World Languages Forum 2023 hosted by Education Perfect

Akash Patel (@speakerakash) is the Founder of Happy World Foundation Inc, President at ACTFL and the Vice-Chairman of the National Council at the United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA).

As a polyglot that speaks six languages and has travelled to over 70 countries, he is most passionate about using his travel experiences to design his lessons, focusing on promoting global citizenship education and cross-cultural understanding in schools and communities worldwide. Akash is also one of the top 50 teachers selected from over 30,000 nominations for the 2017 Varkey Foundation's Global Teacher in recognition of his contribution to the profession.

Esmeralda is an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) and a former Head of MFL and Digital Lead with over 20 years of language teaching experience from KS2 to KS 5 in the States and the Independent sectors. She is also the 2022 Silver Winner for the Pearson's National Teaching Award - Secondary School Teacher of the Year, in the UK.

She is most passionate about the use of digital tools and collaborative projects among schools, and has extensive experience in using eTwinning and Erasmus projects as tools to enhance the teaching and learning experience in the MFL classrooms. Esmeralda co-authored one of the Language Gym Books: Spanish Verb Pivots with GianFranco Conti and is currently, a woman with many hats: an MFL consultant, writer, blogger and CPD provider - and yet - she is more excited to be back to the classroom in September as Head of MFL in Princes Risborough School, UK.

Steven 'Étienne' Langlois is an award-winning teacher-rockstar and author of the #1 best-selling book ROCK YOUR CLASS. When he's not performing for millions of fans in packed theatres and arenas worldwide or teaching in packed classrooms back home, he's best helping K-12 teachers rock their classes with expert engagement strategies. 

Étienne has spent the better part of three decades teaching K-12 in many subject areas while taking on various leadership roles as Department Head, Instructional PD Coach, Mentor, and District Program Coordinator.

Winner of multiple educational "lifetime achievements” awards and "Canada's Artist of the Year”  honours, he has also worked as an author and consultant for leading educational publishing companies in Canada, the USA and Europe, developing effective curriculum content.

Dr. Liam Printer hosts The Motivated Classroom podcast (top 5% of most downloaded podcasts globally in 2022) and is the Leader of Pedagogical Innovation and Approaches to Learning at the International School of Lausanne in Switzerland, where he also teaches Spanish in middle and high school.

Garnering attention during his research, Dr. Printer's Doctorate in Education focused on motivation and teaching languages through storytelling, and his findings have been published in various peer-reviewed journals since then.

Dr. Printer was the Keynote speaker in various prominent international language teaching conferences, and has also worked as an educational consultant with schools, districts and MFL teachers in over 12 countries.

Danielle Hunter is a Second Language Education (SLE) Consultant and a Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Expert Group Member for the Council of Europe. She has taught French as a Second Language (FSL) in the K-12 education system in Ontario, Canada, for 22 years, during which she was seconded as the district consultant for FSL and International Languages and Positive School Climates.

Currently a full-time PhD student at the University of Toronto/OISE in Language and Literacies Education, Danielle has also co-authored multiple pedagogical resources on the CEFR, and was on the provincial writing team for the FSL Ontario Curriculum.

Marnie is the current Head of Languages at Newington College, an independent K-12 boys’ school in New South Wales, as well as the Languages Convener for Australian Independent Schools (AIS), New South Wales.

She has been teaching Mandarin Chinese for over 20 years throughout Australia to students from Year 7 - 12, including IB and HSC courses. She was also a writer of the Australian Curriculum: Chinese.

As a nationally certified Lead Teacher, Marnie regularly presents workshops to teachers of all languages locally and nationally. Besides differentiation, she is equally passionate about innovative assessment practices and curriculum development.

Naima Keddar is the IB Diploma Program Coordinator at the Australian International Academy, with vast experience in international education including certification as a VCE and IB Examiner as well as an MYP Coordinator and Head of Language Acquisition.

Her journey in Education began in Algeria as a master's degree holder in Econometrics. But in 2000, Naima took a huge leap and moved to Australia to begin her new life, in the process she completed her diploma and master's  in Education at Monash University, completing the thesis in 'Globalisation of the Curriculum' and next continued her journey in Education in 2009 as a French Teacher at Australia International Academy. 

Naima believes that no matter what your age is - the process of learning never stops, an idea that she loves to remind her students of. 

Kelly Harrison is the founder of Languages Roadshow, an organisation that exists to support Languages teachers through professional learning and offers teaching resources. Her love on Languages teaching and curriculum developed during her time as a high school Japanese teacher in Queensland, Australia.

With a driving mission to increase the number of students studying Languages, Kelly is a passionate advocate of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and is most eager to see more schools joining her cause and willing to experiment with this method of teaching.

Observing the language loss amongst the local communities, Mike Parkhill - who was at an executive career at Microsoft Canada, took a leap and started his own company - SayItFirst - dedicated to help Indigenous communities to develop more speakers of today, and he has been providing new solutions for the communities to reverse their language loss through his supportive role. 

Recognising his work and impact on the Indigenous communities, Mike has received the Order of Ontario, the Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal, NYX International Video's Best Canadian Cultural Video and Best Canadian Educational Video for Creation of the Koko Jones Children shows; and is a five-time Canadian Best Selling author.

Joe Dale is an independent languages consultant from the UK who works with various global organisations. He hosted the TES MFL forum for six years, was a former SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner, a regular conference speaker and a recognised expert on technology and language learning.

Involved in multiple conferences and ran training courses in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, the Far East and Australasia, he has advised on various Erasmus Plus projects, worked with the British Council in Algeria and in Indonesia too and is known as the man behind #mfltwitterati.

Elizabeth is a Year 13 Taradale High School student, leading the @youngentnz project. As part of the Pūkare Cards Team, Elizabeth and her teammates will be talking about their business Pūkare Cards, the Pūkare Initiative, the stories behind why and how they created Pūkare Cards and the Why of incorporated other languages in our cards. 

Ayumi Stockman, Ed. S., & M.A. in ESL, is the World Languages Education Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. Prior to joining the state agency, Ayumi worked in the Minneapolis Public Schools for almost 20 years. During her time at the Minneapolis Public Schools, she had the opportunity to work with and support teachers and programmes of various languages including ASL, Arabic, Chinese, Native American languages, and heritage languages such as Hmong and Somali.

Her expertise includes curriculum development, teacher professional development, instructional support, and equitable implementation of the Minnesota Bilingual Seals Program.

Te Aho Jordan is a visual storyteller. They use photography to reclaim and revive indigenous narratives. Their heritage connects them to Ngāti Porou, and Samoa. Te Aho's photography celebrates Māori, Pasifika, Queer, Takatāpui, and Youth communities, showcasing diverse stories - emphasising the empowerment and cultural resurgence that storytelling can bring.

Hilary is the Middle School Assistant Head Teacher at Victoria International School of Sharjah and has taught in multiple international environments, including the UAE, Taiwan, France and her home country of New Zealand.

As a language specialist, her passion is to help others develop the love of learning foreign languages and cultures, and more so, she is also an advocate for students to cherish their mother tongues - as a method to create strong academic building blocks and engagement in school.

She believes every teacher is a literacy teacher, regardless of subject specialisation, and is a fan of professional learning that encourages teachers to build classrooms that promote language learning as concept-based learning.

Jason is the current Lead Advisor of Pacific Engagement, for the Ministry of Education in Ōtautahi (Christchurch). As a former teacher of gagana Sāmoa at Ara Institute and a professional rugby player - Jason leads a variety of efforts in revitalising indigenous Pacific languages in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Originally graduated in the UK, Joanna is a French and Spanish teacher who has been working internationally for the past 17 years and is currently leading the World Languages Department at Alice Smith School (Primary Campus) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where she is specialised in teaching French for Primary to students from Year 1 onwards. 

Joanna leads her department of seven World Languages teachers, offering Malay, Mandarin and French - as both Foreign and Home languages.

Harriet is currently the Head of the Languages at The British School Kathmandu, Nepal. She previously has worked in the UK, France and Russia, teaching all ages but specialising in the Secondary phase.

Dr. Veronica Trapani-Huebner is the Associate Director of Secondary Content for World Languages and International Education at the state of Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

On top of her experience of teaching German and English for a decade in Michigan, Tennessee, New York, and Germany, she is also the Membership Chair and Technology Coordinator for the National Council for State Supervisors for Languages and the K-12 Advisor for the National Less Commonly Taught Languages Resource Center (NLRC) at Michigan State University.

Besides her endless enthusiasm for language acquisition and education, Veronica is also highly passionate about her cats, soccer, hiking, skiing, and musical theatre.

Brandon Locke is Director of World Languages and Immersion Programs for the Anchorage School District (ASD), Anchorage, Alaska, a district of approximately 40,000 students - where he provides leadership and professional development for ASD’s 160 world language teachers, including K-12 language immersion programs in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.

Brandon was recently awarded a second significant federal grant to continue the ASD’s first indigenous language immersion program – Yup’ik, one of Alaska’s Native languages. He is also currently serving on the ACTFL Board of Directors.

Fiona Lugnan is a Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung woman, educator and mother from Garlimbirla (Coffs Harbour). Fiona has an extensive professional and cultural history in Education across many settings in New South Wales, Australia. She is currently the Secondary Education Development Manager of Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School.

Teresa is the Head of Department for Languages at Meriden School in Sydney, Australia. With over 20 years of teaching French and Spanish in Australia, she had previously held several positions at multiple institutes, such as the Assistant Director of Languages at International Grammar School, Leader of Learning (Languages) at St Andrew's Cathedral School as well as President of the Spanish Teacher's Association of NSW.

Teresa is also an experienced teacher of both the IB and NESA courses, an experienced Higher School Certificate (HSC) senior marker, and a member of the examination HSC committee. She is most passionate about languages and is always challenging students to explore language opportunities beyond the classroom.

Having been teaching Indonesian for over ten years throughout Australia to students from Preschool to Year 11, Mei Turnip is the current Language Coordinator at Trinity Christian School, an independent Pre-12 school in Canberra.

Mei is also a Professional Learning Coordinator at BBI-ACT, and has vast experience in presenting various workshops to Language teachers in Australia. Her hard work and impact in the industry earned her multiple recognitions when she was awarded the Australia Indonesia Institute Teacher Award in 2022 and Teacher Supporting Teacher Award by EducatorSA in 2018.

She is most passionate about making language learning enjoyable and meaningful by incorporating effective language teaching strategies and tools. Under her mentorship, her students have won various regional and national language competitions.