Teaching modern languages

Favorite resources from some of America's top athletic teachers:

Ken Stewart (BA International Studies and Spanish UNC-Chapel Hill; MA Spanish NC State University) is the 2006 ACTFL National Foreign Language Teacher of Year. He currently teaches Spanish at Duke University in North Carolina.

A National Board Certified high school Spanish teacher, he has taught middle grades through college. Ken is a recent member of the ACTFL Board of Directors, the SCOLT Board, and the Executive Council of the AATSP. In 2014, he was the recipient of ACTFL’s Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education K-12.

Ken has been a consultant to the College Board since 1992. He has served on the AP Spanish Language and Culture Test Development Committee, as a question leader at the AP Reading, and has been a national consultant for over 25 years. He has conducted over 200 AP and pre-AP workshops and summer institutes throughout the US as well as in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Previously, Ken was honored as the Central North Carolina Teacher of the Year by the State of NC, Teacher of the Year by the AATSP, Foreign Language Teacher of the Year by FLANC (The Foreign Language Association of North Carolina) and as Regional Teacher of the Year by SCOLT (Southern Conference on Language Teaching). He is a frequent presenter at state, regional and national conferences.

Ken works as a freelance world language consultant and keynote speaker. An aficionado of travel, he speaks Spanish, Portuguese and some French; he has traveled in 43 countries.

Like a modern work of art, the beauty here lies under the surface, recognizable through observation and study, revealing technique and fluency that is even more impressive upon examination. It is Ken’s story that perhaps refocuses Great Teachers to what it should be: a story for the average teacher who desires to be great. The Stewart Method uses a hybrid teacher/student-centric approach with a focus on cooperative learning methodology to establish relevance with his students.

"I believe a strong component of Ken’s that is also “prototypical” is a respect for and focus on others. It leads Ken to want to share that which reflects joy, quality, purpose, and positive impact for the other – each individual student. Great teachers begin from a point of believing the best of learners, and, out of respect for students’ humanity, doing the hard work to prepare and deliver educational moments that open eyes and doors."

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-Norah Jones 

Independent Educational Podcaster and Consultant in World Language & Culture 

"Ken is willing to be vulnerable by sharing of himself in ways that other teachers may not – especially since in WL, you have to share of yourself – your life, your likes, dislikes, experiences – which is part of language learning and which provides teachers the opportunity to develop bonds with students that other teachers – say of physics – often cannot.  

Ken BUILDS community by allowing students to share of themselves as he shares of himself, and this is key to understanding how students feel at home in his class. Feeling supported and feeling respected, students are more willing to take risks in making mistakes in a new language."

-Dr. Juan Carlos

Director, Data and Assessment Project at AATG and World Language Instructor at Miami Dade College 

Ken Stewart, World Languages (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Two Surprises; Historical Problems with Modern Language Instruction; The Stewart Method: Stewart Strategy #1: Establish Relevance Through Exploration; Stewart Strategy #2: Get Connected & Stay Connected; Stewart Strategy #3: Engage Students by Personalizing Content; Stewart Strategy #4: Allow (and Even Encourage) Mistakes; Stewart Strategy #5: Move Students to Higher Levels of Proficiency; Summary; Reflection

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