SPRING WORKSHOP SERIES
This Spring, immerse yourself in a hands-on workshop series designed to empower educators with practical skills and knowledge. Featuring interactive sessions on in Second Language Acquisition, student engagement strategies, and teacher self-care, this series goes beyond traditional presentations. You’ll actively engage in collaborative activities, reflect on your teaching practices, and leave with actionable strategies you can implement immediately.
Led by the most popular presenters from past conferences, these interactive workshops offer an unparalleled opportunity to:
Led by the most popular presenters from past conferences, these interactive workshops offer an unparalleled opportunity to:
Dive into hands-on learning...with real-world applications, thanks to our impactful, cutting-edge educational presentations.
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Collaborate...with fellow educators in problem-solving activities and peer discussions.
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Ask questions...and work directly with expert educators.
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Whether you’re looking to enhance student engagement, incorporate new tools, or focus on your own well-being, this series is crafted to ensure you walk away with tools you can use right away.
Don’t miss this unique, experiential learning opportunity to take your professional growth to the next level! Sign up today for a series that promises to inspire and empower.
Don’t miss this unique, experiential learning opportunity to take your professional growth to the next level! Sign up today for a series that promises to inspire and empower.
Event Details:
Thank you to our amazing sponsors:
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PROGRAM OF THE DAY
8:00am-8:50am Registration and Breakfast
8:50am-9:00am Opening Remarks
9am-10:00am Workshop #1:
Movement and Reflection in the World Language Classroom
In this workshop, participants will engage in movement-based language acquisition activities that invite collaboration and personalized reflection to celebrate the work they have done so far this year. The session combines strategies that teachers can employ when applying the Five Rules of Inspired Teaching Improv with opportunities for hands-on learning. Through interactive games, storytelling exercises, and group activities, participants will leave with new ideas, both from the techniques they experience and the space provided to share ideas with peers.
PRESENTED BY: AMY WOPAT AND JENNA FOURNEL
Amy Wopat is a language educator, teacher trainer, and coach with over 20 years of classroom experience. She has taught Spanish and English to novice through advanced learners in middle school, high school, and in higher education. Amy has presented internationally in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, as well as locally at ACTFL, IFLT, OFLA, and with DC Public Schools. Amy is a Fulbright Teacher Award Recipient, a DCPS World Languages Teacher of the Year, a Rubenstein Award Recipient for Highly Effective Teaching, and a U.S. Presidential Scholars Program Teacher Recognition Award Recipient. She has served as an AP Reader for the Spanish Language and Culture Exam, holds an MA in Spanish from Middlebury College, and is certified in mindfulness meditation and yoga. Amy is most passionate about language acquisition and literacy through learner-centered strategies that emphasize movement and joy.
Jenna Fournel is the Chief Curiosity Officer at Center for Inspired Teaching where she is currently focused on building teacher capacity to lead professional learning in schools. This professional learning centers on using improvisational thinking to shift learning environments away from compliance and toward curiosity - thus growing the inherent human potential of every learner. Jenna began her career as an English teacher and for more than 20 years has worked with schools in and around Washington, DC. She holds a BA in English from Bryn Mawr College and an MS from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
10:10am-11:10am Workshop #2:
Reflecting, Renewing, and Growing Through Sustained Target Language Use
This interactive workshop explores how world language teachers can sustain meaningful communication in the target language without overwhelming learners. Through experiential activities, collaborative strategy design, and classroom modeling adaptable for K–12 contexts, participants will reflect on their practices and explore ways to increase comprehensibility through intentional input, multimodal supports, and strategic language choices. The session highlights how maintaining target language communication is a shared responsibility between teachers and students, encouraging learners to advocate for understanding and engage with partial comprehension. Grounded in communicative, proficiency-oriented practice, participants will leave with practical strategies and renewed confidence to create inclusive and sustainable target language environments.
PRESENTED BY: CARMEN REYES, GWATFL 2026 Teacher of the Year
Carmen Reyes is a Peruvian educator with a master’s degree in the Teaching and Learning of the Spanish Language and its Culture from the University of Granada in Spain.
She is the World Language Department Chair at The Langley School in McLean, Virginia, where she teaches Spanish and leads her team with passion and creativity.
An author, presenter, and trainer, Carmen shares her innovative work at national conferences, inspiring educators to bring joy, culture, and connection into language learning.
She is the World Language Department Chair at The Langley School in McLean, Virginia, where she teaches Spanish and leads her team with passion and creativity.
An author, presenter, and trainer, Carmen shares her innovative work at national conferences, inspiring educators to bring joy, culture, and connection into language learning.
11:10am-11:40am Coffee and Snack break
11:40am-12:40pm Workshop #3:
From Product to Process: Designing Learning Portfolios for Language Learning
Most teachers know that mistakes are an essential component to learning, yet we often find our students are reticent to take risks in the classroom. How then do we design learning experiences that encourage students to embrace failure as a vital cog in their development of language skills? This workshop will explore how learning portfolios can provide students with authentic opportunities to author their own learning narratives — successes, mistakes, and failures. Specifically, attendees will learn how to embed regular opportunities for metacognition, how to develop a culture of documentation, and how to capture their progress in learning a language. in several different portfolio formats.
PRESENTED BY: KURT PRESCOTT
Kurt Prescott is the Interim Chair of the Humanities Department at Maret School in Washington, DC., where he teaches courses in English, History, and Religious Studies. He holds an EdM from the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University in educational leadership, an M.T.S. from the Harvard Divinity School in comparative studies, and a BA from Dartmouth College. Kurt is particularly interested in the ways students construct their own sense of purpose and meaning in relation to their learning, as well as the role of metacognition, civic discourse, and religious literacy in secondary school education.