AATF Convention Chicago 2025

This session will offer an in-depth look of the French for All initiative and the French Embassy's educational programs, which support the growth and enrichment of French education and bilingualism in the United States, from kindergarten through higher education. Participants will learn about various Calls for Proposals designed to support school districts, higher education French departments, and teachers. The session will also highlight the inaugural French for All Summer Institute, which will gather over 100 teachers for a week-long professional development program tailored to diverse teaching tracks. This session will showcase practical ways to use available resources and examples of implemented projects through the embassy grants. Following the presentation, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a Q&A session and a collaborative discussion with presenters.

Manie Musicale is a powerful and fun way to engage students in French language and culture. If you're not participating already, you are missing out! Come to this session to learn all about Manie Musicale, and how to join the international movement started by Michelle Fournier and Stephanie Carbonneau.

The controversial studies conducted by Dr. Kenneth Dinklage of Harvard University and Leonore Ganschow of the University of Miami, beginning in the 1970s, have significantly influenced the ongoing debate regarding the inclusion of students with learning difficulties in immersion classes. These studies have heightened the interest of bilingual education specialists in exploring the factors and possibilities involved in such inclusion.

The prevailing perspective today is that the integration of students with learning difficulties into immersion settings can be a valuable asset to their overall development, as supported by Wayne P. Thomas and Virginia P. Collier. Furthermore, the movement advocating for the inclusion of these students has gained considerable momentum, particularly with the effective utilization of artificial intelligence tools in immersion classrooms.

This session will initially focus on assisting educators in identifying the specific challenges faced by certain students, thereby enabling them to appropriately categorize these difficulties within the immersive context. Subsequently, attention will shift to selecting the relevant artificial intelligence tools designed to support student success, with an emphasis on differentiation to accommodate individual needs.

In conclusion, we will explore practical applications of these AI tools within real classroom settings.

This session explores integrating Google Translate into classroom activities to enhance vocabulary, sentence structures, and pronunciation. It demonstrates how to use Google Translate for educational benefits, if strategically incorporated in language classrooms. Drawing on university lessons, participants' samples and reflections illustrate practical applications and outcomes. Key findings show that strategic use of Google Translate improves vocabulary, pronunciation, sentence structure, and critical skills, addressing common pitfalls for better usage.

Keeping the curriculum relevant and current is a central concern of every French language program director. But where to start when it's time to change a 40-year-old curriculum? This session will describe challenges and lessons learned in a major curricular overhaul of a French language program, based on experiences of this university-level language program director. Examples will be shared from a timeline of curricular planning and implementation, with audience participation in a hands-on brainstorming session.

This session will introduce a school-wide, year-long Francophone country exploration, sharing guidelines for selecting and promoting the 3 P's of a target country, while adhering to regular curricular goals, and demonstrate how the nature of the project puts students' voices and interests at the forefront, leading to increased engagement while providing a more diverse lens into Francophone culture. The session will include a hands-on learning experience and a portion of the session for sharing resources amongst participants.

Discover three free resources—CinéSchool, IFcinéma, and TV5Monde—to bring authentic French films and TV into your classroom. CinéSchool offers francophone films with interactive activities on Genially and Padlet. IFcinéma provides a diverse catalog of French films and shorts. TV5Monde brings Francophone culture to life with TV shows like Destination Francophonie and ready-to-use lesson plans. Leave with practical tools and activities to make French learning more engaging, relevant, and immersive for your students!

Using social media in the classroom can come with many benefits for students and teachers alike. However, there are also risks and responsibilities associated with opening your classroom to the world through the networks. This session will review best practices for using social media in language lessons. Attendees will have access to sample lessons for all levels as well as examples of influencers to share with students.

This presentation offers five interactive examples of AI usage in lesson planning and classroom activities piloted at two higher education institutions and developed in parallel with the more established and research-based digital humanities practices of: accessibility (free and limited account creation required), meaningful contribution (the activity must benefit students’ learning in a novel way), and ease of use (the platform must render instructor’s work easier, not more onerous).

This presentation promotes the inclusion of authentic content in the curriculum by offering a pedagogical model for using photos of the linguistic landscape of Paris to make connections to other disciplines (architecture, art, geography, history, jurisprudence, marketing, math, and sociology). The photos, which were taken by the presenters over the past two years, represent a wide range of contexts in many different parts of the city.

Learn how to invigorate French conversation with your students in class through the high-impact activity of structured debate. The format of debating, infuses enthusiasm into conversation, while building vocabulary, refining pronunciation, enhancing confidence, and improving fluency. Using video of your choice, documentary, serial, or feature film, as the starting point, students lead the discussion implementing the important elements of debate such as argument, evidence, refutation, and respectful communication. Debate sample lesson with activities and templates will be provided during this interactive presentation.

"Enrich your classes with the Francophonie of the Americas thanks to TV5MONDE!
Are you looking for authentic and interactive resources to introduce your students to the diversity of the Francophone world?
TV5MONDE offers a wealth of educational content to help you explore the history, culture, and identities of Francophone communities in North America, the Caribbean, and beyond!"

Enjoy learning about Senegalese "teranga" as two Chicago-based French teachers discuss their experiences traveling in Francophone West Africa with Vive L'expérience. This session will explore the itinerary followed, the relationships forged, the cultures shared, the lessons learned, as well as how these experiences have been incorporated into the classroom. There will be time for Q&A and more information for those interested in future trips to Senegal with Vive.

Cette session explore l’intégration de la littérature sur la famille en cours de français pour un apprentissage engageant et inclusif. Les participants apprendront à sélectionner des livres reflétant diverses structures familiales et à concevoir des activités centrées sur les élèves (vocabulaire, jeux de rôles, discussions). Ils adapteront leurs leçons pour répondre aux besoins de tous, tout en valorisant la diversité. À la fin, ils repartiront avec des outils pratiques pour enrichir leur enseignement.

After nearly 20 years of World Language teaching experience at the college, high school and middle levels, as well as being heavily active in colleague collaborations and presentations at the local, state and national levels, Teresa Floch made a huge career swerve and took a position as an Upper Elementary Montessori Guide in the school where her toddler was attending summer camp. Join her as she relates her experience transitioning to this entirely different way of teaching and how it looks to incorporate Wprld Languages into Montessori’s vision of Cosmic Education.

Et si nous pouvions connecter les élèves à des ressources locales pour dynamiser leur apprentissag? Cette session prendra l’allure d’une véritable conversation entre collègues francophones pour 1) valoriser la francophonie locale dans toute sa diversité, 2) repérer les ressources qui nous entourent, 3) créer un lien de proximité pour les élèves et 4) cultiver leur intérêt. Découvrez comment miser sur nos propres communautés francophones par des moyens simples et abordables.

In a time of decreasing French language enrollments, instructors need to consider radically new approaches to teaching the language and culture. This talk shows how to use film clips not only as an effective way to teach all the communicative functions, structures, and vocabulary domains found in traditional textbooks, but as an innovative way to present the rich diversity of the French-speaking world and to excite and engage a heterogeneous learner population.

Are you a chapter officer? Do you have an idea to share -- something that has worked well for your chapter and would be easy to implement in another? Or, is your chapter in need of fresh ideas, having a hard time overcoming a challenge, or needing some help? Bring your great ideas and your struggles to this round-table session and connect with, share, and learn from other chapter officers.