2025 Summer Language Institute Leadership and Staff (from left to right: Dr. Kara Moranski, Dr. Juan Godoy Peñas, Dr. Anne Lingwall Odio, Jaquelynn McGraw, Kate Murphy, Addyson Beecham, Ashley Anneken)
Summer Language Institute
The Summer Language Institute supports K-16 language practitioners seeking to employ contemporary, research-supported best practices for world language instruction in their classrooms. Specifically, the Summer Language Institute will focus on equipping pre- and in-service foreign/world language, heritage language, immersion, and ESL/EFL educators with training on how to both modify existing curricula and create new course materials that adhere to ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. The Summer Language Institute runs in person every summer for three days, hosted at the University of Cincinnati.
Summer Language Institute 2026
Keynote Speakers
Keynote: What Really Builds Proficiency? Why Task-Based Language Teaching Matters in K–12 Classrooms
Workshop: Make It a Task! Turning Textbook Activities into Real-World Communication
Keynote: Leveraging the Work of Language Instruction Through High-Leverage Teaching Practices
Workshop: Context Matters: Using Meaningful and Purposeful Contexts as a Leverage in Instruction
Dr. Eileen W. Glisan is Emeritus Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she coordinated the Spanish Education K-12 Program for more than 30 years. Prior to that time, she began her career as a middle and high school teacher of Spanish and French. Dr. Glisan served as President of ACTFL, Chair of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and President of the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association. She is co-author of the two-volume series, Enacting the Work of Language Instruction: High-Leverage Teaching Practices, of The Integrated Performance Assessment: Twenty Years and Counting, and of Teacher's Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction. She has authored many scholarly articles in journals such as The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, and The Canadian Modern Language Review, in addition to chapters in edited books. In 2009, she launched the ACTFL Research Priorities Project designed to develop and promote a national research agenda in foreign language education. Dr. Glisan has received numerous awards including the Anthony Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education and the Northeast Conference Nelson H. Brooks Award for Distinguished Service and Leadership to the Profession.
Workshop Presenters
Workshop: Universal Design for Language Learning: Designing for Every Voice
Wesley Wood is an accessibility coordinator at Georgetown University and a former K-12 Latin and French teacher. In 2022, he was named GWATFL Teacher of the Year and NECTFL finalist. Wesley was selected as a NECTFL Mead Innovation Fellow for advocating for neurodivergent learners and educators in language programs. As an accessibility professional, Wesley helps undergraduate, graduate, and medical students access disability accommodations while supporting faculty and staff in fostering more inclusive and accessible learning environments.
Donna Clementi holds a Ph.D. in Education and Leadership with a focus on effective world language program design. She taught French and was the World Languages program leader for 33 years in the Appleton (WI) Area School District. She also served as the Director of Education and Research at Concordia Language Villages and designed the Master of Education in World Language Instruction program at Concordia College.Clementi is co-author of Keys to Planning for Learning (ACTFL, 2017). She is a frequent presenter and workshop facilitator on world language curriculum and program design, instructional strategies, and performance assessment. Currently, she is an adjunct instructor in world language methods at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. Clementi received ACTFL's Florence Steiner Award for K-12 Language Leadership (2000), and the National District Supervisor of Foreign Languages Award given by NADSFL (2004). She was recognized by the Wisconsin Association for Foreign Language Teaching (WAFLT) as Wisconsin’s Distinguished Foreign Language Educator (2002). She received Les Palmes Académiques from the French government (2008) and the Founders Award from the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2012) and has been a member of WAFLT, AATF, and ACTFL since 1973 when she joined as a first-year French teacher.
Past SLI Themes and Keynote Speakers
The CEDAR Language Resource Center is excited to host the 2025 Summer Language Institute on June 3rd, 4th, and 5th. The theme spanning all three days is "Local Classrooms, Global Communities."
Focal Areas:
- Language Education as a bridge to global citizenship: Encouraging intercultural competence, supporting immersive classrooms, strengthening multilingual proficiency and supporting heritage and indigenous languages.
- Curricular Innovation and Pedagogical shifts: Real-world applications in the classroom; communicative-based assessments; interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Impact of Technology: Expanding the use of digital platforms; raising awareness about disparities in the classroom and encouraging cross-district collaborations, seals of biliteracy.
Keynote speakers:
- Cassandra Glynn, PhD: (https://www.concordiacollege.edu/directories/faculty-staff/details/dr-cassandra-glynn/)
- Julio Torres, PhD: (https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/juliotorres/)
Summer 2024: "Engagement and Motivation in the Language Classroom"
The CEDAR Language Resource Center is excited to host the 2024 Summer Language Institute on August 5th, 6th, and 7th. The theme spanning all three days is "Engagement and Motivation in the Language Classroom."
- August 5th: Nurturing the Roots of Student Engagement, Kate Grovergrys
- August 6th: Beyond Borders: Cultivating a Global Mindset for a Connected World, Ying Jin
- August 7th: Technology and Classroom Management: Suggestions and Solutions, Roundtable Discussion Facilitated by Kathleen Shelton
- August 7th: Culture in the Language Classroom, Ke Peng, PhD
- August 8th: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Language Classroom, Milton Alan Turner
- August 9th: Creating a Communicative Language Classroom, Claudia Fernández, PhD
Ke Peng, PhD
Dr. Peng is a Professor of Chinese and the Director of Chinese Flagship at Western Kentucky University. Dr. Peng was awarded the 2022 Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from the Kentucky World Language Association. She is the coordinator of the Chinese Program in the Department of World Languages. Dr. Peng has over 20 years of teaching experience and has served as the college team leader for the STARTALK Master Teacher Program. Her research interests include pedagogy, teacher training and program evaluation as well as literacy development and cultural education in the Chinese language classroom. Recent research from Dr. Peng can be found in Journal of International Chinese Language Education, The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language Teaching, and the Journal of Chinese Language Teaching.
Milton Alan Turner
Mr. Turner is a French and Spanish teacher at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio with over 35 years of teaching experience. He was awarded the U.S. Innovative Educator award by Microsoft in 2011, the Ohio World Language Teacher of the Year in 2014, and St. Ignatius’ Trailblazer award in 2020. Mr. Turner currently serves on the Ohio Foreign Language Association board as Editor for Electronic Media and is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee Member for ACTFL, as well as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission Member for the American Association of Teachers of French.
Claudia Fernández, PhD
Dr. Fernández is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Spanish Basic Language Program in Hispanic and Italian Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). With more than 20 years of language teaching experience, Dr. Fernández' research interests are in the area of task-based language teaching, materials development, and input processing. She is the co-editor of Using Language Learning Materials: Theory and Practice (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), the co-author of the task-based textbooks Aula en acción (Klett World Languages) and the author of "What is and what is not comprehension-based communicative language teaching?" (Klett World Languages, to appear). She is the current recipient of the Teaching Recognition Program award at UIC for excellence in teaching.