Presenters
Dr. Myriam Met
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Dr.Myriam Met was a supervisor of foreign language programs, English for Speakers of Other Languages, and bilingual education for major urban and suburban school districts, including responsibility for designing, implementing, and supervising a variety of FLES and immersion program models, for over 25 years. After her career as a language administrator in the public schools, she was at the University of Maryland from 2000-2008, where she was Acting Director at the National Foreign Language Center. Since 2009, Dr. Met has worked closely with the Utah State Office of Education to plan and implement the state’s Dual Language Immersion initiative. In addition to her work with Utah, Dr. Met has providing assistance to DL programs at the state, district, and individual school level to a over 100 two-way and one-way programs as well as to immersion programs in in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
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Dr. Jacqueline Bott Van Houten
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Dr. Jacque Bott Van Houten is the World Language Specialist at Jefferson County Public Schools. Previously, she served as the World Language & International Education consultant at the Kentucky Department of Education, She is the past president of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and of National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), and was a major contributor in the development of LinguaFolio. She recently represented ACTFL in signing a memorandum or agreement with the European Modern Language Center for collaborative work. Her current areas of focus are K12 curriculum development and intercultural communicative competence (ICC).
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Dr. Laura Roché Youngworth, a French teacher at Lexington’s Beaumont Middle School, received the 2016 SCOLT Teacher of the Year Award. Roché, who in her 24th year of teaching French, graduated from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in English, French, and Secondary Education; she earned a masters and Rank I in Curriculum and Instruction and in 2014 a doctorate in Administration and Instruction. Roché has taught for the past six years at Beaumont and is the World Languages Content Lead for Fayette County Public Schools. She is also host of the monthly podcast series “Language Talk: KWLA” (Kentucky World Language Association and University of Kentucky). Her presentations range from methods for increasing student communication and helping teachers build language programs to global competency for all content areas. Roché is the current President of the Kentucky Chapter of AATF and CO-Chair of the KWLA Professional Development Committee.
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Megan Johnson-Smith is a certified K-12 Spanish teacher and lives in Louisville, Kentucky. Megan along with Kara Parker founded the Creative Language Class, a blog and resource for language teachers. The blog has grown into a consulting service which is gaining international attention. Their creative ideas are often mentioned in social media and at conferences as a tool for engaging students and developing 21st century skills. |
Jeffrey Jamner
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Jeffrey Jamner, Arts Education Consultant, has a broad background in arts education and creative programming. He has been the director of school programs at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts since 1998. Prior to his work at the Kentucky Center, Jeff worked in the Educational ArtReach Department at the Manhattan School of Music (where he received his doctorate in piano performance) and was founder and director of Concorde: The Chamber Music Society of Westport in Connecticut. Jeff’s areas of expertise include arts education, program development, program evaluation on a shoestring, community and educational outreach and audience development. In addition to his career in arts administration, Jeff is a classical concert pianist with a passion for connecting with audiences through creative programming and interactive performance conversations.
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Alfonso de Torres Núñez
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Alfonso de Torres Núñez is the World Language Consultant at the Kentucky Department of Education. Originally from Madrid, Spain, Alfonso began teaching in Kentucky with the 2009 Visiting Teachers from Spain Program. He received the 2013 National Network for Early Language Learning’s Outstanding Teacher Award at the Annual Kentucky World Language Association Fall Conference and soon after became the NNELL representative for Kentucky. He has a bachelor’s in English philology and a master’s in education from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and first came to the United States in 2006-07 in conjunction with the Fulbright Program at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Penn., where he worked in the Modern Languages department. |
Dr. Kelly Davidson Devall
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Kelly Davidson Devall is an Assistant Professor of French and Foreign Language Education and the Assistant Director of Foreign Language Education at Valdosta State University. Her research focuses on perspective transformation through language and culture learning at the elementary school level. Through her courses on language learning in the elementary school and community service learning, she has established programs and classes for Pre-K through 8th grade students at the Boys and Girls Club and Head Start in Valdosta, Georgia. Kelly is serving as Co-Chair of the ACTFL Language Learning for Children special interest group and is a national reviewer for the ACTFL/CAEP accreditation process. She holds a B.A. in French from Furman University, an M.A. in French literature from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D. in French and Educational Studies from Emory University, with an emphasis on foreign language pedagogy and technology.She currently teaches French and Foreign Language Education at Valdosta State University, with a focus on elementary school foreign language learning.
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Kate Krotzer
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Kate Krotzer is an elementary school Spanish teacher in Glastonbury, CT where she teaches students in grades 1-5. She loves working with children and works hard to create engaging and interactive lessons to continue to move her classes towards proficiency in the language. Kate serves on the NNELL Board as the National Networking Chair. She is also a member of Connecticut Council of Language Teachers (CT COLT) where she chairs the Rhyme Celebration, a statewide event for language learners, grades k-6.
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Dorie Conlon Perugini
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Dorie Conlon Perugini is an elementary Spanish Teacher in Glastonbury, Connecticut currently teaching grades one through five. She is passionate about using a variety of technologies in her classroom to engage her students and bring real-life appreciations to engage her students and bring real-life applications to foreign language lessons. Dorie, along with her team of 5th grade students, produces a monthly podcast to broadcast school-wide news to parents and the surrounding community. She has presented several sessions at foreign language conferences and workshops around the nation on topics ranging from model foreign language assessments to digital storytelling. She also serves as the webmaster for her district's foreign language website.
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Nadine Jacobsen-McLean
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Nadine Jacobsen-McLean is serving as the president of the National Network for Early Language Learning, (NNELL) and currently works for Middlebury Interactive Languages teaching k-12 language learners. She has presented language acquisition strategies at the local, state,and national level. Her interest includes encouraging a Can Do attitude in early language learners and differentiating learning activities to include all learners. She received her B. A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies from the University of Louisville, studied second language acquisition at Northern Kentucky University and at UofL where she earned her M.Ed and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Tennessee in Learning and Leadership. |
Lucas Gravitt
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Lucas Gravitt is an nine year veteran teacher at Scott County High School. He earned his Bachelor's of Arts Degree in German and Teaching from Georgetown College in 2007, and his Master's of Arts Degree in Teacher Leadership with Endorsement in Instructional Technology also from Georgetown College in 2012. He is a passionate language learner and educator and has received numerous awards and accolades during his tenure. He received the German Embassy Teacher of Excellence Award in 2009, the Kentucky World Language Association New Teacher of the Year Award in 2010, a Goethe Institut Award from SCOLT for a 4 week study course in Berlin in 2015, a Fulbright Grant to study the diversity of the German education system in Germany in 2016, has been featured in the German World Magazine as a Teacher Who Inspires in 2010, and a GLOW (German Language Opportunities Website) Award Winner in 2010. Lucas is also the President-Elect of the Kentucky World Language Association, and has previously held the position of Treasurer of the KY Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German. He is the World Language Department Chair at SCHS, as well as the district Global Competency/World Language Coordinator for Scott County Schools. Lucas is also director and owner of Central Kentucky German School.
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