SWCOLT 2025

This session will explore strategies and best practices for recruiting students into the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (SHH). As the official honor society for high school students studying Spanish, SHH provides a unique platform for recognizing academic excellence, fostering a deeper connection to the Spanish language and culture, and creating leadership opportunities for students. Whether you're just starting an SHH chapter or looking to reinvigorate an existing one, this session will equip you with practical tools and inspiring ideas to increase student participation and engagement.

Presenters: Laura Zinke & Lacey Chavez

This session will focus on incorporating mindfulness practices into language instruction to enhance proficiency and support student growth and resilience. The ACTFL proficiency levels that target both a student's current "floor level" where they can easily succeed and their "ceiling level" in which they have systematic breakdown provides an ideal platform to introduce mindfulness practices such as self-reflection to develop resilience. We will explore how to incorporate mindfulness techniques such as breath work, meditation, gentle movement and body scans that can lower the affective filter while being centered in proficiency-based lesson planning. Throughout the session, we will provide hands-on demonstrations on how to create an atmosphere conducive to language acquisition.