Welcome back from February vacation for those at the middle school/secondary level and have a great Spring Break for those at the University level. Many of us will be celebrating World Language Week during the month of March. Once again NHAWLT is sponsoring a Poster Contest during this time. This year there is a twist-we will accept both traditional as well as digital posters! Please go to NHAWLT.org for all of the rules and regulations regarding this contest.
The NHAWLT Board has been very busy since Christmas. The NH Guidelines for teachers can now be downloaded from our website. Thanks to the efforts of Janis Hennessey, former president of NHAWLT, the specifications for certification for all languages can be found on our website. Jan has also been busy with American Sign Language. Jan reports that “NH is leading the way in establishing quality teacher certification for ASL candidates. At the final ASL committee meeting, it was decided to use the upcoming ACTFL OPI since there is no Praxis II for ASL. Other states are contacting NH to find out what criteria we use for ASL Alt 4 certification. NHAWLT has played a major role in helping all of this to come about. We are years ahead of other states in this area and we are very proud of it. Hooray for ASL in NH!”
Our NHAWLT.org website has a new feature called the Helpful Hints Section. Jan Hennessey and John Chaston are sponsoring this section in hopes that members will send in innovative ideas for the 21st century. Please share with your peers so that we can all become the best that we can be. This would be a great place to share some of the innovative things that you are doing to celebrate World Language Week.
NECTFL will be hosting its annual convention in April. You can find out all of the information on our website. Information regarding the ACTFL Conference in Philadelphia for next November can also be found.
Celeste Feren was the NHAWLT delegate who attended a technology conference sponsored by The Christa McAuliffe Science Center. Celeste reports that the NHSTE is looking for world language teachers willing to share how they use technology at their conference. Please contact Kathleen McClaskey at
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and/or visit nhste.org for more info about tech in NH.
As you must all know by now, our annual poster contest is in full swing. Our theme this year is “You’re Connected…Now Communicate!” Posters must be postmarked no later than Friday, March 30. In keeping with 21st century skills, this year we are accepting both standard poster entries as well as digital entries. All of the specifications can be found under Awards/Contests on our website. For those of you who are celebrating World Language Week, best of luck in all of your endeavors. We would love to hear what you are doing. Please use our Helpful Hints Section to share your ideas with your peers.
Sincerely,
Mary Chamberlain, NHAWLT President
