Description:

Teaching grammar in today’s proficiency-based classrooms takes an input-first and meaning-based approach that shows learners how to use grammar in authentic contexts. Identified as one of ACTFL’s guiding principles, teaching grammar as a concept and in context remains incredibly challenging and requires specific and explicit examples and guidance on how to implement it effectively. In this workshop, we’ll unpack how to integrate grammar into thematic, proficiency-based curriculum and assessments, explore how to present grammar in context by pairing it with unit vocabulary, draw from Input Processing Instruction to design classroom tasks, look at discovery models of teaching that help learners uncover grammatical patterns in context, and develop form-focused output tasks. You’ll walk away with numerous strategies and concrete examples to support you in developing material for your own classrooms.

Objectives:

1.  I can explain an input-first and meaning-based approach to teaching grammar as a concept and in concept.
2. I can describe specific classroom practices to teach grammar as a concept and use it in context.
3. I can begin to develop my own classroom materials to teach grammar as a concept and use it in context.

Presented by:

Catherine Ritz, EdD is a World Language teacher and teacher educator. She taught French and Spanish at the middle and high school levels for many years—obtaining National Board Certification in teaching French—before becoming the Director of World Languages in a public school district outside of Boston. Catherine is now a Clinical Associate Professor and program director for World Language Education and Curriculum & Teaching at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Catherine has served on the Board of Directors of MaFLA, NECTFL, and the Executive Board of AATF as Vice President. She is the author of Leading Your World Language Program: Strategies for Design & Supervision, Even If You Don’t Speak the Language! (Routledge, 2021), co-author of Proficiency-Based Instruction: Input & Interaction in World Language Education (ACTFL, 2022), and co-author of Proficiency-Based Instruction: Teaching Grammar for Proficiency (ACTFL, forthcoming).