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World Languages

Understanding Unit Planning with the Revised NYS World Language Standards – Part 1

The Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages (OBEWL) of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) presents this next webinar in its 2021 Professional Learning Series.  This webinar, "Understanding Unit Planning with the Revised NYS World Language Standards - Part 1", is offered free of charge for world language educators and administrators working and studying in New York State schools, colleges, and universities.

Original webinar date & time:  Tuesday, October 26, 2021, 4:00—5:00 p.m.

Webinar description:  With a robust, interdisciplinary unit theme established, teachers are ready to explore key steps in planning a standards-based, culturally-contextualized thematic unit plan. The presenters will suggest ways to carry out the recursive process of planning and sequencing learning tasks that integrate the modes of communication. They will explain how to identify a toolbox of key vocabulary and grammatical structures that support language functions and proficiency targets from initial brainstorming to implementation. For teachers who have established unit plans, the presenters will share strategies for auditing and potentially revising those unit plans to align with the revised NYS Learning Standards for World Languages and checkpoint proficiency targets.

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 co-presenters:  

  • Bill Heller has taught in public elementary, secondary, community college and undergraduate classrooms for 40 years, including 24 years teaching Spanish at Perry High School. He has been a methods and Spanish instructor at SUNY Geneseo since 2001.  He is a frequent presenter of workshops, webinars and keynotes. Bill served as Conference Chair for the 2018 Northeast Conference (NECTFL) and is currently a member of the Executive Board and Content Advisory Panel for World Languages at the New York State Education Department (NYSED).
  • Dr. Lori Langer de Ramirez began her language teaching career as a teacher of Spanish, French and ESL. She holds a Master's Degree in Applied Linguistics and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently the Director of World and Classical Languages & Global Language Initiatives at the Dalton School in New York City. Lori is the author of books, texts and articles about language teaching and learning and multicultural education. She presents workshops at local, regional and national conferences and works with teachers in schools throughout the U.S. and around the world. Her website (www.miscositas.com) offers free materials for teaching Chinese, English, French, and Spanish.
  • 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.

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: 315

# of CTLE certificates issued: 245

# of certificates of attendance issued: 70

# of organizations represented by attendees

  • 303 districts
  • 3 non-public schools
  • 6 charter schools
  • 6 BOCES and/or RBERNs
  • 5 colleges & universities
  • 1 government agency

# of languages taught by attendees: 10

Quotes from Participants of this Workshop

  • “This webinar has been very informative, useful and fun; it has been delightful! I could have stayed until 11 pm! Los presentadores son óptimos y fascinantes. ¡Guau, guau y gu au!  The idea of auditing is fabulous.  These webinars get better and better! Thanks again for this amazing level of work and support for us.” ~ Marisol W.
  • “This presentation was very well put together and so informative. The resources that you have provided are invaluable as we head into this (long-awaited!) switch to the updated standards. Muchisimas gracias de Kenton!” ~Andrea G.
  • “This was excellent and incredibly informative! Really grateful for these webinars!” ~ Marissa R.
  • “This was wonderful! Very systematic and you made all this information very practical and possible. Thank you!” ~ Kerri S.
  • “Thank you very much for the incredible work you are doing to make WL Learning meaningful and relevant! :)” ~ Gina T.
  • “I always love coming to these workshops with my teacher family!” ~ Jennifer R.
  • “Thank you very much! lot of information, thank you for taking the time to guide us.” ~ Adrianny R.

(last updated 9/5/2022)