8:00am MST

Reignite Your Teaching Passion through Deep Dives into Cultural Practices and Products
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Over the course of a teaching career our own personal passion can ebb and flow. Sometimes we just need something to reignite it. One of the best ways to catch on fire is to visit a country of the language we teach. This isn’t always possible. Even if an in-land experience isn’t possible this year, you can still take a deep dive into a cultural practice or learn about a cultural product that you don’t know very much about. In this Roadrunner Session, I will share several cultural deep dives I have taken. I will demonstrate how these experiences have renewed my excitement to teach and kept my teaching fresh and authentic. I will demonstrate how I have used my new cultural competence to create curriculum and build momentum with my students.
Speakers
avatar for Stephen Van Orden

Stephen Van Orden

German Teacher, UFLA Rep to SWCOLT, Timpview High School
SWCOLT 2025 Poster pdf
Friday January 24, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

1:00pm MST

Conversation Connections: Micro-Immersion through Conversation Groups
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Providing students with opportunities to practice conversation in their target language in an immersive setting can be a challenge, especially with less commonly spoken languages. While encouraging students to explore language and culture outside of the classroom by pursuing their own interests and forming relationships in their target languages does work for some students, the vast majority find themselves simply too busy or intimidated to even make a single step in that direction on their own. One solution we have found to be particularly effective is to bring micro-immersive opportunities directly to the students, especially by bringing in student peers fluent in the target language (especially international students from target-language speaking countries) to lead students in a micro-immersion conversation-group experience that focuses on relaxed, friendly chatting with the goal of comfortable, fluent communication and cultural exchange in the target language, providing students with practice, inspiration, and motivation for improved conversational skills and cultural exchange. Presenter Jessica Wood is an Associate Teaching Professor of German at Northern Arizona University with over 20 years’ experience in the language classroom.
Speakers
JW

Jessica Wood

Senior Lecturer of German, Northern Arizona University
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

1:00pm MST

Extensive or Pleasure Reading and How to Build an Extensive Reading Collection
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
This session will introduce participants to the 10 principles of extensive or pleasure reading—an approach to teaching reading that allows learners to read copious amounts of easy material of their choice for pleasure in a relaxed environment. Drawing on his own experience, the presenter will discuss the successful implementation of extensive reading (ER) and the importance of collaborating with colleagues in other departments to build an ER collection. Participants will work together to create a plan to: (a) search for ER materials in their target language, (b) collaborate with colleagues to start building their own ER collection, and (c) begin incorporating pleasure reading into their courses. This session will cover topics such as instructional resources and personalized learning.
Speakers
DJ

Dr. Jeff Peterson

Brigham Young University
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

1:00pm MST

How Valuable is Grice's Cooperative Principle to All Languages?
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
The cooperative principle is a concept introduced by Grice in the field of pragmatics. It is viewed that speakers and listeners are assumed to be cooperating. The idea of this principle is participants in a conversation communicate in an informative, truthful, relevant, and clear manner. This concept is explained through four maxims - quantity, quality, relevance, and manner (Farinde & Oyedokun-Alli, 2020). More so, this principle attempts to have a successful conversation as well as how a person uses language in a social context. However, some research indicates that this principle may not be applicable to all languages or cultures. This presentation will discuss the relevance and significance of the cooperative principle in language learning and teaching and its cultural aspect in particular languages. As language educators, how can we integrate this principle to enhance our teaching methods and to appreciate the cultural aspects of language?
Speakers
DC

Dr. C. Quijano

Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
SWCOLT 2025 Presentation Grice's Cooperative Principle pdf
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

1:00pm MST

Play as a Language Learning Oasis: 12 Activities to Sharpen Students’ Speaking, Listening, and Writing Skills
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Play is essential for brain development and building community (Yenigun, 2014). Attendees can choose from a menu of a dozen speaking activities created by the presenter. From Utah to Tajikistan, the presenter has used these activities to get students and teachers asking questions, describing, analyzing, narrating, and comparing what they see. Attendees will experience firsthand how using already made cards with objects can promote conversation and build students’ confidence in a low stakes setting. Attendees will rediscover how play can often serve as the best language learning oasis as well as gain new ideas for classroom speaking, writing, and listening tasks.
Speakers
avatar for Sharon Lyman

Sharon Lyman

Southern Utah University
Play as Language Learning SWCOLT 2025 Lyman pptx
Play as Language Learning SWCOLT 2025 Lyman pdf
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

1:00pm MST

Using 'Mitwachsende Karten' in the Foreign Language Classroom - CANCELLED BY PRESENTER
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Mitwachsende Karten,' geographical maps gradually updated with new information and locations relevant to the course material throughout the semester, are a fundamental component of geography lessons. However, this method is also highly suitable for foreign language teaching. How can this geographical method be used in the foreign language classroom? Moreover, what impact does this have on expanding students' skills? Through working with authentic texts and giving presentations, the students delve into the target culture. As a result, they strengthen and further their intercultural competencies and communicative skills. This presentation provides the attendees with a practical example from a university-level German classroom of how a 'mitwachsende Karte' can be used effectively and successfully in any foreign language classroom. This example can be adjusted to fit any language at any language level.
Speakers
BB

Berni Beringer

The Ohio State University
Mitwachsende Karten in the FL classroom Berni Beringer pptx
Friday January 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

2:15pm MST

Cultivating Creativity and Confidence: Enhancing Impromptu Writing Skills in Japanese through Timed Exercises in the Classroom
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Language learners often hesitate to write impromptu, even when they possess creativity and imagination. A lack of confidence is a common obstacle in language acquisition. This presentation will explore a practical example from a Japanese junior writing course at the post-secondary level, where students gradually developed their impromptu writing skills through photo description exercises depicting everyday scenes in Japan. In this session, student comments and feedback collected by the institution at the end of the semester will also be shared. Additionally, the session will showcase a collaborative classroom activity where students co-created imaginative stories, fostering a playful and supportive learning environment.
Speakers
RA

Reiko Akiyama

Lecturer, Northern Arizona University
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

2:15pm MST

Timed Repeated Readings in French DLI
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Reading fluency is a strong indicator of academic success. Dual Language Immersion programs aim to nurture learners in two languages in all areas of learning. Timed Repeated Readings have been found to increase fluency, and thus to improve academic performance. Adopt this easily adaptable method into your classroom today!
Speakers
RB

Rosie Baldwin

Brigham Young University
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

2:15pm MST

Vocabulary Acquisition in the L2 Classroom: Strategies for Building and Retention
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Effective vocabulary acquisition is essential for our students to continue advancing with the target language. This presentation explores several pedagogical approaches to encourage and improve vocabulary development and retention at all levels. By integrating task-based learning and properly scaffolded engaging activities, while keeping it communicative, language instructors can create engaging and meaningful language experiences that will help students learn and retain new vocabulary. Several useful and usable activities and ideas will be shared with attendees who can start using them directly with their students.
Speakers
avatar for Tim Cannon

Tim Cannon

Spanish Language Coordinator, University of Utah
Learning Abroad, Language Pedagogy, Technology enhanced education, Spain, Latin America, Travel, Don Quixote, Good books.
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

2:15pm MST

Where Language Skills Meet Student Leadership: Unlocking the Power of Language Clubs
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Leadership development is a vital part of college life, offering students the chance to cultivate civic awareness and essential community engagement skills. However, obstacles like inexperience, time constraints, and misinformation can limit student involvement. Through a partnership with the Brazilian Club, third-year Portuguese students are introduced to student leadership by shadowing officers of a recognized student organization, assisting with major events, and managing smaller ones. This experience not only improves their language skills in real-world contexts but also fosters abilities like teamwork, intercultural communication, and budgeting. Many former participants have gone on to become club officers or take on leadership roles across campus, continuing their involvement throughout and beyond their college years.

Presenters: Anna Hodgson & Amanda Hoffman
Speakers
AO

Amanda Oliveira Hoffmann

University of Utah
Friday January 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

4:00pm MST

Level Up Your Language Teaching: Free Resources and Opportunities from the NFLRC
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Discover a wealth of free resources, professional development opportunities, and scholarly journals tailored for language educators, all offered by the National Foreign Language Resource Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Whether you're interested in podcasts, Project-Based Language Learning, online language pedagogy, or the latest publications, this session invites you to explore a diverse array of tools and learning experiences designed to enrich your teaching practice. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your professional growth!
Speakers
avatar for Rachel Mamiya Hernandez

Rachel Mamiya Hernandez

Language Technology Specialist, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

4:00pm MST

Mythical and Historical Mexican Women
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
In this Roadrunner session, participants will explore how to integrate historical and mythical Mexican women into their classrooms. Participants will get a deeper knowledge of the cultural, social, and historical situations surrounding these women as well as their continuing influence on Mexican culture through stimulating conversations, engaging storytelling, and multimedia presentations. This program explores the lives and achievements of historic characters, from strong indigenous deities to trailblazing activists and artists. This session celebrates the resilience, creativity, and empowerment embodied by these legendary women.
Speakers
avatar for Elizabeth Cisneros
Mexicanas míticas e históricas pdf
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

4:00pm MST

Navigating New Horizons: Reflections on the Summer 2024 NAU Faculty-Led Program in Chongqing, China
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
The Summer 2024 NAU-Led Program in Chongqing, China, offered 12 students a transformative academic and cultural experience, fostering a deep understanding of China's rich heritage and dynamic contemporary landscape. This program integrated rigorous coursework with immersive field experiences, allowing students to explore Chongqing’s historical sites, engage with local communities, and examine the region's economic development firsthand. Students benefited from collaborative activities with local Chinese college students, enhancing cross-cultural competencies and global perspectives. The program not only enriched academic knowledge but also honed practical skills through experiential real-life learning, preparing students for future international endeavors. The presenter will share reflections on the successes and challenges encountered during the six-week study abroad program in China, and will discuss examples of culture shock experienced by the twelve participating American students.
Speakers
DW

Di Wu

Northern Arizona University
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

4:00pm MST

On Making the Online Asynchronous Language Class Communicative and Interactive
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
As the shift to online learning accelerates in world/foreign language education, instructors face significant challenges in maintaining effective communication and interaction. Since 2020, the growth of online language classes, especially asynchronous ones, has been remarkable. Some institutions are experiencing enrollments in these online language courses that far surpass those in traditional in-person settings. However, concerns persist regarding course delivery, the communicative nature of the curricula, and the lack of quality interaction between students and instructors. This presentation will explore practical strategies for improving asynchronous online language classes, focusing on assignment types, assessments, and interactive activities. By implementing these strategies, instructors can enhance student engagement, foster communicative competence, and simulate the dynamics of traditional in-person classrooms. Additionally, the session will introduce tools and platforms that support these goals, providing participants with actionable insights and resources to create a more interactive and communicative online learning environment.
Speakers
CG
Friday January 24, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

5:15pm MST

Cultural Competence in Spanish Classes
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
In this session teachers will examine a wide range of cultural topics that offer rich cultural experiences, such as music, literature, films, and news. By identifying trends and conducting some research, students will take charge of the learning process, engaging in discussions, writing, reading, and listening activities in the target language. Various strategies will be provided to enhance these four core areas by incorporating current trends into the language classroom.
Speakers
avatar for Elizabeth Cisneros
Temas culturales en las clases de español pdf
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

5:15pm MST

Fun Input for Fruitful Output: Useful Ways to Use Short Clips in the Language Classroom
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
In a time of competing priorities and constant stimulation, student motivation frequently becomes a challenge within the language classroom. Textbook activities don't always impassion students to produce in the L2 to the best of their ability. This Roadrunner session will demonstrate how to effectively incorporate short clips into the classroom to promote student engagement and language production. Shorts can hook students with their often amusing, colorful, and emotionally moving stories. These shorts can also be used with any level (and language) by simply adapting the difficulty of the task. For language students, shorts are engaging, offer a respite from book and paper activities, are motivational, and can provide context for cultural comparison and insight, all of which promote original language production.
Speakers
JS

Juliana Suby

Northern Arizona University
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

5:15pm MST

Quick Assessments for Today's Teachers: What Can I Do in 90 Seconds?
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
It could be argued that assessment is one of the most important aspects of language teaching and learning. Assessment usually has two main purposes: to make summative evaluations and to provide instructional feedback to help learners progress. However, assessment practices should be authentic or students should perceive them as related to their lives and goals in form, topic, process, content, or any element they consider related. At the same time, authentic assessment should serve as a representative picture of student’s competencies while providing a learning tool. Some examples of quick assessments discussed during this presentation will include: quick quizzes that can be given at the end of class after a warm-up period, and simple and quick ways to gauge and check student understanding.

Presenters: Diego Batista & Melany Batista
Speakers
MB

Melany Batista

North Davis Prep Academy
avatar for Diego Batista

Diego Batista

Associate Professor of Spanish, Weber State University
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation

5:15pm MST

What is the Role of Elementary Schools in World Language Education?
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
Feedback Survey
Elementary school world language programs have been declining in the U.S. despite the many documented benefits of becoming bilingual, and the economic and national security needs of the U.S. By some accounts, only about one in four elementary schools offer a second language, mostly Spanish. In nearly half of these schools, instructional time is below the minimum recommended for proficiency. Exploratory programs have traditionally been the answer to this issue, offering language awareness and motivation development as an alternative to proficiency. However, this typology remains largely under-articulated and absent from many toolboxes in world language education. The presenter will discuss how he has addressed the problem of teaching over 900 (K-5) students each year on a six-school-day rotation, and how the updated exploratory model aligns with the Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning model presented by the Center for Applied Linguistics in recent years.
Speakers
RR

Ronald Ramirez

Pinecrest Academy Horizon
Friday January 24, 2025 5:15pm - 6:15pm MST
Palo Verde C
  15-minute presentation
 
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