Core MAFLT Faculty Member Bruna Sommer-Farias delivered two keynote addresses during the fall semester. Bruna is a project leader for the Virtual Video-Based Inquiry for the Development of LCTL Teachers, or ViVID program, and was able to share some of her research through the program at these two events.
The first of which was hosted by Northwestern University on August 4th and 5th at an event called XII EMEP: World Meeting on Teaching Portuguese, organized by the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese. Bruna is originally from Brazil and has thus been deeply involved with the community of educators of Portuguese in the United States. In collaboration with Dr. Ana Carvalho from the University of Arizona, Bruna centered the talk around lessons and strategies to strengthen Portuguese language programs in the US, based on the experience and research developed at the UA since 2016. Some of these findings can be found in Language Program Vitality in the United States: From Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education, a research volume edited by CeLTA staff members Emily Heidrich Uebel, Felix Kronenberg, and Scott Sterling.
The second keynote took place online at the MSU Teacher Education Summit on September 30th. The summit is an event during which educators across a variety of fields can learn from one another about the development of their classrooms and curriculums. The title of the keynote was called “Constantly Innovating on Teaching,” and it was given by herself and Dr. Dustin DeFelice of the English Language Center. The talk was student engagement focused and presented research on how educators can look to technology and beyond to develop their classrooms.
