Webinar ACTFL's Guiding Principles for Language Learning for K-5

ACTFL’s Guiding Principles give us a road map for using high-leverage or core teaching practices to support language acquisition. Teachers of young children (pre-K to upper elementary) have a great opportunity to leverage these core practices from the very start, helping young learners get a strong start on their path to proficiency.

There’s no reason to wait until learners are in middle school or high school to implement the practices: planning with backward design, facilitating target language use, using authentic texts, designing communicative tasks, teaching grammar in context, and providing effective feedback. In fact, by incorporating these core practices early, we can help learners matriculate into secondary school already functioning in the language and well versed in how to navigate language class.

K-5 Resources and Examples Used in the Webinar: ¡Listos! + Antología – Vista Higher Learning

The early language setting is a special space, where teachers are working to meet the developmental needs of the children in addition to teaching the language content. This special setting is the perfect place to use authentic songs, games, and props, and to help children start using the language for everyday classroom tasks.

In this webinar, participants are invited to take a peek at a “day in the life,” including student routines and activities, in a proficiency-focused elementary Spanish program, and see how it leverages the Guiding Principles to support children’s language growth.

Essential Question:

How can elementary teachers use ACTFL’s Guiding Principles to inform their practice with elementary-aged learners? How are elementary teachers already employing these principles?

Outcomes:

Participants can identify and problem solve challenges around implementing guiding principles in their classrooms, appropriate to the ages they teach.
Participants can identify one core practice they plan to focus on and grow this school year.