”WE ARE ALL ADVOCATES!”

YOU are an advocate!   How do we internalize and carry forward the positive and energizing messages from the 2018 WAFLT World Language conference? If you were in the audience for the keynote address, you heard these powerful words from the keynote speaker, Dr. Edward M. Zarrow, 2016 ACTFL National Teacher of the Year.

I suggest framing this quote and reading it any time you wonder whether what you are doing is making a difference!

Partners in public and private areas are advocates: In a previous eVoice advocacy column I shared the news that other important stakeholders in Wisconsin have joined in actively advocating for world languages through the Wisconsin Language Roadmap initiative that will be officially released this month.

The Wisconsin Language Roadmap is a call for collaborative action among education, business and industry, health and human services, and state and local government to meet the language and cultural demands of Wisconsin’s workforce and communities by strengthening language education in our state.

As collaborative work continues at the state level, the materials in this publication will provide YOU with the resources and tools to advocate for World Languages with multiple stakeholders in YOUR community.

Your students are advocates: Students who see their language proficiency growing and who know why they are learning another language and about other cultures are our very best advocates. Consider getting your students involved sharing their excitement about learning languages. WAFLT has launched an Instagram site where you and your students can view your own community and the places you visit through a global lens and share what you find using a technology familiar to many. Read more about how it works…