At NAFSA conference, Virginia Tech lays the groundwork for new international partnerships

Don Back, director of the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute, talks with visitors at the university's booth at the NAFSA Annual Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C.

At the world’s largest gathering of professionals in international education — where almost two dozen faculty and staff members represented Virginia Tech — the university laid the groundwork for new international programs and partnerships.

“Being at an event such as NAFSA helps us tell Virginia Tech’s story,” Language and Culture Institute Director Don Back said.

For the first time, the university was an exhibitor at the annual conference for NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.

“Virginia Tech is an internationally recognized land-grant university, and NAFSA attendees are a key audience invested in promoting international education,” Back said. “Through dozens of meetings at our booth and elsewhere at the convention, we strengthened relationships with existing partners while also laying valuable groundwork for new ones.”

Read more at VT News

Instructors' VATESOL presentation could help ESL teachers in Pakistan

Instructors Mary Freday and Becky Etzler present at the VATESOL Conference.

Several instructors from the Language and Culture Institute gave presentations at the VATESOL Conference on Oct. 19 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Caitlin Capone discussed "Using PowerPoint to Inculcate Complex Grammatical Structures and Engage Students." Pinar Gurdal facilitated a discussion regarding "How Well Do Truly Multilevel English as a Second Language Classes Work?" Shelly Stoddard introduced "Guided Reading and Comprehension Strategies in the Adult ELL Classroom." Inge McKenney, from Northern Virginia, presented on "How a Stroll Through History Influences U.S. Academic Culture Today." And Mary Freday and Becky Etzler presented ideas for encouraging "Extended Oral Discourse in the ESL Classroom."

Freday and Etzler's presentation was one of a series selected to be livestreamed, and the video has also been proposed for use in a Teaching Excellence Achievement grant project in Pakistan.

Neelo Fer Anwar, an ESL teacher from Pakistan who had previously attended teacher training at the LCI through a TEA scholarship, is proposing to transfer skills learned at the LCI to teachers in the semirural Gujar Khan region.

If Anwar's grant proposal is accepted, this video will be shared with an audience that has "no exposure to activity-based learning and use of technology in the classroom."

See photos from the faculty mini-conference in Blacksburg

On Friday, LCI faculty in Blacksburg gathered for a variety of workshops and presentations. See anyone you know?
Posted by Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute on Monday, September 21, 2015

Faculty head to VATESOL annual conference

On Oct. 10-11, members of the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute faculty attended the annual conference of the Virginia Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (VATESOL).

This year's conference, whose theme was "Shifting Paradigms: Uniting Technology and Methodology," was held at Longwood University in Farmville, Va.

"The conference was fantastic," says professor Shelly Stoddard. "I left with a variety of concrete strategies and ideas to make my teaching more effective for our students. It was an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded peers, build networks, and invigorate my instruction."

Photos courtesy of Shelly Stoddard and VATESOL.

LCI hosts conference for ESL teachers

Linda Sanford greets conference participants at the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute in Blacksburg, Va.

Ada Chrisman chats with colleagues during the lunch break.

Judy Radford, ESOL coordinator for the Virginia Department of Education,
presents on the WIDA ELD standards.

On April 13, the Language and Culture Institute hosted the first Southwest Virginia conference of the Virginia Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (VATESOL).

About 100 people attended the conference in Blacksburg.

Participants had their choice of 13 sessions, many of which focused on teaching strategies. For lunch, participants ate in different rooms throughout the LCI and mingled with people from other institutions.

“We had a good mix of attendees from elementary, secondary, and tertiary institutions from all over Virginia,” said Melissa Tan, a member of the LCI’s Professional Development Committee.

The attendees also included two teachers from the University of Science Malaysia and a number of former LCI instructors.

Kay Gude, who traveled from Williamsburg, said she enjoyed her day at the conference, which she said was “well organized and attended with a nice variety of people and sessions.”

The association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting professional development, strengthening instruction, and supporting research opportunities at all levels for teachers and administrators of ESL/EFL/ESOL.

Photos by Linda Jilk. Reporting by Kama Weatherholt.