WAUKESHA – For the first time in its 16 years, FLES Fest will be held in Waukesha. Foreign language teachers from all across the state and some from Illinois and Minnesota will gather at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha campus for a one-day workshop March 6 on “Get Them Talking and Make It Meaningful: Guiding Communication through Content, Games, Pair Work, Drama and Music.”
Started by two college professors to support elementary teachers of foreign languages, FLES (foreign language in elementary schools) Fest has expanded its reach through the high school level and gained backing from the Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers (WAFLT) and the National Network for Early Language Learners (NNELL). It is an outgrowth of a FLES networking session at the 1987 WAFLT conference.
Founders Mary “Duffy” Kasum, who teaches French and Spanish at UW-Waukesha, and Helena Curtain, an assistant professor of curriculum at UW-Milwaukee and former MPS teacher, established this forum for foreign language teachers to share their ideas and network among themselves. Many of these teachers have no colleagues teaching foreign languages in their schools, so this is their only opportunity to spend time with their peers and exchange tales of success and challenge.
The 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. day is designed to be both fun (a fest!) and educational. Attendees are asked to bring markers and their favorite children’s story books along with 150 copies of any accompanying activity to share with others at the workshop. Five break-out sessions will be presented by current and highly respected Wisconsin foreign language teachers, who will discuss the most current educational methods for teaching foreign languages and lend their own expertise to the topics. Presentations have been organized around five themes:
- Get Them Talking
- Get Them Singing
- Get Them Acting
- Get Them Playing Games
- Get Them Assessed.
In the end, Kasum says, they hope to support, strengthen and improve the quality of foreign language instruction in Wisconsin schools, something increasingly important as today's children move ever more into a globally-interactive world.
FLES Fest formerly had been held at Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee.
For information about FLES Fest, contact Mary Duffy Kasum at mkasum@uwc.edu, or phone the campus at (262) 521-5494. |
