NYC Association of Foreign Language Teachers/UFT conference
Teachers Maria Tully (second from left) of JHS 226 in Queens and Fanny Ruiz (second from right) of Long Island City HS learn new dance steps in a conference workshop.
The New York City Association of Foreign Language Teachers/UFT held its fall conference — titled “World Language Learning: Achieving Authentic Real World Connections” — on Sept. 28 at UFT headquarters in Manhattan. More than 80 educators attended the annual event, which featured language-specific workshop sessions for Spanish, French, Greek and Russian. “We had workshops for teachers on the elementary, middle and high school levels that were well-received,” committee chair and conference organizer Irma Evangelista said of the event, which was co-sponsored by the New York State Association for Language Teachers. Rodney Eric Lopez, a nationally recognized arts educator, made the keynote presentation as well as led the Lessons from the Dancing Classroom workshop. Maria Tully, a teacher at JHS 226 in Queens, raved about the session with Lopez. “I loved learning more about Spanish culture,” she said. Tully said she also enjoyed playing dominoes for the first time in another workshop for Spanish teachers. “It added a fun, memorable touch to the experience,” she said.
