In recent years, the focus here on the PLC has been not only on CI but also on how we can use CI for better mental health. How can we plan less, rest more, have more time for loved ones, and teach easier with better results?
As soon as the pandemic hit, however, the focus of the PLC naturally shifted to how to teach languages online, and has remained there for most of 2020 and will continue to be the major focus for us here on the PLC in 2021 and beyond because online language instruction is here to stay in some form, as I see it.
As the Covid/online instruction piece shackles our wrists and ankles, as we together go through this unimaginable hell state of trying to teach a language online, we must begin now – more and more – to respect, understand and give proper attention to the BLM movement. The equity piece is – far more than we have any idea – intimately tied to our students’ proficiency gains, to our own mental health and the mental health of our students, and to our overall success at our jobs.