On August 18, 2018, Chinese Language Teachers Association-WA (CLTA-WA) held a successful workshop on Making It Real: Speaking, Reading, and Grammar for Authentic Communication, at Westside School in Seattle. This workshop was led by Dr. Bridget Yaden, Professor of Hispanic Studies and Director of the Language Resource Center at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, Washington, and was co-sponsored by the Chinese Language Teachers Association-USA (CLTA-USA) and the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT).
There were many topics covered during the workshop and the presenter, Dr. Bridget Yaden did an outstanding job of sharing her expertise with us. Participants explored examples of meaningful communication activities through hands-on experience in pairs, small groups, and as a whole group. They also learned how to access free resources for authentic communication through speaking and reading. As the Language Resource Center Director, Dr. Bridget Yaden shared many cutting edge websites and apps for a communicative classroom.
The workshop was well attended by 58 participants, including teachers representing many world languages. Everyone was very satisfied with the workshop and found the ideas and techniques informative and useful.