ACTFL

Jason Fishbein

The ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) conference is in full swing. This year’s event is in the City of Brotherly Love and home of the Cheesesteak—Philadelphia! Joining me here are Beth Gaunce, Beth Gemmil, Brigham Kelly, Chad Schaedler, Kandyce Coston, Jocelyne Waddle, Linda Paulson and Tom Cecere. Exhibitors run the gamut. In making my rounds through the hall, I’ve seen all of the major publishers, educational technology companies, language games, study abroad organizations, educational travel companies and even some exhibitors selling scarves and other jewelry!


ACTFL is the largest language organization in the US and holds an annual conference where thousands of teachers, administrators, instructors and linguists come from across the world—and stop by our booth! We have a large screen TV running demos and two smaller laptops to draw in visitors. The Middlebury name brings in a lot of traffic and plenty of teachers have also asked about MMLA. Good visibility and brand recognition. And what would a conference be without freebies? Everyone loves pens and they’re flying off the table!


Last I tallied, we had over 230 people who stopped by the booth. So what are they asking? What are their comments?

• When are we going to offer college level courses?
• Are our elementary courses a blended learning environment?
• What kind of professional development do we offer?
• They want Italian—and I don’t mean the food!
• That’s a nice sweater (to Jason)

• Can students purchase courses for independent study?

• They love the authentic material in the Fluency courses

• Are you married? (to Linda)

• The difference between Competency and Fluency or as Jocelyne explains it explicit vs. intrinsic learning.   Take notes on that one!

• Where is Jamie?

On that note, I am back on shift and heading to the booth. Enjoy the pictures and check back for more from Kandyce and Brigham about their instructional sessions. Au revoir, Adios, Auf Wiedersehen…Goodbye.