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On May 2 and 3, four of CASLS staff members and one of its Advisory Board members travelled to the fall STARTALK conference held in Austin, Texas. STARTALK Camp Director Li-Hsien Yang and Lead Instructor Dr. Mokaya Bosire represented CASLS' student Swahili program. Director Dr. Julie Sykes and Associate Director Mandy Gettler, along with Advisory Board member Adriana Brandt from Indiana University, supported student programs in understanding and implementing LinguaFolio Online.

The first day of the conference held energy and promise as teachers from 125 STARTALK programs across the country gathered to reunite with colleagues and meet new ones. Keynote speaker Dr. Michael Everson from the University of Iowa recognized the importance of attendees' expertise: "STARTALK teachers are magicians of sorts. They transform the classroom into a setting that engages students to acquire language."

There is little doubt that STARTALK is transforming the way many teach and learn another language. National Foreign Language Resource Center Director of National Outreach Betsy Hart shared that STARTALK has led to the creation of 185 academic-year programs in critical languages and 94 after-school heritage programs. The National Science Foundation will be adopting elements of the STARTALK model for its CyberGeneration program. Ms. Hart also announced that next year's STARTALK competition will fund Korean student and teacher programs.

At the conference, STARTALK introduced the new STELLA modules, a collaboration with the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Project. STELLA offers guidance through practical activities identified as components of highly effective teaching. This framework serves as the basis for the STARTALK teacher programs.

CASLS Director Dr. Julie Sykes and CASLS Advisory Board member Adriana Brandt presented on LinguaFolio Online. Improvements this year include a simplified registration process, a simplified student interface that displays only CanDo statements that program directors select as relevant to their program, and the ability to more easily review students' work.