Diversity, Equity, & World Languages:
Empowering Teachers for Change
How do we as world language educators make our classrooms equitable and inviting to students in this increasingly diverse world of ours? This year's conference will focus on our piece of the academic puzzle.
ACTFL Teacher of the Year Yo Azama is the 2014 Keynote Speaker. Always thought provoking, Azama promises to address our theme, Diversity, Equity and World Languages: Empowering Teachers for Change. A native of Okinawa, he teaches Japanese at North Salinas High School in Salinas, California with dynamic interactive activities. Widely published in the field of language education and culture, Azama has been addressing conference attendees with his uncanny sense of humor and insights since he was named the ACTFL 2012 Teacher of the Year.
2014 Conference attendee highlights:
"Meeting and working with [2014 conference keynote] Yo Azama was inspiring and energizing."
"The entire conference was wonderful. Yo Azama was an awesome speaker; engaging, entertaining, and had a great message. I left each of my breakout sessions with new tools to use in my class, and I loved the opportunity to network with other language professionals."
"Connecting with others, particularly with colleagues and friends whom I haven't seen in a while. Overall, you all did a great job with the conference; it was clear that you worked hard to put together a quality experience for everyone who attended. I appreciated that as an attendee. It was a really nice day; thanks for all of your work!!"
"Connecting with world language teachers and learning from them. Yo Azama was a lot of fun (which is important at an event like this!) and I learned about opportunities for students and teachers at the exhibits and through the presentations. It was all good!"
