SCH Hosts International Gathering of Language Educators

Over 250 educators converged on Springside Chestnut Hill Academy for five days in July for the 2024 CI Summit, an international training event for educators of world languages whose mission is to “learn to teach [languages] for proficiency through acquisition-driven instruction.” The language labs and techniques embraced by the Summit leaders, coaches, and expert teachers are designed to bring effective and equitable techniques back to the language classroom so that students build fluency and proficiency. 

“The success of this teaching practice makes acquiring language so much more fun,” says SCH World Languages department chair Stephanie Kasten and one of the event organizers. “This methodology yields tremendous results and takes the focus off conjugation rules, drills, and memorization. There is joy and a sense of belonging in the classroom and a freedom that allows  us to center teaching  linguistic and cultural proficiency growth and learning.”

On the first day of the conference, student coordinator Karen Tinsley and her husband, Ben Tinsley, who will begin teaching at SCH in September, helped to frame the work of the week in their keynote presentation. “Historically marginalized students are not marginal. They have been marginalized. It is our job and privilege to move these people into the center. We seek to create spaces where culture and race are at the center. When we think about helping our students learn languages, language proficiency is in the service of building better citizens.”

Over 50 students, ages 8 to 18, gave up a week of their summer to participate in the conference, serving as language campers and ambassadors. Teachers attending the CI Summit conference had the opportunity to observe students as they learned techniques to improve their teaching skills. 

SCH Spanish teacher Tim Knight captured the experience as a participant: “It was such a joy to see SCH as the site of so much learning and growing for language teachers from all over the country, and the world. The sessions were very beneficial and I learned many strategies and techniques that I am excited to implement in my Spanish classroom this fall."

Background:
The CI Summit is a collaborative effort between members of the ADI/CI Training Community and is sponsored by Voces Digital, which offers CI-based language curricula for multiple languages called Our Story.