Skip to main content
World Languages

From Skills to Modes - Part 2: Interpersonal Communication

The Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages of the New York State Education Department presents “From Skills to Modes - Standard 2:  Interpersonal Communication”.

Original webinar date:  Wednesday, March 24th, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Webinar description:  After a brief analysis of the contexts and functions embedded in New York State World Language Standard 2: Interpersonal Communication, participants will explore a variety of strategies for learners at Checkpoint A, B and C level proficiency. You will discover classroom-tested ways to build conversational skills, create engaging communicative situations, empower learners to ask questions, and design tasks requiring the negotiation of meaning. Common classroom challenges teachers face in facilitating interpersonal communication tasks will also be examined.

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:  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).

At-a-Glance Documents for Interpersonal Communication

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: 357

# of CTLE certificates issued:  269

# of certificates of attendance issued:  78

# of organizations represented by attendees:

  • 149 districts
  • 239 schools
  • 9 partner organizations
  • 9 colleges & universities

# of languages taught by attendees:  11

Quotes from Participants of this Webinar

  • “This was wonderful! I’m excited to share these ideas with my colleagues!”   ~ Christy F.
  • “Great ideas about the many different ways that interpersonal communication can be used.”  ~ Serena S.
  • “Since the last webinar I’ve been wondering about how to get language into our students’ heads in the first place in order to do interpretive tasks. Almost all of the strategies Bill presented seem perfect for introducing new language, and then moving from interpretive tasks to interpersonal tasks. So helpful!”   ~ Kyle M.
  • “The examples have helped me big time to have a visual of how this is all put together!”   ~ Tina M.
  • “Amazing ideas/strategies/activities ~ explained so well and thoroughly diagrammed!”   ~  Jennifer O.
  • “Thank you, Bill for an informative and well organized presentation.  You have included many ideas which teachers can incorporate easily into their lessons for interpersonal communication.”  ~ Lucille M.
  • “Thank you for making the theory digestible and the practice chocked full of practical lesson ideas.”  ~ Sarah S.
  • “This was magnificent. So organized, actionable, and helpful!”   ~ Deirdre K.

(last updated 9/4/2022)