Webinar presented by Stacey Margarita Johnson (Vanderbilt University). Instructors building social justice into their language teaching often report that they hope their language classrooms will be sites of transformative learning and personal growth. As teachers, we want our teaching to make the world better and inspire students to become engaged citizens. Although we might hope for transformative learning, we don’t always know how it happens or how to guide our students through the process of transformation. This webinar will explore the steps in transformative learning, its connection to critical pedagogy and social justice, and, most importantly, ways language teachers can promote transformative learning through instructional choices that align with research and best practices in second language acquisition.

Webinar presented by Michelle Nicola (Portland Public Schools). What do we mean when we say that we are social justice educators? What are concrete actions that social justice educators take? What beliefs or mindsets do we adopt? This webinar will help educators define what they mean by social justice education, and offer suggestions for how to incorporate self-reflection, relationship building & curriculum design as tools to recognize and interrupt inequitable patterns and practices in our world language classrooms and beyond. Participants will also receive a few lesson plan ideas that they can build on to meet their own communities’ social justice goals.

Accessible entirely online, the L2 Digital Literacies Symposium (L2DL) is a biennial international event offering an array of synchronous and asynchronous sessions that allow academics to make connections across the globe. In 2020, the conference focuses upon the theme of Critical Transnational Dialogue and Virtual Exchange, and explores intersections between international education, digital literacies, and virtual exchange. Virtual presentations selected from submitted proposals will be available during the week of October 19-24, and attendees are encouraged to participate in synchronous and asynchronous discussion that will take place through October 23; professional development credentials will be provided for presenters and attendees who participate in these activities. The symposium will culminate in livestreamed, invited presentations that will take place on October 23 and 24. The symposium schedule and presentation details are on the L2DL website. Access all the details and the link to registration there.