August 26, 2016
TO: Division Superintendents
FROM: Steven R. Staples, Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT: Annual Conference of the Foreign Language Association of Virginia
The Foreign Language Association of Virginia (FLAVA) will hold its annual statewide conference on October 6-8, 2016, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Williamsburg, Virginia. Conference highlights will include over 200 sessions and workshops; exhibits; and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) sponsored Modified Oral Proficiency Interview (MOPI) Institute. The 2016 conference theme is Globally! MINE!
In addition to language-specific sessions, there will be sessions during every time slot that are useful to any language teacher at any level from elementary school through higher education.
General presentation topics include integrating the five C's of language instruction: communication, culture, comparisons, connections, and communities; as well as sessions on assessment, technology integration, and professional issues. Additional information is available from the FLAVA Web site at http://flavaweb.org/conference/. Participants may register and pay online through the FLAVA Web site. Early bird registration ends on September 18, 2016. Tickets for the Friday evening Awards Dinner will be available only to the first 300 who register.
Thursday Workshops – The Thursday workshops offer an opportunity to select a specific topic for more in-depth training than the shorter conference sessions. There are 15 workshops to choose from this year. Teachers are encouraged to participate in one or more of the workshops, many of which have direct correlations to the Virginia Standards for the Professional Practice of Teachers. Examples include:
- Two Cs and a D – Communication, culture, and differentiation are important topics for teachers to include in their classrooms, curriculum, and planning. Learn some great ideas for increasing your students' communicative skills, sharing culture, and differentiating your instruction.
- Learning through Doing: PBL + PBA in the TL Class – Discover how collaborative and communicative TL-centered projects maximize engagement, offer authenticity, and provide relevance for your students. Learn what PBL and PBAs are, best practices, receive materials, and even interact to create projects.
- Beyond Differentiation...All the Way to the Edges – Learn how to identify and nurture individual potential to help students secure the broad range of talents needed to thrive in this century. Identify ways to design learning environments that are so flexible that they truly nurture the potential of every individual.
- How Do We Attain Cultural Competence? – Discuss the power of words to inspire the world, facilitate travel, and secure commerce. Delve into developing intercultural communicative competence by using words to inform us about the world others live in, their customs, and beliefs.
Language Association Meetings – Virginia chapters of national and regional foreign language associations will meet at various times during the FLAVA conference.
- The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Peer Group will have a luncheon and opening session on Friday at noon.
- The Virginia Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) will hold a business meeting and reception on Friday evening after the awards dinner.
- The Virginia Foreign Language Supervisors' Association (VFLSA), the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Teachers of Japanese (MAATJ) will hold luncheon meetings on Saturday afternoon. Preregistration is required for all Saturday luncheons.
Please contact the respective chapter president for information and preregistration.
Awards and Recognitions – The FLAVA Awards Committee will recognize and announce the winners of the following awards at the awards dinner on Friday evening. Attendance at the dinner is open to the first 300 registrants only.
- David Cox FLAVA Award for Excellence in Foreign Language Teaching, K-12 – This award recognizes a foreign language educator in grades K-12 who has demonstrated excellence in foreign language instruction and who may be forwarded as the FLAVA candidate to the regional Teacher of the Year (TOY) competition.
- Helen Warriner-Burke Distinguished Service Award – This award recognizes foreign language educators in Virginia who have made outstanding contributions to the profession.
- FLAVA Friend of Foreign Language Education Award – This award recognizes individuals and institutions that have made a significant contribution in building a strong foundation of support for foreign language education.
For further information, please contact Dr. Lisa Harris, specialist for foreign languages, Office of Humanities and Early Childhood, by e-mail at Lisa.Harris@doe.virginia.gov or by telephone at (804) 225-3666.
SRS/LH/vdg