ACTFL+San+Diego+Nov.+2009

I attended the American Council of Foreign Language teachers meeting in San Diego with Youming Che and Heidi Anderson.

Highlights for me were:
 * Keynote address by Craig Hildebrand, Obama's campaign manager, during which he discussed Miami as the most diverse city in the nation
 * Presentation by Ursula Atkinson of the Rutgers World Languages support technology team. She discussed PHOTO STORY, MOVIEMAKER, blogging, flip cameras, SIMS games as prompts for dialogue, and the program 2nd LIFE for teens as a conversation prompt
 * Presentation about video conferencing using cutting edge programs such as ROVYO, a robot that roams the classroom, and Oovo. They also talked about better known programs such as SKYPE and WINDOW's LIVE MESSENGER and websites to find people and classes to tele conference with. Also discussed was the efficacy of smaller and individual conversations as opposed to large groups where passive listening was more likely
 * Heritage Spanish speaker assessment tools and standards were discussed by Brandon Zaslow, director for the California standards committee
 * University of Chicago Lab School presentation on YOU TUBE as a conversation prompt and presentation of flip video projects
 * Substantial publisher exhibits, which for me were very valuable for heritage projects
 * Sony language lab demonstration