Kathleen Priceman
Kathleen Priceman holds a BA in Spanish Education from the State University of New York at Albany and an MA in Instructional Leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has more than 30 years of experience teaching English as a Second Language, Bilingual Education (grades K-4), Spanish as a Second Language, and Spanish Immersion. She was selected to be the 2014 Illinois Foreign Language Teacher of the Year in recognition for her efforts to promote language learning and expertise in instruction. From 1997- 2017 she worked with colleagues to develop curriculum and teach in a very successful Spanish Immersion program for Oak Park Elementary District 97 in Illinois.
After returning to Spain in 2001 on a scholarship awarded by the Spanish Embassy, Ms. Priceman was inspired to create opportunities for families and other educators to experience the richness of being immersed and living in another culture. Each July she returns to Salamanca Spain where she lives and teaches graduate courses in Spanish Language and Culture for Educators. These education courses are designed for all educators and other adults, from novice to superior levels of Spanish who desire to enhance their cultural and linguistic proficiencies in Spanish to better serve their students or clients. While opportunities for teachers already proficient in Spanish are plentiful, experiences for novice or intermediate language speakers are not.
Living in Spain each summer enables her to maintain and improve her own linguistic proficiency in Spanish while introducing her second “home” to others. In addition to the university courses, Ms. Priceman also offers an Immersion Camp experience for youngsters between the ages of 3 and 15. This program was designed to meet the needs of young learners (FLES and immersion students) whose families are looking for an authentic cultural and linguistic living experience. She developed Serious Spanish, a Spanish Immersion program for teens who are looking for a true cultural and linguistic Immersion experience.
Kathleen is committed to providing unique linguistic and cultural immersion experiences that are part of 21st Century learning to educators, adults, teens and families. After a two year hiatus due to Covid-19, she returned to Salamanca in July 2022 to reestablish her friendships and contacts and prepare for a “return to normal” in the summer of 2023! This summer she is excited to be joined by her colleagues in the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) in late June. Join her this July and become a temporary resident of one of the most amazing cities of Spain.
Kathleen retired from elementary classroom teaching in 2017 and works as a consultant and teaches at the university level. She continues to serve as FLES chair and Awards co-chair for the Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ICTFL). She is providing leadership in her role as Past President of the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL) as well as editing the NNELL monthly E-Newsletter. Kathleen is the NNELL representative to JNCL-NCLIS, a language and culture advocacy group. She was the Keynote Speaker at the Mississippi Foreign Language Association Conference in 2018. An active member of the Oak Park community, serving on committees promoting equity, inclusion, language, culture, and excellence in all educational programming, she is proud to call Oak Park her home. Between 2005 and 2010 she served as the FLES Committee chairperson and Vice President for Illinois Council on the Teaching of foreign Languages. She was president of ICTFL from 2011-2012, and the Illinois state representative for NNELL, National Network for Early Language Learning. She is an Advisory Council member of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. She has represented ICTFL twice as a participant in the Central States Conference Extension Workshops and has disseminated information on Vertical Teaming, and Holistic Assessment to educators throughout Illinois at ICTFL Fall Conferences and Winterfest. She is past Vice President of the Oak Park Teachers’ Association served as building representative of OPTA for several years. She has served on the District 97 Education Council, Strategic Planning Steering Committee, World Language Advisory Committee, and Diversity Leadership Network.
Kathleen is the mother of three adult children and lives in Oak Park, Illinois with her husband Eric. Her life and that of her family have been greatly enhanced by living and working in linguistic and culturally diverse settings throughout the years. At present, she is working with Dr. Jesús Baigorri Jalón and the Alfaqueque Project at the Universidad de Salamanca to archive the papers and writings of her father-in-law Mark Priceman, a pioneer in simultaneous interpretation and language education.
Contact her to discuss participating in one of the exciting programs she offers or to design a unique living and studying experience.