Some 200 teachers attended “Celebrating Cultural Relevance in our Languages Other than English Classroom,” the 21st annual professional development conference of the New York City Association of Foreign Language Teachers/UFT and the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers. Participants at the Nov. 3 event attended three 85-minute workshops of their choice from a menu of 24 options, including a workshop geared to teachers of Russian. “We are expanding our horizons to include as many languages as possible,” said Irma Evangelista, the president of the state association and chair of the UFT city association as well as a conference organizer. Araceli Ortega Evangelista of Esperanza Preparatory Academy said she got a lot of ideas on using board games to enhance speaking skills. “I won’t know how they work until I try them in my own class,” she said. In her workshop on building literacy in a Spanish classroom, Rosa Bonelli, a Spanish teacher at Vanguard HS in Manhattan, said she discussed the challenge of meeting the needs of both beginners and students with “enhanced” skills in the same class.