Last week, I attended the ACTFL 2023 Convention in Chicago! I was a first time attendee and was able to experience things at this conference that I never thought I would get to see. If you have never attended this conference before, you should try to make it happen in your career! I was the proud recipient of their first-time attendee stipend which helped make this possible for me.
I want to take time to reflect and share my experience with you because writing things down has been proven to improve your memory, and I certainly do not want to forget this experience.(Hehe…I also presented about this and you can read about it here!)
I naively thought that ACTFL was just like a regional conference but just slightly bigger. Wow, was I wrong. ACTFL will be the largest conference that you have ever attended in your life. There were 47 presentations happening at the time that I was presenting. Take that in…..47 presentations….in one time slot. It was impossible to choose what presentations I wanted to attend. I only found myself disappointed in 1 of the presentations that I attended which is pretty good considering how many presentations I went to.
The conference was held at the McCormick Place in Chicago. This is a 2.6 million square foot facility that was a maze. You had to go up and down escalators more than you would think and it wasn’t easy finding where I needed to be. 15 minutes was NOT enough time between sessions if you had to go to the other side of the exhibit hall and maybe use the restroom.
My biggest mistake that I made during the conference was packing too much in my bookbag during the day. My entire back and shoulders are still hurting and aching after this which makes me feel so bad for my students who do this daily from class to class. I am one to overpack and be overprepared and I found that I didn’t need to be because I stayed at the conference hotel.
That brings me to my next point. STAY AT THE CONFERENCE HOTEL! You will pay more money to the conference hotel but the luxury of being able to go rest at times was worth every single penny. I also recommend sharing a room with someone. I am so grateful for the late night glasses of wine and life chats that I had with Musicuentos.
Lastly, I learned that people in high heels are simply not real. I wore a chunky heel for maybe 5 hours and I had to change. People who wore them every day are simply not real humans and I have no idea how they can still walk.
My own. JUST KIDDING. I promise I am not that vain!
My favorite presentation I went to was by Mira Canion, author of Capibara con Botas and many more books! I have been BLESSED to have dinner with her TWICE this year. Mira shared how we can prevent learners from fake reading with several examples that I am incorporating into my lessons after Thanksgiving break. The best part of this presentation was that the activities were things that I do in my classroom already but just require a few tweaks to make learners take more accountability in the language.
My next favorite presentation was by my new friend Heidi Trude who presented on how you can turn your classroom into a museum. I loved that this project focused on using all modes of communication and was light on the technology usage.
I was also happy to attend some roundtable discussions surrounding topics like students with exceptionalities and how to provide accommodations to all learners in my classroom.
The exhibition hall was a place where my social battery drained at a rapid speed so I didn’t spend a ton of time here. I did make sure to grab my picture with Señor Wooly and stop by the booths selling books like Teacher’s Discovery and Command Performance Books.
I was a little disappointed that Duolingo wasn’t there because it would have been great to get a picture with Duo the owl for my students.
I was able to do a sample test of a program that uses AI to help learners with listening and speaking activities and it was really neat. At $30 a student…it is way out of my budget but I think it would be great for small learning groups or co-ops to try.
Hands down, meeting so many friends in REAL LIFE! I was a plus 1 to the infamous Kentucky Party where I met incredible educators like Beck Sexton, Jen Hoban, Ben Hawkins, and Nadine Jacobsen McLean. I met Shannon Borum and Meredith White from Georgia, Caroline Schlegel from Maryland, had dinner with Stacy Witkowski from Michigan, went to Bill Langley from Indiana’s presentation…I could go on and on. Oh, and I FINALLY met Lisa Sheppard from Ohio who lives 10 miles from my house!!!!
The people you meet and connect with at ACTFL will forever be my favorite part of this conference. Sometimes you learn more from people at a #langchat meet up in a hotel lobby than you do in a 2 hour workshop. The people are what make this conference worth every single penny!
Yes! But with stipulations.
I don’t know that I would spend money to attend ACTFL unless it was on the same side of the country as me. I can see myself entertaining the idea of going to ACTFL in PA next year, but then take some time off while it heads to the West Coast. I would most definitely go regardless of location if Calico decides to exhibit again. That would be worth it!
I would only go if I could stay at the conference hotel or at an AIRBNB close by. I also recommend this move to any other person attending in the future.
I also will only fly to this conference in the future. The drive there is not bad but the drive back killed my soul and my head was pounding for days after due to being exhausted. I know that flying is a luxury but I would budget for it in the future because I cannot stand driving alone or at night.
Lastly, I have to go with friends. Going with Musicuentos was the icing on the cake and the whole reason this experience even happened for me so I can’t imagine doing this solo. I would recommend going with a group to anyone who has never attended before.
So there you have it. All of the piping hot tea (or most of it ;)) from ACTFL 2023!
