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Stanford World Language Project (SWLP)

Professional Learning

For more than 25 years the Stanford World Language Project (SWLP), formerly known as The Bay Area Foreign Language Program (BAFLP), has been dedicated to promoting quality language teaching and learning with year-round programs for all language teachers of any level. SWLP is led by practicing world language teachers. The proficiency-oriented strategies presented in the seminars and workshops are the ones that they use in their own classrooms. Our goals include:

  • Promoting the learning and teaching of World Languages and Cultures
  • Providing high-quality Standards-based professional development opportunities for language teachers in the Bay Area
  • Supporting local schools and districts with professional learning and curriculum development for their World Language programs
  • Assisting language teachers to integrate the California World Languages Standards and Framework, the California Common Core State Standards and 21st Century Skills into their instruction
  • Developing teacher leaders with the dispositions, knowledge, and skills needed to assume the essential roles of planning, implementation, assessment, and promotion of effective language and culture programs
  • Creating a professional learning community of World Language educators for mutual support and collaboration.
  • SWLP is a site of the California World Language Project, affiliated with the California Subject Matter Projects, a network of nine discipline-based statewide projects that support on-going quality professional development.

2020-2021 SEMINARS FOR WORLD LANGUAGE TEACHERS
featuring
The New California World Language Standards & Framework

Join the Stanford World Language Project (SWLP) for our very special 2020-2021 series of seminars. Discover the fabulous new California World Language Standards and Framework and how to apply them to develop your students’ proficiency. Learn methods to integrate social justice and global competency into your lessons. And especially important in this challenging year, acquire multiple strategies to adapt your communicative language class to the online world. All strands will include time and support as you develop activities, lessons, and units that will enrich your teaching and motivate your students.

Dates: October 3, October 31, 2020 and January 23, February 20, and March 20, 2021

Location:  Online, blend of synchronous and asynchronous sessions

Time:   Three hours per meeting day plus optional time for collaboration, coaching and support

Cost: Regular $300, Student Teachers $75

Stanford Continuing Studies Units Available


STRAND A
Lesson Design - Effective Strategies for the California Language Teacher

Strand A is intended for new and returning teachers or those who need content-specific pedagogy proven to be effective with California’s student population. Enliven your lessons, whether in-person or online, with a multitude of ready-to-use strategies that promote student engagement and proficiency.  Learn to design effective lesson plans aligned with the new California World Language Standards and Framework, while adapting to the new challenges and opportunities presented by remote learning.  Connect with a community of dynamic world language professionals in a supportive, collegial environment.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/SWLP2020-Strand-A

STRAND B
Thematic Unit Design for the World Language Class

Prerequisite: Strand A or equivalent
More than ever, we need to create a language-rich and supportive learning environment through well-designed units of instruction. Expand on what you learned in Strand A, and acquire more proficiency-oriented instructional strategies sure to enliven your instruction. Take your lesson planning skills to a higher level and build engaging thematic units that align with the new California World Language Standards and Framework. Learn a variety of techniques to adapt best strategies to remote learning and provide stronger support for your language learners.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/SWLP2020-Strand-B


STRAND D
Advanced Special Focus Sessions: The California World Languages Framework

Prerequisite: Minimum of 3 previous SWLP/BAFLP seminars or equivalent
Ready for the next step? Strand D is a course designed for teachers who have taken everything we offer and are asking for more. Make the California WL Framework come alive in your online or blended classroom using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous workshops. Each seminar day will have a special focus topic with time built in to plan lessons, units, and activities that will enrich your online or blended classroom experience and incorporate the ideas found in the Framework. You will become part of an online language teacher’s community dedicated to updating your practice and flourishing in our new remote context.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/SWLP2020-Strand-D


STRAND S (Co-sponsored by the Stanford Center for Latin American Studies)
Success in the Heritage Spanish Classroom

Prerequisite: SWLP Strand A or equivalent is highly recommended
 Acquire and share concepts and strategies for creating culturally responsive pedagogy. Address issues of motivation, establishing learning outcomes that take into account heritage learners’ foundational strengths and knowledge and incorporating current and historical topics on Latin America into the curriculum. Design course materials and practices that promote literacy development and align with the CA World Languages Standards and Framework. Emphasis will be given to supporting instruction of these principles in the virtual world. A special feature of this strand is topical presentations from Stanford professors aligned with the Advanced Placement (AP) themes.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/SWLP-2020-Strand-S


STRAND T
Technology Skills for the 21st Century World Language Teacher

Prerequisites: Basic computer knowledge, including Internet use. Strand A or equivalent is highly recommended.
Looking for new technology tools and strategies to use in your online or blended classroom? Learn how to incorporate tech tools into lessons that are aligned with the new California World Language Standards and Framework. Participants will be guided through planning lessons and activities that strategically use tech tools to maximize student engagement and participation and allow for effective practice and assessment of the three modes of communication, all in the context of an online or blended learning environment.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/SWLP2020-Strand-T

 

Other Programs offered as needed

STRAND C
Best Practices in Assessment for the World Language Class
Prerequisite: Strand B or equivalent
Strand C addresses the central questions of backward design: “What should the students know and be able to do?” and “What is the acceptable evidence that they know it?” As a continuation of the standards-aligned teaching strategies presented in Strands A and B, it emphasizes accurate measurement of students’ knowledge based on World Language Standards and the Language Learning Continuum. Participants learn to analyze student data and refine their instruction so that they are constantly moving students into higher levels of linguistic and cultural proficiency and the critical thinking skills central to the Common Core

STRAND L
Invitational Leadership Development Strand

Prerequisites: Demonstrated leadership potential from previous years’ programs based on an application, an evaluation of their teaching and leadership skills, and a letter of reference
This two-year program has as its goals for the participants to:

  • apply the theoretical principles related to teaching and learning a second language

  • learn how to teach their peers to implement communication-based lessons in their classrooms

  • use technology to support teaching, learning and leadership activities in foreign language education

  • promote proficiency-oriented language learning and policy and provide technical assistance to schools and districts in this area.

  • develop expertise on a topic of their choice related to the teaching and learning of a second language

  • manage time effectively and successfully cope with the stress inherent in a leadership position