We are overjoyed to be back in Salamanca for the 105th AATSP Annual Conference. Salamanca is a perfect place for us to acknowledge history and explore new horizons. Expect renewal, individual professional development, and an enthusiastic celebration of our love of languages and teaching. This annual conference represents unparalleled collaboration with institutions and associations that will offer participants many choices by design. We aim to overload your senses and stimulate your mind.
To stage a conference of this magnitude, the AATSP acknowledges our generous hosts: the Junta de Castilla y León, the Ciudad de Salamanca, and the Universidad de Salamanca, especially Dr. José Miguel Sánchez Llorente, consejero delegado of Cursos Internacionales. We are also indebted to USAL’s Centro de Estudios Brasileños. The AATSP is meeting simultaneously with the VII Congreso Internacional del Español: Español para todos and the First Annual International Summer Institute organized by NABE (National Association for Bilingual Education). Also, the AATSP is beholden to the Escola Superior de Educação, Politéncio do Porto for hosting our exciting one-day symposium in Porto, Portugal, immediately following the conference.
Because the AATSP is US-based, we are delighted and privileged to have the US ambassador to Spain and Andorra, the Honorable Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón, with us at the opening ceremony on Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. Join us! To fully participate in the conference, you’ll need to choose from six plenaries, 400+ sessions, five workshops, numerous receptions, and special events. To do this, examine the program and learn what is on the minds of AATSP members. These questions will be explored, among others:
• Who owns Spanish? For that matter, who owns Portuguese?
• How are new technologies continually redefining our teaching?
• What is new in cultural and literary studies?
• What is new in the ever-evolving linguistic landscape?
• How do we reward, assess, and motivate our students?
• Given the demands of teaching, how can I take care of myself?
• How does language include and reflect our student population?
• How do we address systemic issues through anti-racist practices?
• How do we improve learning for our students through research-driven practice?
• How do we make language learning relevant through careers and opportunities?
• What are OERs (open educational resources)?
• Do they improve language access?
• How should we communicate with each other to articulate and promote language learning?
Participants from the two conferences will come together for a special edition of A Ver y Haber. It will be an informal and lively futuristic exchange about artificial intelligence (AI) and tools like ChatGPT. Two AATSP educators will share the stage with several educators attending VII Congreso Internacional del Español: Español para todos to explore the questions: With the growing popularity of ChatGPT and/or similar tools, is AI a topic of discussion at your institution? Should it be? What opportunities (e.g., classroom applications), if any, do you see in the use of ChatGPT and other AI text-generation technologies in teaching? What concerns, if any, do you have about the use of ChatGPT and other AI text-generation technologies in teaching? Have you or your institution developed any classroom policies about students’ use of ChatGPT or other AI text-generation technologies?
This is truly a moment of nuevos horizontes/novos horizontes because this is my last AATSP conference as executive director. As I anticipate my retirement, I thank you all for your love and support. Dr. María Carreira will succeed me. With her leadership and the unflagging energy, expertise, and commitment of the AATSP’s educators, I expect great things ahead! ¡Todos a una! Todos por um!
Sheri Spaine Long, PhD, is executive director of AATSP.
