Mississippi Valley State University News November 16, 2012 MVSU PARTNERS WITH MISSISSIPPI FOREIGN LANGUAGES ASSOCIATION Mississippi Valley State University partnered with the Mississippi Foreign Languages Association for its 2012 Annual Conference: Languages Opening Worlds of Opportunities on November 9-10, at Lake Tiak O'Khata, Louisville, Miss. More than 120 foreign languages educators throughout Mississippi attended the faculty development event. Twenty nine sessions were held during the conference with a wide a range of topics relatedto the teaching and learning of world languages such as increasing cultural awareness, innovative instructional techniques, pedagogical considerations, using technology, community engagement, and research in second language acquisition among other topics. "It was exciting to exchange ideas with world languages professionals in the state of Mississippi. All of the universities and schools represented at the conference are committed to developing competitive foreign language programs for all levels of instruction," said Dr. Aurora Varn, MFLA vice president of MFLA conference program and associate professor of Spanish at MVSU. "MFLA was honored to have Clarissa Adams Fletcher as the conference keynote speaker. Mrs. Fletcher has received numerous national teacher awards including the prestigious 2011 ACTFL National Teacher of the Year," said Varn. Over twelve world languages and all levels of instruction from elementary to university level were represented. Faculty from seven state universities and experienced educators from six high schools and the only language immersion school in Mississippi had presentations in their areas of concentration. The MFLA conference presenters came from institutions of higher learning such as University of Mississippi, Millsaps College, William Carey University, Jackson State University, and Mississippi Valley State University. Six high school teachers also shared their expertise, as well as an elementary school educator from Myrtle Hall Immersion School in Clarksdale, the only bilingual immersion school in Mississippi. "MVSU thanks Dr. Varn for her outstanding leadership and wishes her well as she takes on her new role as newly-elected MFLA President. Her energy, passion and efforts to advance foreign language education is what makes her so valuable to all students," says Dr. Donna Oliver, president of MVSU. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.