Conferences

Every October, WAFLT sponsors a conference featuring presentations and demonstrations by prominent state national members. Locations are chosen that best serve the needs of the entire state. Every second or third year the fall conference is a joint conference with our colleagues from Oregon in COFLT. Features of the fall conferences include:

• Extensive publisher's exhibits of the latest language teaching aids from national and local sources
• Keynote addresses and workshops by regionally and nationally recognized leaders in language learning/teaching
• Recent state developments
• Meetings of specialized groups such as the AATG, AATF, AATSP, WATJ, frequently with guest speakers in those languages
• Displays of state poster contest winners
• A general membership meeting

WAFLT's Fall Conference 2009 will take place October 8-10, 2009 in the beautiful, historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane. "The Davenport is a grand hotel of the Gilded Age, opened in 1914, and the first hotel with air conditioning, a central vacuum system and folding ballroom walls. Fully restored and revitalized in 2002, the hotel offers a perfect blend of history, architectural beauty, and modern amenities, where exceptional service remains a keynote and every guest feels at home. The hotel's six magnificent ballrooms provide regal settings for conventions, meeting, and weddings.......Expedia.com travelers ranked The Davenport Hotel and Tower #3 in the US and #6 in the world. Conde Nast has included the hotel in its prestigious Gold List in 2007." * Conference Chairs are Barbara Swenson and Brenda Gaver. The keynote speakers for Friday and Saturday are still to be contracted. The conference presents sessions that are offered by volunteers from our state organizations. Please consider sharing with your colleagues! The online proposal submission form will be available soon!Keep checking the website for ongoing updates!(*Taken from the Davenport Hotel and Tower Brochure)

Fall Conference Proposal Submission Form is now available. Please click here for the link to the online submission form.

If you are a potential exhibitor, please click here for the information letter and registration form.

Keynoters have been confirmed and WAFLT is pleased to announce the participation of Michael Legutke. He is a familiar face to teachers in the Pacific Northwest and his keynote in 2005 in Spokane was warmly received and very glowingly evaluated by the attendees. This year he will be giving the Friday keynote address, as well as presenting a regular session and a post-conference workshop.

For more information on Dr. Legutke, please visit his website: http://www.uni-giessen.de/anglistik/tefl/DepFac/Teaching/legutke/legutke.htm

The details of his keynote address and workshop will be available soon.

A new face to WAFLT conference participants will be Saturday keynoter Michael Wilder. Mr. Wilder is Learning Technologies Specialist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Destiny has led Michael on a dual career path of both education and technology. The result is a hybrid individual with skills and perspective from both fields. He worked as teacher and trainer in a variety of environments, serving, among other positions, as Blackboard administrator, Online Learning Specialist, and college faculty (web design, web-based multimedia, networking, programming, desktop publishing, essential computer applications, and much more). Michael specializes in web-based education and the educational use of open-source technology. He has presented at major conferences, and has consulted to schools districts and colleges. Michael received his B.A. in English from UCLA, and received his master's degree in Educational Leadership, with emphasis on computer-based education, from Gonzaga University."

Keynote title: "Staying Connected in a Disconnected World"--A quiet revolution has occurred in our society. As a result of Web 2.0 technologies, we now live in a participatory culture in which we are no longer passive receivers of information. As educators in this culture, it becomes increasingly important that our students learn such skills as communication, organization, and team work. Social media tools such as virtual learning environments, blogs, microblogs, folksonomies, and wikis have revolutionized the educational landscape and helped usher in an era of collaboration and camaraderie among teachers and students.

Workshop title: "Harnessing the Power of New Technologies to Increase Community of Learning in Education"--Learn how to use such Web 2.0 technologies as Second Life, Skype, Blogger, Twitter, WetPaint and Delicious in this two-hour hands-on workshop. You'll set up your own account, explore best practices, and examine how other educators are using these technologies. (Note: this will be the first time WAFLT has included a ³hands-on² technology workshop at a fall conference. Participants will need to bring their own laptop computers with wireless capabilities.)

If you are a first year teacher or a full-time university student in the last year of pre-service education, who plans to be teaching a language next year, you may qualify for a WAFLT Beginning Educator's stipend. These stipends are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, as long as the budgeted funds last. The stipend covers WAFLT dues and registration fees to the WAFLT fall conference and spring regional conference. Because they have been so popular in recent years, there will be a deadline this year to make sure that enough time remains for recipients to register for the conference on time--September 15, 2009.

Last update: June 21, 2009