This program is designed to help early career language educators succeed in their current assignments and learn the skills to be successful long-term in their careers. Mentors and mentees will be matched by language, level, interest, and location as best as possible. Two mentor programs are available: the traditional program for in-person educators and the distance language educator program for those who teach online.
Traditional mentoring program qualifications
- To be considered as a mentee, you must be a new teacher within your first five years of teaching. If you do not fall within the stated requirements, please include an explanation of your specific circumstance in your application.
- To be considered as a mentor, you must have five or more years of teaching experience.
Distance learning mentoring program qualifications
- To be considered as a mentee, you must be within your first three years of online teaching. Applicants may have more years of experience in a traditional background, but still qualify as a mentee if they are new to online teaching.
- To be considered as a mentor, you must have more than three years of online teaching experience.
All participants in the mentoring program receive access to an assortment of tools, including a copy of The Keys to the Classroom, Second Edition, excerpts from The Keys to Strategies and Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, Volume 1. Additionally, all participants will have access to the ACTFL/NFLRC Distance Learning Modules. All work is conducted online through Zoom, phone, text, and the ACTFL Mentoring Program Community.
Important Dates: The Mentoring Program will run from September through May. You must be a current ACTFL member to participate and apply for the program and remain an ACTFL member for the duration of the program. Applicants will be contacted after the sign-up deadline to confirm their participation. Applicants must respond to the confirmation email to be matched. Pairs will be matched in August, and sent additional information and materials after the match. Pairs are strongly encouraged to meet at least once a month with mentors leading the first introductory call within 10 days of matching. Mentees will give mentors discussion topics and questions/goals in advance and mentors will prepare relevant resources/experiences.
Program Guidelines: Please review the program guidelines.