OMG! IFLT!
How do you prepare for the BIGGEST week of your LIFE, when you don’t even know what to expect!?!?! GAH! Initially, I sent in two proposals to IFLT, hoping to have one accepted for presentation. BOTH WERE! YAY! Then about 2 months ago, I was asked if I would participate on the panel of expert teachers and be a learning lab teacher for one of the elementary classes at the conference! WHAT?! I would be teaching next door to Jason Fritz and Linda Li and others with WAY more experience to me. Not to mention these are people that I idolize in the Language Education world. Yes yes YES!
This week has been insane. I returned from Ireland (OMG! GO! It is so great!) late on Monday night and immediately jumped into planning for IFLT on Tuesday morning. I will be teaching a beginner’s class of 3rd and 4th graders. The tricky part is that word “beginnersâ€â€¦. Some of these students may have had a year of Spanish as an elective, some of them may hear some Spanish at home, and others will have had ZERO exposure. I still think I have the easier class compared to some of the teachers that will be instructing the advanced classes.
I run my classroom largely based on the relationships I build with my students. It is going to be VERY hard to build relationships in the two hours I get with the students the day before I have teachers observing me. I am so excited though! What an incredible opportunity! If I think about it anymore I just might faint.
In addition to all of that excitement I am going to be reunited with SO many of my favorite world language peeps! Jenny Wetzig, Diana Noonan, Mark Mallaney, I CAN’T EVEN!!!!! YAY! Let the fun begin!!!