Practical Strategies for Addressing Grammar in Today's WORLD LANGUAGE Classroom (Grades 6-12)

NEW Seminar Presented By
Janice Kittok
Outstanding World Language Teacher and Award-Winning Presenter

Specifically Designed for World Language Teachers, Department Heads and World Language Administrators Serving Grades 6-12

New, innovative ideas to use reading as a meaningful context to help your students acquire grammatical concepts
Proven techniques for using Comprehensible Input (CI) to lead students to understanding how languages work
Classroom-tested scaffolding strategies that guide students to confidently speak and write with both fluency and accuracy
Classroom-tested instructional design for addressing grammar in today’s world language classroom

Practical Strategies

You’ve heard the expectations for today’s world language classrooms: stay 90% in the target language, engage all learners, embed lessons with meaningful cultural content, get your students speaking and writing accurately BUT let go of the way you were taught grammar. The bar of professional standards is set very high for language teachers. This seminar will go beyond talking about topics by showing you HOW to utilize numerous techniques and practical strategies to more effectively teach grammar in your world language classroom. In this seminar, national award-winning world language teacher and trainer JAN HOLTER KITTOK engages you in experiential learning, lively collegial discussion, self-reflective thinking, and step-by-step explanations so you take what you see and hear to implement new ideas in your classroom right away – any age group, and language, or any language level. You will leave this seminar with an extensive world language teacher digital resource handbook and dozens of strategies and time-saving planning templates you will be able to use immediately to increase the level of grammatical fluency in all your world language classes.

Ten Key Benefits of Attending

Innovative Ways to Address Grammar in Your World Language Classroom
As students encounter language they can understand, they begin to better recognize language and grammar patterns ... Learn practical and innovative ways to guide your students in learning how the target language works instead of just learning the rules in isolation
Practical Strategies to Foster Fluency and Accuracy Using Grammar and Language in Context
Stories and informational narratives provide meaningful contexts that can make language and grammar more comprehensible ... Learn innovative ways to help your learners see and hear grammar in stories and nonfiction narratives written for language learners
Understand Why and How Comprehensible Input (CI) Works to Improve Grammar
Experience firsthand how brain-based learning and second language acquisition theory support all the strategies and techniques presented in this seminar to help your students improve both their fluency and grammatical accuracy
Deepen Your Understanding of How to Follow CI with Scaffolded Output Activities
As your students acquire the grammar rules in the target language, they will need opportunities to use their new language … Demonstrations and examples will show you how to make smooth transitions from language input to language output
Improve Your Students’ Use of Grammar by Teaching the Target Culture in the Target Language
Micro demonstrations throughout the seminar will model how to teach both fiction and nonfiction global studies topics in the target language even with novice level language learners to improve their grammatical understanding and fluency
Explore a Scope and Sequence of Cultural Knowledge Related to Language Levels and Grammar Rules
Learn intentional program design for building cultural knowledge and use of target language grammar in early levels… Build a better foundation for more complex grammar rules and cultural themes studied at the upper levels
Differentiate Between Learning About Language and Learning to Communicate in the Language
Grammar still plays an important role in communication and comprehensible input world language instruction, but it has changed from the role it played in the days of the grammar-based syllabus… Proficiency-oriented instruction guides learners to application of the rules to communicate successfully
Improve Your Student’s Use of Grammar with Integrated Literature
Literature written specifically for the language learner, free-choice independent reading, and exposure to authentic reading written for native speakers each serve a purpose in a world language program … See how each one can easily be integrated into your framework
Motivate and Engage Reluctant Language Learners
Nothing motivates like success! Students engage when they understand what is going on and they can complete tasks on their own … Discover practical and innovative ways to increase your students’ motivation and engagement
Receive an Extensive World Language and Grammar Digital Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive digital handbook filled with dozens of practical ideas, timesaving planning templates and a narrative recap of all the seminar’s key points … You’ll be ready to implement new ideas that will enhance your teaching of grammar immediately

Specific Topics

Here's what you'll learn:

How to teach grammar in a natural context, allowing students to get a sense of how the language works versus memorizing isolated rules
Sheltered language techniques that open the door for grammar instruction while teaching target culture content topics
The power of story and narrative context to make language comprehensible, increase the rate of language acquisition, and provide the medium for deconstructing how a language works
How to stay in the target language AND have your students improve grammatical understanding
Engaging activities that scaffold student support so they can complete target language tasks with a high level of success
Innovative techniques that increase the level of Comprehensible Input and lower the affective filter to create an environment where your students feel comfortable to take academic risks
Classroom-tested tips to motivate students to stretch beyond their current comfort level with the language to work into a higher proficiency skill level
Highly effective strategies for integrating global studies topics into your language and grammar lessons
Output activity design tips for guiding students to write and speak with fluency, accuracy and confidence while avoiding the negative impact of forced output
Structured activities that guide student to stretch their fluency from simple speech to complex and more natural language
How to teach topics like history, geography, biography, and global issues while staying in the target language – even in Level 1
Cutting-edge models and templates that help you design instruction that addresses global competency knowledge and skills
The power of a leveled reading program for accelerating the language acquisition process and keeping student motivation high
ridging strategies to guide students from leveled reading to comprehension of authentic materials from the target cultures
Innovative ideas for assessing both language fluency, language accuracy, and cultural knowledge at the same time

A Message from Your Seminar Leader

Dear Colleague:

Language teachers have been hearing, “Get off the grammar-based syllabus!” for at least a couple of decades. We have learned that an emphasis on rules results in students who know a lot about the language but are tongue-tied when they try to speak. Our national World Readiness Standards challenge us to design programs that result in students who understand and use the target language for real-world communicative purposes. The nagging question is always, “How do students learn how the language works if the teacher isn’t directly teaching the grammar?” In today’s seminar I’ll share my journey with you of the many “Aha” moments I have had throughout my decades of K-12 language teaching along with countless insights learned from other teachers.

I have learned that to teach language and grammar more effectively, we must start by thinking about something other than grammar when we sit down to begin planning instruction. In this seminar, I’ll show you how I did just that in my own classroom using a Content-Based Instruction (CBI) approach. I first thought about what content we’re going to be learning and then scaffolded the language and grammar my students would need to learn that content or do that task. In the process, my students learned cultural content not taught in other K-12 subject areas and more effectively acquired language at the same time! In this way, all the “five C’s” in the World Readiness Standards were addressed: Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. I can’t wait to share it with you! We’ll also explore how the literacy-based approach of integrating robust reading programs into language curricula is being used by many teachers across the country in place of, or to enhance, grammar taught in isolation. You’ll learn practical strategies to help your students see and understand the use of grammar. When used in context, they will notice the language patterns, and then study the details of how to manipulate those patterns to create the specific meaning of what they want to say or write. I will leave you with useful ways to incorporate this kind of teaching into your existing program!

Join me for a day of innovative and highly practical ways to teach grammar in today’s communicative classroom, and for reflecting on how different mindsets for planning and delivering instruction can lead to exciting and rewarding outcomes for the students in your classroom. If we travel a different road, we’ll get to a different destination. I invite you to grab your professional passport and join me for an idea-packed, thought-provoking day trip.

Sincerely,
Jan Kittok

P.S. Leave room in your bag to return to your classroom with oodles of fresh, practical ideas you can use immediately to get your students using the language with both fluency and accuracy in NEW and innovative ways!

Who Should Attend

World Language Teachers, Department Heads and World Language Administrators Serving Grades 6-12

Special Benefits of Attending

Extensive Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive digital resource handbook giving you access to countless strategies. The handbook includes:
- The key principles of brain-based language acquisition and how they apply to teaching grammar more effectively
- The key principles of brain-based language acquisition and how they apply to teaching grammar more effectively
- Step-by-step guidance for rethinking how grammatical knowledge and accuracy are taught and assessed in a classroom where communication is the main goal
- Descriptions of all the language and grammar activities presented in the seminar with adaptions to different levels
- Unique tips and tricks for recreating the demonstration micro lessons in your own world language classroom
Meet and Share
This seminar provides a wonderful opportunity for participants to meet and share ideas with other educators interested in enhancing their world language program.
Consultation Available
Jan Kittok will be available at the seminar for consultation regarding your questions and the unique needs of your own program.
Semester Credit Option:
Graduate level professional development credit is available with an additional fee and completion of follow up practicum activities. Details for direct enrollment with University of Massachusetts Global, a nonprofit affiliate of the University of Massachusetts, will be available at the seminar.
Meet Inservice Requirements:
At the end of the program, each attendee will receive a certificate of participation that may be used to verify hours of participation in meeting continuing education requirements.

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