BC TEAL 2025 Annual Conference

BC TEAL is proud to present our 2025 Annual Conference: Disruptive Educational Practices: Strategies for Transformation.

Please note that the Friday evening event, the TEAL Charitable Foundation Awards & Fundraiser, requires an additional ticket purchase. Please register here to secure your spot and join us in celebrating the awardees while fundraising for a better cause in TEAL.

Educators shine in times of change to face unexpected challenges. This is when creativity flourishes by combining proven practices with fresh and innovative ideas. These times call for transformation which can be rooted in tradition or experience, or it can arise through unexplored approaches. The synthesis of old and new ideas drives meaningful progress. Join other insightful and creative educators as we flourish within the power of our community.

1:00pm PDT

[PART 1] Untangling Placement vs Progression in PBLA

Friday May 2, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PDT

TBA

This session supports administrators to distinguish between placing a learner in a level for learning, and progressing a learner to a level based on completed CLBs, in order to reduce confusion for clients and teachers.

Speakers

Kathy Hughes

Project Manager, Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks

Kathy Hughes is a Project Manager with the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks and has a strong background in project management for training initiatives.

Lisa Herrera

PBLA Coach, CCLB

Lisa Herrera has an MA in Educational Administration from UBC and is a PBLA Regional Coach, training Lead and classroom teachers online since 2014. She taught in LINC for 15 years and has been the Lead Instructional Coordinator for ISSofBC LINC since 2008. Lisa has also been the... Read More →

Rana Ashkar

Coordinator and Content Developer, CCLB

Rana Ashkar works with the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, she has a Bachelor’s in Education, a Master of Arts in English Literature, is CTESL trained, and has a background in ESL teaching and project management.

Friday May 2, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PDT
TBA

LINC, Assessment/Testing

2:00pm PDT

[PART 2] Untangling Placement vs Progression in PBLA

Friday May 2, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT

TBA

This session aims to support practitioners to make an informed judgment around student movement in programs. Using different scenarios, this session will provide participants the opportunity to practice making evidence-based decisions about placement and progression in programs.

Speakers

Kathy Hughes

Project Manager, Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks

Kathy Hughes is a Project Manager with the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks and has a strong background in project management for training initiatives.

Lisa Herrera

PBLA Coach, CCLB

Rana Ashkar

Coordinator and Content Developer, CCLB

Friday May 2, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT
TBA

LINC, Assessment/Testing

11:00am PDT

How New Directions used AI to Transform and Improve Assessments

Saturday May 3, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT

TBA

New Directions and Roshi.ai are the proud recipients of the TEAL Charitable Foundation Settlement Language Resource Award. This workshop intends to tell the story of the transformative initiative that the award enabled us to undertake, and to share the practical knowledge we’ve gained in the process

Since the start of the year, we have set out to reimagine the process of creating CLB-aligned modules for LINC teachers across Canada. Born from the challenges of creating differentiated materials for diverse learner levels, our project harnessed AI to develop materials that include the following:

Real-world documents such as forms, brochures, and invoices
Situational dialogues with high-quality voices
Interactive exercises such as matching exercises and questions
Detailed rubrics for any CLB skill and level
Full assessments comprised of all the above
AI-generated assistance in writing feedback for students
Training resources for the AI tools used

This presentation will walk you through our story—from the initial challenges to the breakthrough moments that redefined our approach. Along the way, live demonstrations will illustrate how we used our AI tools to create interactive real-world tasks, generate assessments, and dynamically adjust lesson material levels.
The workshop is structured as a narrative interwoven with practical demonstrations, culminating in a Q&A session where you can ask about the tools, the challenges we encountered, and how you might apply these techniques to your own practice.
Rough Outline:

Introduction: Who we are and the challenges we faced
Project Vision: Our proposed solution using AI

Speakers