MAFLA Proficiency Academy, 2026
Westfield State University
June 22-24, 2026
Registration is opening soon for the 2026 MAFLA Proficiency Academy - Button below
Remember - Late registration begins on May 22, 2026 and prices go up. Registration closes on June 4
Be sure to read the details on this page before you register
Ready to level up your language teaching? MAFLA Proficiency Academy has something for everyone! MAFLA will be holding its annual Proficiency Academy from June 22-24, 2026 at Westfield State University.
If you’re just starting out with proficiency-oriented teaching, check out the Implementation Strand with Rebecca Blouwolff. In this strand participants will deepen their understanding of the ACTFL proficiency levels and establish performance targets for their program/courses they teach. This strand focuses on supporting your path to teaching the proficiency-based standards of the 2021 World Languages Curriculum Framework.
If you’re already familiar with proficiency and ready to fine-tune your teaching, sign up for the Curriculum Writing Strand with Leslie Grahn. Guided by the 2021 World Languages Curriculum Framework, participants will design a unit of their choice that leads language learners to meeting or exceeding proficiency targets.
We have created a Strand Selection Checklist that will guide teachers towards choosing the right strand for their own learning experience. To use this checklist to decide, carefully review each statement and consider how they align with your proficiency level.
Strand 1: Implementation Strand
Presenter: Rebecca Blouwolff
In this three-day intensive course, participants will deepen their understanding of the ACTFL proficiency levels and establish performance targets for their program/courses they teach. They will be able to distinguish between proficiency and performance, explain the advantages of teaching for proficiency to various audiences, and identify key elements of the DESE World Languages Framework. Learners will become more familiar with the modes of communications (eg practices). Using the backward design model, participants will be able to identify key features of a thematic unit map and evaluate its alignment with best practices. They will learn to write Can-Dos at the unit and lesson levels and design corresponding learning checks. Participants will be able to sequence tasks from input to output, create learning progressions, and incorporate high-leverage teaching practices of authentic texts and 90%+ target language use into their daily practice. Participants will be able to identify key elements of performance assessments by mode, select rubrics appropriate to mode and level, and score performance assessments.
Rebecca Blouwolff was born and raised in the Pioneer Valley, where she studied French with an exuberant, immersion-style teacher in junior high. She has taught French at Wellesley Middle School in MA since 1998, but fell in love with middle schoolers while serving as a Fulbright teaching scholar at a collège in Saint-Omer, France. Rebecca is a seven-time attendee of Proficiency Academy, two-time facilitator, and is leading the Foundations Strand for a second year. She earned a BA magna cum laude at Brown University, and an MEd in Teacher Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, 2019 MaFLA and NECTFL Teacher of the Year, and 2020 ACTFL National Language Teacher of Year.
Strand 2: Curriculum Writing Strand: Creating Units Aligned to the Curriculum Framework
Presenter: Leslie Grahn
Guided by the Massachusetts World Languages Framework, participants will design a unit of their choice that leads language learners to meeting or exceeding proficiency targets. Participants will analyze examples of proficiency-based units after which they will use the backward design principles to design their own unit of instruction. Time will be dedicated to designing essential questions and unit objectives, creating unit summative assessments for the modes, determining unit core vocabulary and structures, curating culturally relevant authentic resources, ending with the designing of key learning experiences and formative assessments. Attention will be paid to addressing social and emotional wellbeing, social justice, centering student diversity and differentiating for equity within the units. Throughout, participants will work collaboratively with colleagues and will give and receive meaningful feedback on their work.
Leslie Grahn has twenty-seven years of language teaching experience at the middle and high school levels and twelve years of experience at the central office level, most recently as Coordinator of World Languages for the Howard County Public School System in Maryland. Leslie has been a course instructor on foreign language teaching methods and differentiated instruction, has led both curriculum and assessment development teams, and is a frequent presenter at state, regional, and national conferences, specializing in best practices. She curates and creates resources to support language teaching and learning and shares them through her website (www.grahnforlang.com) and on Pinterest (grahnforlang). She has experience in teacher and leadership development and leads training on instructional coaching, mentoring, leadership, and communication skills. Leslie is the co-author of The Keys to Strategies for Language Instruction and has served on the boards of NECTFL, NADSFL and ACTFL.
Each strand includes high-quality workshops and facilitated break-out sessions where you can collaborate with colleagues to develop your own performance-based and proficiency-focused material to bring back to your district.
Housing & Meals
You may choose to stay in the Westfield State dorms for an additional fee (check in Monday morning and check out Wednesday morning). Attendees will be placed in a single room in a dorm suite with a shared bathroom. See pricing below.
PDPs & Graduate Credits
24 PDPs or 1 or 2 graduate credits available
Follow-Up Sessions
This year we are offering 3-virtual follow up sessions to continue the World Languages Curriculum Framework Implementation work. Each virtual session will last 1 ½ hours and be divided by strand. Each strand will be led by the presenters of the 2025 Proficiency Academy. These virtual sessions will occur in Fall, Winter, and Spring (exact dates TBD). 1.5 PDPs per session.
Pricing
Light breakfast and light working lunch are provided with registration
Dinner is also provided with the lodging addition.
A light working lunch is provided with registration
Breakfast and dinner are included with Lodging.
Graduate Credit Costs
Cancellation Policy
Westfield State Dorm fees are non refundable after June 5, 2026
Registration cancellation is subject to a 15% penalty fee after June 5, 2026
MaFLA accepts POs on a limited basis. School systems must be pre-approved before authorization can be granted.
POs for the event must contain the following:
- the name of each of the individuals included on the PO
- the strand of the Academy that each individual requests
- if lodging is included