I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Chicago on March 21 and 22. Of course, since I’m on spring break this week, Rachel and I decided to stay a few extra days to check out the city. Here are a few highlights from our experience:
T H U R S D A Y
We awoke at 2:45 a.m. to get on the road. Our goal was to avoid St. Louis morning rush hour traffic and avoid Chicago’s evening rush hour. It worked out pretty well; we were in Illinois by 6:30 a.m. and we got into Chicago and checked into our hotel by 1:30 p.m. or so — that’s even after we stopped for brunch at the Cracker Barrel in Bloomington.
OUR ROOM AT THE HYATT REGENCY IN CHICAGO. WE WERE IN THE WEST TOWER OF THE HOTEL AND ON THE 22ND FLOOR.
OUR SELF-TAKEN PHOTO FROM THE 22ND FLOOR.
RACHEL STANDING BEHIND THE HYATT. WE PARKED IN A BUILDING RIGHT BEHIND OUR HOTEL, WHICH WAS CHEAPER THAN THE HOTEL PARKING. IT STILL COST US $30 A DAY.
After we successfully checked into the Hyatt Regency, which is located on Wacker Drive right along the Chicago River, we spoke with the concierge and made a few plans for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up walking from our hotel to a library that was a few blocks from where our hotel was so we could purchase CTA tickets; the tickets we purchased allowed us to use the city buses and trains for the entire time we were there. We caught a bus line that took us toward the north side of the downtown area so we could eat at Hema’s Kitchen, a place that Rachel had found that had affordable Indian cuisine at reasonable prices.
Since we were pretty bushed from getting around so early, we didn’t do a whole lot more Thursday evening except check out more things around the hotel.
F R I D A Y
On Friday morning, I awoke early so I could get to the conference registration and go to an early-morning conference. My first session was “Top 10 Tips for Teaching All Spanish Students.” It was an exhibitor session, which was actually focused on the textbook I currently use, so I learned a few tricks with my materials that I hadn’t known about them before.
After that, I had the privilege of going to the keynote address. I say “privilege” because this wasn’t your boring typical keynote address. The speaker was John De Mado, the most animated, inspiring speaker I’ve heard at a conference. This isn’t from our conference, but this is a sampling of what I got at his keynote address:
His major platform for teaching a foreign language is encouraging risk-taking (“confront more language than what you presently own”), vulnerability (“the willingness to err for the broader goal of communication”), and intuition (“the ability to sift for meaning”).
In the afternoon, along with other sessions, I also attended a session he was holding called “Creating Student Rap CDs.” He encourages students to use rap music to learn the language. And, what writing and performing raps, students experience all those things he encourages (risk-taking, vulnerability, and intuition). This is an example I found on YouTube of a student rap performance:
And yes, we had to perform a rap of our own during the session. I was grouped with a bunch of Spanish teachers and we wrote an original rap to talk about likes/dislikes. In the few minutes we had, we did a good job. The best rap, though, was the lone Russian teacher who had to rap by himself. It was hysterical.
CHRISTINE AND CHERI WORKING TOGETHER TO GET A SLICE OF PIZZA AT GIORDANO'S. AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE WAS PLENTY OF CHEESE ON THE PIZZA.
On Friday after our sessions, Rachel and I joined Christine Bell and Cheri Caldwell (two foreign language teachers at my school) for pizza at Giordano’s. We got two of the stuffed pizzas and were absolutely stuffed when we left. If you’ve never tried a Chicago stuffed pizza, you must go to Giordano’s if you travel to Chicago.
That evening, Rachel and I walked across the Chicago River and on into the infamous Magnificent Mile. Unfortunately it was later in the evening and a lot of the stores were closing at 9 p.m. We were able to hit a few places, including Macy’s and Nordstrom. We didn’t buy anything since it was too expensive. We did, however, walk toward an AMC we could see from our hotel and found a nice little Japanese restaurant called Niu. The logo, we thought, looked very similar to Kai in downtown Springfield. Since we were on vacation, we just had to try a couple of rolls from there, which were actually very tasty. You never know how sushi will be away from Springfield, but it was presented well and very delish.
THIS IS THE WEST TOWER OF THE HYATT REGENCY WHERE WE STAYED.
THIS IS THE VIEW WEST OF OUR HOTEL. THE SHINY TALL BUILDING ON THE LEFT, I BELIEVE, IS DONALD TRUMP'S NEW TOWER IN CHICAGO.
ANOTHER SELF PHOTO. THIS ONE ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR HOTEL ALONG THE CHICAGO RIVER.
RACHEL COMING IN THE SIDE ENTRANCE OF THE HYATT.
Part two will of our Chicago excursion will be posted in a day or two.
I am currently in my sixth year in education as a Spanish teacher. I have been married since 2003 to Rachel. I have a sister who is 12 years older than me and has two young sons. My parents live in the small town where I and they grew up and have been married over 40 years. I frequently visit them, and I also enjoy visiting (nearly every day on the phone) with my 82-year-old grandma who lives 10 miles east of my parents in the country.
for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up walking from our hotel to a library that was a few blocks from where our hotel was so we could purchase CTA tickets; the tickets we purchased allowed us to use the city buses and trains for the entire time we were there. We caught a bus line that took us toward the north side of the downtown area so we could eat at Hema’s Kitchen, a place that Rachel had found that had affordable Indian cuisine at reasonable prices.
infamous Magnificent Mile. Unfortunately it was later in the evening and a lot of the stores were closing at 9 p.m. We were able to hit a few places, including Macy’s and Nordstrom. We didn’t buy anything since it was too expensive. We did, however, walk toward an AMC we could see from our hotel and found a nice little Japanese restaurant called Niu. The logo, we thought, looked very similar to Kai in downtown Springfield. Since we were on vacation, we just had to try a couple of rolls from there, which were actually very tasty. You never know how sushi will be away from Springfield, but it was presented well and very delish.
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