Ward Melville High School world languages teacher Melissa Quiros recently lent her expertise and shared best practices during the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ 2019 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo conference in Washington, D.C., where she delivered a presentation entitled “The Global Classroom: Intercultural Communication Through Cinema.”

The presentation supported the council’s initiative of focusing on cultural competency versus language proficiency in the instruction of world languages. She demonstrated how using film/cinema in the classroom can achieve cultural competency and highlighted the Plural+ youth video organization as a source to obtain materials for classroom instruction. Plural+ is a joint venture of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the International Organization for Migration.

In preparation for her presentation, she introduced her students to Plural+ which resulted in the creation of the video “Acceptance Has No Language.” This video, relating to social awareness and diversity, was produced in its entirety by students in Ward Melville’s French Honor Society. It is currently in the final editing stage and will be submitted to Plural+ at the end of the school year.

Ms. Quiros has been a member of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages for the past five years and serves as secretary of the Cinema Special Interest Group. She believes the annual conference is important for professional growth as it allows the sharing of ideas and resources for teachers and increases their knowledge and awareness of national standards.