July Isn’t Just for Vacation, it’s PD Planning Season.

Bilingual Leaders! It’s late June!

I can already feel the buzz in every bilingual program office I visit. Bilingual leaders are juggling staffing confirmations, calendar drafts, budget outlines, and in between, they are racing to shape the fall PD plan before summer ends. I’ve been there. I’ve sat in that chair, trying to balance district mandates with the realities of dual language programs and professional learning plans.

We’ve all been there. Often launching a PD presentation about “student talk” or “teacher collaboration,” only to watch it gather dust by October. Teachers nod along at the fall kickoff, but the reality is that without clear goals, meaningful practice, and intentional follow-up, oracy often remains a nice buzzword, not a classroom transformation.

True to be told, in dual language programs, oracy can became our engine. This is because oracy isn’t an extra feature, it’s the force for deep learning and active participation. I truly believe that, and when multilingual learners speak with purpose, they wrestle with content, build confidence in both languages, and lay the groundwork for true biliteracy. But embedding oracy into PD for our teachers takes more than a single demo.

Here’s what I learned in the trenches:

Make it intentional and write it into your leadership goals. Move oracy from vague objectives to statements such as, “Enable students to lead bilingual discussions in every content area” and “Equip teachers with two language‐scaffolded talk protocols by October.” Naming student voice in our program improvement and professional learning plans signals the importance of this work.

Model oracy and practice it side by side. Let’s be real, the most memorable PDs aren’t a presentation. It’s modeling best practices like meaningful interactions and structure conversations. Consider co-leading and modeling a classroom discussion or a cooperative learning structure. Then give teachers time to try the protocol themselves and give each other feedback. That real practice sparks ownership far more than presentations ever could.

Schedule coaching check-ins. Consider scheduling quarterly “oracy check-ins” with teachers. These could be classroom observations, video debriefs, and virtual office hours. Those touch points can keep oracy on everyone’s radar and help teams improve as the year goes on.

Lean on your experts. Bring Bilingual/ESL coaches, world-language teachers, and teacher leaders into PD planning sessions. Their insights on sentence frames, cultural nuance, and scaffolding make can make the PD richer and more authentic.

Measure the right things. Try adding two questions to your PD feedback forms: “How did this session create space for student talk in both languages?” and “What oracy practice will you try next week?” Those prompts will keep you honest and focused on impact.

As we wrap up late‐June planning and start filling in those fall PD slots in july, let’s make oracy the engine of our work, not an afterthought.

Your Next Steps
To help you move from intention to action, I’ve distilled these lessons into the PD Planning Guide for Oracy, a free, step-by-step resource built for busy bilingual program directors.

👉 Download the guide now here and kick off your PD planning before July arrives. Use it with your team this week to audit your draft, assign responsibilities, and launch a PD season where every voice isn’t just heard, it drives the learning.

Consider me your thought partner. I’ve walked this path, seen these strategies bring classrooms to life, and I’m here to help you make this your strongest PD year yet.