Recently, the Upper School Global Language Department, along with four of our Middle School colleagues, gathered in the Makerspace for an oral proficiency interview assessment workshop.

In addition to learning the procedure for oral proficiency interviews and practicing them, we had the opportunity to discuss possible applications in the classroom. We had the great fortune of having Dr. Cynthia Martin as our workshop facilitator. Dr. Martin teaches Russian at the University of Maryland and does a lot of work in second language acquisition, methodology, and pedagogy. In addition, she has been working with oral proficiency interviews for almost thirty years. She was a wealth of knowledge and good ideas and will continue to be a tremendous resource for us.

We are thrilled to have this method of benchmarking students' interpersonal oral skills and charting their growth. Faculty came out of the workshop saying that they felt empowered, excited, and energized. In addition to being excellent professional development, these two days allowed for some outstanding departmental conversations and bonding.