Hi all! I hope this post finds you well. I am so excited that February is almost over – I can hardly wait! It’s been a long haul. I’m looking forward to Spring Break, just like my kids! I wanted to take a quick minute and share with you all the AMAZING opportunities for professional development that are coming up, and give you some inside info to get the best deal and discounts available.
As you are probably aware, heritage teachers really NEED PD. In my opinion, this is due to lots of factors…but the main one is, we weren’t really ever trained to be heritage teachers. Add to that the fact that we don’t usually have colleagues teaching heritage classes, the materials and curriculum are usually lacking, our admin doesn’t always understand our unique needs and context, and the fact that there are usually very few (or no) sessions on heritage topics at conferences and trainings…and boom. There you have it…teachers desperate for PD.
Do not despair!! I’m so excited to share these opportunities with you! I’ve never seen so much PD available to heritage teachers as I see now. I hope one (or more) of these will work for you!
#1 The Comprehensible Online conference (ACT REALLY FAST)
This conference is COMPLETELY ONLINE and you have two whole months to watch the videos. It is a fantastic price for the amount of sessions you get to watch (over 90 sessions). I’m thrilled to announce that Mary Beth and I have five sessions at this conference on heritage topics, and Mike Peto has a session on an FVR library for heritage learners, so if you do this conference, you will get 6 full hours of heritage sessions, not to mention the potential to get 80 hours of professional development. I would really recommend this conference if you are already using Comprehensible Input (CI) with your non-heritage classes. The kicker is that the price goes up on Friday, March 1st….AND the awesome insider knowledge I can offer you is that you can use one of our codes (Adrienne 19 or MaryBeth19) to get $25 off through Thursday, February 28th. So act fast if this sounds like a good fit for you!! You can register and see all the sessions and presenters HERE.
#2 Spanish Teacher Success Academy – March 10-15, 2019 (ACT PRETTY FAST!)
This one is a no-brainer, friends. This is a completely FREE and ONLINE conference put on by a friend of mine, Jared Romey and his company, Speaking Latino. They have brought together 25 different Spanish teachers, many you have heard of and are leaders in our field, and recorded PD sessions. What I am most excited about, though, is that he has devoted an entire day to sessions for HERITAGE teachers.
On Tuesday, March 12th, you can watch the following sessions:
- Myths (And Facts) About Teaching Spanish Heritage Classes, by Adrienne Brandenburg
- Two Classes In One: Strategies For Heritage And New Language Learners In Mixed Class Teaching, by Jenna Cushing-Leubner
- Teaching Spelling To Heritage Learners: No Drills Required, by Florencia Henshaw
- Managing the Mixed Classroom, by Sam Finneseth
- Affirming Multilingual Identities: Language And Power, by Kristin Montgomery
- Techniques for Heritage Speakers to Discover and Embrace Their Own Identity, by Jen López
And on Wednesday, March 13th, you can watch this one:
- The Arts In A Heritage Language Class: Student Engagement & Teacher Sanity, by Michaela McCaughey
You guys, it’s going to be amazing. You can get your FREE access pass HERE. It comes with an instant download of 2019 Spanish Teacher Success Academy Playbook, which has the schedule, guide to sessions, expert tips, and freebies. Again, lots of great sessions, but 7 heritage sessions…FREE.
#3 Rising to Meet the Needs of Spanish Heritage Learners: A Workshop for Teachers (ACT BY APRIL 15)
Last but definitely not not least!! Mary Beth and I are so excited about this! We just recently finalized planning and dates for this conference, and are SO pumped! We are hosting a two day workshop just for heritage teachers, June 27-28, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colorado. Fort Collins is about an hour north of Denver and is a great place to be! You can access the registration page HERE and a flyer with all the details HERE. We will be doing lots of interactive sessions and helping you really process and apply what we talk about. All participants will receive a FREE 9th grade heritage curriculum (courtesy of my Tpt store) – you can see it HERE! And, you will leave with the first two weeks of your heritage class prepped and planned! The great news is that if you register by April 15, you can get the super early bird rate of $185! So…start thinking about it and put it on your calendar!! Reach out if you have any questions!
If you’re not ready to sign up or can’t make it this time, but would like to be kept up-to-date on our upcoming workshops, you can join our mailing list HERE. We are looking at offering a one day workshop in the Fall and/or Spring as well. We’d love to see you soon!
Wow. I’m so glad I sat down to write this post! I want to be clear, this list of PD for heritage teachers is by no means exhaustive. There are lots of trainings coming up in a variety of formats that are worth checking into; these are simply the ones that Mary Beth and I have invested our time and energy into and therefore, the ones we know the most about 🙂
I’m so encouraged, it feels like this is something new: an era in which heritage teachers are seen as professionals, as important and vital to our students’ success, and who are valued for what they do. I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.
Adrienne
Adventures in Heritage Teaching 
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