Colloquium Title: How Do We Get There from Here!?! Our Professional Yellow Brick Road
Colloquium Title: "How Do We Get There from Here!?! Our Professional Yellow Brick Road"
Colloquium Abstract: This presentation addresses several issues regarding PreK - 12 language education practices, beginning with "Who we are, who we are not, and why." From the perspective of a teacher who began his career in 1965, I describe teacher identities and serious practices with irony, old-teacher humor, and doubt - just as Ortega y Gasset wrote over a century ago. I also intertwine the characteristics of student achievement and inclusion by emphasizing "out of textbook" experiences through two strategies paramount to meaningful student language usage, information gap activities and thematic units. In doing so, I consider some of the complexities one faces as a teacher intern or an in-service educator - these in an attempt to challenge the notion that textbook sequentiality is obligatory. The presentation integrates "big picture details" with traditional aspects of language teacher development with my desire to offer a multi-hour seminar in a short period of time.
Speaker Bio
A Charter Member of ACTFL, Dr. Paul A. García is its first (and so far only) Latinx President (2000). He grew up in a New York immigrant family, speaking Spanish and Italian. He began his teaching career in Long Island, NY before enrolling in the doctoral program at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. Paul's professional journey includes faculty positions in Ohio and Kansas before moving to Kansas City, Missouri. He taught German and Spanish at his beloved Southwest High School, and then served as the first supervisor of languages for the school district. In that capacity, he was responsible for creating, staffing, and developing the curriculum for 8 immersion K-8 language schools, serving 4,000 students.
Paul then joined the faculty of the University of Kansas School of Education, teaching courses in language teaching methods (WL and ESL), and authoring and directing a major professional development grant for Topeka's ELL teachers. After moving to Florida, he was invited by the University of South Florida to be the interim director of the doctoral program in second language acquisition and instructional technology at the College of Education.
Paul is a mentor/editor to former students and continues to write research articles and to give presentations at ACTFL's annual convention. His latest publication on DEI-related curriculum appeared in June 2025 in the Routledge Handbook of World Language Instruction. During his career, he has presented over 150 workshops and seminars on topics such as immersion program implementation, curriculum development, and classroom methods. He has served as the President of the Foreign Language Association of Missouri, a Board Member of ACTFL, and numerous professional committees, including ACTFL's DEI Committee and AATG's Safe Spaces Committee.
Contact GIDP-SLAT@arizona.edu with any questions.