Saturday, April 13, 2024 - 9:00 am to 2:45 pm
Brentwood College School is proud to host its first TPRS®/CI Languages Conference. This event will take place on Saturday, April 13, 2024, from 9:00 am to 2:45 pm in the Eldon and Anne Foote Athletic Centre on our beautiful campus—located in Mill Bay, Vancouver Island.
We invite all second language teachers, immersion teachers, and teacher candidates to participate in this wonderful opportunity. The guest speakers will include Adriana Ramírez, Michelle Metcalfe, and Marco Bequer Hernández, experienced language teachers who have been successfully using the ®TPRS method in their classrooms to help students develop their language skills.
Whether you have some experience using TPRS or are new to it, the Brentwood College School TPRS® Conference offers you an opportunity to strengthen your comprehensible input teaching skills, learn new strategies, and share ideas on how to enhance proficiency and engagement in your classroom.
If you are new to TPRS® you can learn more about this teaching method by visiting this website or watch Adriana Ramírez in action, teaching her story “Los gatos azules” or movietalk “Alma”.
| 9:00 am-9:30 am | Continental Breakfast and Welcome | |
| 9:30-10:45 am | Session A Session A1 - Michelle Metcalfe Connection, Comprehension, Communication: Creating Community in the TPRS/CI Classroom Session A2 - Adriana Ramírez Movie Talk + Embedded Reading: Taking Movie Talks to the next level | |
| 10:45 am -10:55 am | Break | |
| 11:00 am -12:00 pm | Session BSession B1 - Adriana Ramírez Can we really teach culture? – An Intercultural Approach Session B2 - Marco Bequer Hernández Teaching grammar and vocabulary in a communicative way within the TPRS context through mind maps | |
| 12:00 pm -12:30 pm | Lunch (provided) | |
| 12:40 pm -2:15 pm | Session CSession C1 - Adriana Ramírez Teaching with CI Novels Session C2 - Michelle Metcalfe TPRS 2.0: Beyond Circling | |
| 2:15 pm - 2:45 pm | Q&A | |
| 2:15 pm - 2:45 pm | Networking | |
| 2:45 pm | Wrap-up/feedback form to follow | |
Michelle is a well-known and highly regarded TPRS teacher, presenter, trainer, and coach. She has presented, coached, and trained teachers in TPRS and Comprehensible Input-based methodologies throughout BC as well as in the US and elsewhere in Canada. She teaches Spanish 9 to 12 IB at West Vancouver Secondary School and has been teaching exclusively with TPRS and Comprehensible Input since 2010. Michelle is also one of the writers of the BC Core French Curriculum. In her free time, Michelle loves to read, cook, and dance.
Originally from Cuba, Marco has been teaching Spanish and French for more than two decades. He holds two master’s degrees: one in education technology and the other in French language and culture, obtained in France, and other professional certifications in language teaching. His methodology is based on developing students' communication through TPRS and other communicative approaches by making use of tech resources. Marco emphasizes the use of communicative grammar and vocabulary in his classes. He has been teaching languages at different levels, both in Cuba and in Canada, since 1997.
Adriana Ramírez is a Spanish teacher, author, and teacher trainer. She shares her knowledge and experience of more than 20 years in the classroom by constantly training other teachers on how to teach with CI methodologies, as well as how to incorporate anti-biased and anti-racist work in the language classroom. Adriana has trained teachers in Canada, the US, and Europe. She also holds a double major in Psychology, a degree in Clinical Psychology, and a master’s degree in education. Adriana has a big passion for sharing with the world the beauty of her country and her people. You can see this love through all her published novels. A big advocate of the #OwnVoices movement, Adriana strongly believes that those who come from traditionally oppressed and colonized countries and territories must reclaim their right to tell their own stories and build their own narratives. Originally from Colombia, she actively works on recuperating the stories and the narrative that are part of her roots and her heritage. You can find her on IG at @veganadri, her website is adrianaramirez.ca, and her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@learningthroughreading
The conference cost is CAD$100/participant (CAD$70 for students and teacher candidates). Your registration includes a nutritious lunch at Art and Mary Jane Crooks Hall on the Brentwood campus, and a continental breakfast.
Cheques should be made payable to “Brentwood College School” and mailed to the following address:
Attention: Finance
Brentwood College School
2735 Mt Baker Rd,
Mill Bay, BC V0R 2P1
Please ensure the purpose of the payment and the participant´s name are also included on the cheque or the envelope. (2024 BCS TPRS/CI Languages Conference)
Receipts are available for pick up the day of the conference or emailed upon request. Please remember to indicate a receipt is required in your registration form.
Please note that sessions require a minimum number of participants and may be cancelled based on insufficient registration. In the event that a session is cancelled, participants will be moved the session scheduled at the same time.
A processing fee of CAD$20 will be held for any refunds issued before April 1.
Please contact the Conference Organizer, Lucre Balbiani, with any questions at lucrecia.balbiani@brentwood.ca
Please, park in the Eldon and Anne Foote Athletic Centre parking lot and the overflow parking gravel lots across from the Foote Centre, on Lashburn Road (a left turn from the school´s main gate).