World Language Professional Development for 2026
If you are a language teacher, one of the best ways to grow and improve your practice is through world language professional development. Most of the PD offerings are conferences that range from as little as a half day to as much as a week, but there are also opportunities to get a mentor or to travel and study in another country.
One positive aspect of the difficulties of 2020+ is expanded virtual professional development opportunities. In 2026 most of the conferences are in person, but some have shifted online permanently, so they are available no matter where you are located. While online PD is not quite the same as in-person PD, it IS a lot cheaper and more accessible!
Here is a list of World Language professional development opportunities that are happening in 2026.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up for an opportunity through an affiliate link I will receive a commission that allows me to continue this blog. Thank you!
World Language Professional Development (for all languages)
The World Language Teacher Summit is probably the best FREE annual summit for a broad range of world language teaching tips. Depending on the event, it covers many different languages and levels and the best part is you can sign up to get access to past summits once it’s over. The 2026 summit for all languages has historically occurred in the late summer or early fall.
ACTFL webinars The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages offers some webinars for free. Many of them specifically relate to teaching online, and recordings of past webinars are also available.
Fluency Matters Conference (formerly IFLT)– In 2024 the Fluency Matters Conference was in Denver, Colorado but it doesn’t look like future conferences are planned for 2026. Teachers focus on Acquisition Driven Instruction (ADI) and observe master teachers in learning labs within leveled cohorts based on their previous experience with ADI.
VOCES CI-Savvy This online textbook series hosts numerous free webinars for World Language teachers and the past ones are all available to watch at any time!
National TPRS Conference – The 2026 conference featuring Blaine and Von Ray will be in Huntsville, Alabama July 13-16, 2026. Participants choose a beginner or non-beginner track workshop. This site also has regular online PD sessions about teaching through TPRS.
Idioma Online Courses – Idioma Education and Consulting offers a Masters degree in World Languages and several courses for graduate credit and professional development. Some options for 2026 are Social and Emotional Learning in the WL Classroom, Literacy for Language Teachers, and Advanced Conversation and Culture.
World Language Summer Seminar – The 2025 conference is July 17-22 in Santa Barbara, California, and is called “Human-Centered AI: Policy, Practice, Purpose”.
Comprehensible Iowa Conference – A very reasonably priced conference for CI enthusiasts in Des Moines Iowa. The date for 2026 is June 12th and 13th with optional workshops on Friday and the main conference on Saturday.
The Center for Urban Language Teaching and Research (CULTR) – Through Georgia State University in Atlanta, CULTR offers different workshops in the summer. Topics have included technology and scaffolding interpersonal communication. The 2025 information is not set yet.
CARLA If you’ve never been able to travel to Minnesota for these summer institutes, now is your chance because some are also offered online and, sadly, because of federal funding cuts, 2026 is the last year they’ll be offered . There are many interesting topics for any language and all levels in June and July. CARLA also offers webinars throughout the year.
COERLL This site has open educational resources for many languages, including many less commonly taught languages and great audio clips. They often host PD events.
International Center for Language Studies Opportunities include advanced conversation classes for language teachers, a language teacher book club, and ed tech workshops.
The Agen Workshop Want to combine your PD with a trip to France? July 20-25, 2026 you can learn CI methods in Agen, France, and participate in language labs in French, Spanish, Arabic, English, Mandarin, Russian, German or Breton.
CI Reboot This conference has so many big names in the CI teaching field! The conference is July 20-27, 2026 in an online format with a cost of $169.
Regional World Languages Conferences
Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT) This annual conference occurs in February.
Northeast Conference for Teachers for Languages for Cultures (NCTLC) This annual conference is usually in February.
Central States This annual conference is usually in March. The 2027 conference will be in Lansing, Michigan.
Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) This annual conference is usually in March.
Pacific Northwest Conference for Languages (PNCFL) The 2026 conference is in Portland, Oregon April 9-11.
Professional Development for Spanish Teachers
World Language Teacher Summit En Español This edition of WLTS was 100% en español May 15-19, 2023. You can purchase the recording of any PD for Spanish teachers or sign up for the next conference for all World Language Teachers, usually in July.
Didactas Conferencia ELE There are shorter virtual trainings in Spanish and English for language teachers. You can attend individual events or purchase a membership, plus in the past, there has been a conference.
AATSP Annual Conference The American Associated of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese hosts a large conference in Orlando, Florida from July 8-11, 2026. Many of the sessions are research-based.
Español en Acción This online program is hosted by the Spanish music platform Rockalingua by teachers Diego Ojeda and Carmen Reyes. There are five weekly sessions in July and August.
PD for Heritage Language, Dual Language, and Immersion
Empowered Educators This is an asynchronous online course that I’ve created for secondary Spanish teachers who teach heritage speakers or dual language immersion classes. It’s aimed at giving new(er) teachers the knowledge base and lesson ideas to get a confident start. It’s available at any time to work through at your own pace.
CARLA This summer there is both a heritage language institute and a secondary immersion institute that I’ve attended and can vouch for as being great!
Heritage Teacher Workshop Experienced teachers and workshop leaders Adrienne Brandenburg and Mary Beth Johnson have led both in-person (in Colorado) and virtual workshops for teachers of Spanish for heritage speakers. Check for future opportunities.
COERLL at UTexas – This conference is no longer happening, but past events are hosted on their YouTube channel.
National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language – The symposium, which is aimed at those in academia, is February 19-21, 2026 in Texas.
Project GLAD and Dual Language– Dual Language Education of New Mexico (the hosts of La Cosecha) has summer workshops in June. Project GLAD teaches academic language and literacy and is a great technique for native and second language learning.
Center for Teaching for Biliteracy – Various multi-day online institutes on teaching for biliteracy and bridging between languages. There is a mix of online and in-person workshops and one that focuses on middle and high school.
UCLA Heritage Teacher Workshop – This online workshop included synchronous and asynchronous work in July 6-30.
Professional Development for Teaching Writing
Advancing Literacy, Teacher’s College at Colombia University – Literacy-related workshops, conferences, and seminars that occur throughout the year. Some are in Spanish.
National Writing Project – The National Writing Project has chapters based in universities all over the U.S. It helps teachers of ALL subjects, even math, incorporate writing into their curriculum and help their students become accomplished writers. Check your local site to see what PD is being offered this summer.
Social Studies and Global Citizenship PD
National Geographic Online Courses -Nat Geo has free courses that would be relevant to all teachers, like Citizen Science (also in Spanish). It seems they changed their offerings in 2024 but keep checking for updates. In the past, they had an educator certification program–read about my experience becoming a Nat Geo certified educator.
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Summer Teacher Institute -This in-person workshop at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee is July 6-8, 2026 with the theme of Contemporary Religious Life in Latin America and the Caribbean and a cost of $90 for K-12 educators.
World Savvy World Savvy is based in Minnesota and works with schools to improve the teaching of global literacy.
Technology and Online Teaching PD
Learning Revolution – Multiple sessions by teachers from around the world are regularly held and past recordings are also available. Digital tools and global citizenship are common topics but there is a range of everything under the sun from e-portfolios to sustainability.
ISTELive26 – The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) will host their annual conference June 28-July 1 in San Antonio, Texas. If you want to incorporate more technology into your classes, this is the conference to attend!
International Association for Language Learning Technology – This conference is only every other year, but there are free online webinars that happen periodically that you can access.
Professional Development Through Travel
CIEE – Working as a Program Leader in one of over 20 countries is a great opportunity to brush up on your language and culture skills. See my post about working in France and Denmark with CIEE.
Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) – GEEO has travel programs for educators from 5-23 days all over the world! They are small group tours and include recommended reading and lesson plans and you can even get PD credit.
Hola Spanish Immersion If you want to learn and travel, check out two-week programs for teachers in the historic Spanish city of Toledo.
I hope that helps you get a feel for the best world language PD and Spanish professional development. If you have other online opportunities you want to share, please email me or add them in the comments below!
