Lee University recently hosted 13 foreign language teachers from surrounding counties to participate in a one-day ACTFL-OPI Familiarization Workshop (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages-Oral Proficiency Interview).

Dr. James Wilkins, professor of French at Lee, led the workshop which highlighted the ACTFL proficiency speaking guidelines and the OPI, which is an assessment tool for oral proficiency in languages. The training also focused on the format of the OPI, asking good questions, and developing topics within a conversation. Additionally, the workshop examined the implications of the ACTFL-OPI for classroom teaching.

“After attending a workshop to become a certified ACTFL-OPI tester, I can point to that workshop as the turning point in my career,” said Wilkins. “The focus on what learners can do with this language, rather than what they know about the language, redesigned my perspective. This is what the ACTFL-OPI is all about – assessing what a person can and cannot do with language, regardless of where, when, or how the language was acquired.”

Public school teachers of French, Spanish, and German from Bradley, McMinn, and Polk counties attended the event. A few teachers from Hamilton County also attended the workshop.

“Our department was so pleased to sponsor this ACTFL-OPI workshop for our area foreign language teachers,” said Dr. Jean Eledge. “It was a wonderful day not only of training, but also of networking among the area’s language professionals.”

The Department of Language and Literature has also offered workshops on OPI familiarization and Writing Proficiency to French, German, and Spanish professors at Lee. Language and Literature faculty Drs. Christopher Blake, Carmen Guerrero, and Alexander Steffanell have attended ACTFL-sponsored training workshops off campus.

Wilkins recently conducted a workshop in Costa Rica. He has also offered training for United States Peace Corps language instructors to enable them to assess volunteers through a language proficiency interview prior to being sent to their sites of service.

For more information about the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, visit ACTFL.

For more information about the Department of Language and Literature at Lee, visit Lang & Lit.