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World Languages

From Skills to Modes - Part 1: Interpretive Communication

The Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages of the New York State Education Department presents “From Skills to Modes - Part 1:  Interpretive Communication”.

Original webinar:  Wednesday, March 10th, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Webinar Description:  Get to know Standard 1, Interpretive Communication, an input-focused standard designed to scaffold learners' target language comprehension. In this session, you will take a deep dive into Standard 1 and its elements as well as the resources developed to support you in its implementation. You will see examples of the Interpretive mode applied to various text types at Checkpoints A, B, and C, and you will come away with a set of strategies for scaffolding your learners' Interpretive Communication.

Webinar Facilitation Guide (Word, PDF):  This facilitation guide is designed for use by a facilitator and/or participants engaged in professional learning designed around this webinar and its focus topic(s). Facilitators and/or participants may use the facilitation guide in whole or in part, all at once or spaced out over time. They may additionally customize the facilitation guide to best suit their needs by modifying, adding to, or eliminating suggested discussion questions and/or tasks.  The facilitation guide begins with an overview of the webinar goals and its organization. It follows with suggestions of structured discussion questions and tasks that are organized for use before, during, and after webinar viewing and aligned to the stated webinar goals.

Link to webinar flyer

Webinar presenter:  Dr. Joanne O'Toole is a Professor of Modern Language Education in the Curriculum and Instruction Department at SUNY Oswego. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the NYSED World Languages Content Advisory Panel and the Principal Investigator of the NYS World Language Standards Initiative. Joanne has served in several world language leadership positions including NYSAFLT President and NECTFL Director, and is a regular presenter at national, regional, state, and local conferences. Joanne is a certified teacher of Spanish and taught Spanish for 16 years prior to entering post-secondary education.

At-a-Glance Documents for the Interpretive Mode

Link to Handouts folder from webinar

Link to recording of webinar

Link to post-assessments

To receive a certificate of completion (including a CTLE certificate), NYS educators must view the recording of the webinar (see link above) in its entirety and then answer at least seven out of ten questions correctly on the post assessment.  If the minimum required score (7 out of 10) is achieved, the educator will receive a certificate via email within an hour.  For the convenience of our World Language educators, there are multiple versions of the post assessment available, should the required score not be achieved on the first attempt.  Educators may take each version of the post assessment once.

Important notes:

  1. Educators may take each version of the post assessment once.  Credit will not be given for taking a single version of the post assessment more than once. 
  2. Credit will not be given for more than one passing score on any of the post assessments for a webinar (listed below) in a single academic year.  
  3. Educators may receive credit for viewing the webinar recording and passing a post assessment once in each academic year and are encouraged to take a different version of the post assessment on a yearly basis to review and test their knowledge of the webinar's content. 
  4. It is the responsibility of the individual educator to keep track of the information on the professional learning they complete each year, including the number of CTLE hours.
  5. Questions about this webinar or the post assessments, should be directed to Candace Black at (585) 356-0951 or at candace.black@nysed.gov.

Webinar Summary

# of attendees: 179

# of CTLE certificates issued:  145

# of certificates of attendance issued:  29

# of organizations represented by attendees:

  • 74 districts
  • 131 schools
  • 2 partner organizations
  • 4 colleges & universities

# of languages taught by attendees: 11

Quotes from Participants of this Workshop

  • “I am excited about this shift and looking forward to more PD opportunities.  It’s a big change from past practice, but one that is needed. Thank you for such an informative session.”  ~Heidi M.
  • “Very insightful workshop that will be perfect for new curriculum writing. Grazie assai!” ~Michelangelo D.
  • “This has been an AWESOME presentation, and should be a must watch for everyone who wants to understand the rationale of the shift. I learned a lot.”  ~Marisol M.
  • “One of the best I have ever attended.  I can’t wait to attend the future ones.”  ~Jenny S.

(Last updated 9/4/2022)