International Institutes

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Discover What Your Multilingual Learners Can Do

The WIDA Institute is a comprehensive introduction to explore the WIDA Standards and Assessment System. Attending an institute is a first step in learning how WIDA resources work together to support multilingual students and their teachers.

Choose from two learning options:

  • Face-to-face institutes are held at host school locations throughout the world. Attending a face-to-face event includes the chance to interact and network with colleagues from other international or independent schools in your region.
  • The Virtual Institute is provided for educators who prefer a self-paced, remote learning experience. You may also choose to make this a collaborative experience by engaging in the Virtual Institute with a local cohort of educators from your school.

WIDA Institute At-a-Glance

Who Should Attend

The institute is intended for educators who are new to WIDA, or who want to understand how WIDA assessments and resources can support teaching and learning at their school.

Enrollment is open to any interested educator, regardless of location. Teachers, administrators and admissions officers are invited to register. If you are ready to explore how WIDA can help your students, sign up for a WIDA Institute today.

Questions

For questions or more information, contact international@wida.us

Face-to-Face Institutes

large group of educators posing in front of school building in singapore

Dates, locations and registration information

WIDA would like to remind participants that all standard COVID precautions must be followed during in-person sessions. Host schools will arrange spaces to allow for additional distancing, provide hand sanitizer and take any precautions required by local policies. Facilitators will also follow the appropriate safety procedures, as well as take any precautions to ensure their own safety. Specific regulations and local safety policies will be communicated for each specific event to inform participants what is required by the host school and the local government. This may include but is not limited to:

  • If not fully vaccinated, obtain a negative COVID test within 48 hours 
  • Agree to a temperature check 
  • Wear a face mask at all times 

Singapore, Singapore, February 16-19, 2023
Canadian International School in Singapore
7 Jurong West Street 41,
Singapore, Singapore 649414
Register for Singapore (registration is full but you can be added to the waitlist in case spots open up).

What you will learn

Day 1

  • Preview WIDA as a system
  • Explore language in academic contexts
  • Consider assessment purposes and tools

Day 2

  • Analyze data to inform instruction
  • Consider an assets-based approach
  • Develop tools and processes to leverage student assets

Day 3

  • Use WIDA resources to analyze linguistic demands of curricula
  • Explore how the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition is organized
  • Use the framework to plan units that integrate language and content 

Day 4

  • Identify why we collaborate
  • Explore the collaboration cycle
  • Apply WIDA resources to support the collaboration cycle

Daily schedule

8:00am - 8:30am: Coffee and Refreshments
8:30am - 12:00pm: Morning Session (including coffee break)
12:00pm - 1:00pm: Lunch (provided)
1:00pm - 4:00pm*: Afternoon Session (including coffee break)

* Note: The afternoon session of the final day of the Institute will conclude at 3pm.

Cost

Prices in U.S. dollars

$850 Early Bird Price

$950 Regular Price

Registration fee includes refreshments and lunch for four days.

Certificate and credit option

After attending the institute, participants may request a certificate of completion to demonstrate professional learning hours.

University Credit

Participants are eligible to earn one graduate level credit through the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This is an additional cost and paid directly to University of Wisconsin-Madison.

To register for credit

  1. Choose "credit registration" during the registration process.
  2. Apply for special student status by following the directions provided in your confirmation email.
  3. Complete the assignment. Instructions are provided during the institute.

If you have questions please contact us at international@wida.us

Refund policy

Registration fee is non-refundable. No refunds will be issued for participant cancellations or no-shows. If the event is cancelled, applicants will be reimbursed for registration fees only.

Travel and Lodging

Attendees are responsible for booking their own travel and lodging. All travel, transportation, and parking expenses are paid by attendees. 

Please wait on arranging travel plans. Confirmation from WIDA will be provided once the status of each event is know. 

Lodging Recommendations:

Virtual Institute

Watch this video to learn more about the Virtual Institute and how it can impact teaching and learning at your school.

Video Transcript

Hi my name is Mr. Vega and I’m an EAL - English as an Additional Language - teacher at a school that’s part of the WIDA International School Consortium, a global network focused on serving multilingual learners.

Today, I would like to introduce you to the WIDA Virtual Institute. Hundreds of schools worldwide are part of the WIDA global community – and in the past five years thousands of teachers, administrators and admissions staff have participated in WIDA International Institutes.

Now, educators can participate in this Institute virtually! The Virtual Institute is for educators who are ready to learn how WIDA assessments and resources support collaborative teaching and learning.

You will learn about the suite of WIDA assessments, and how they connect to a K-12 system of language development. You’ll explore how asset-based tools help you focus on what multilingual learners can do rather than what they can’t do. And you will learn practical approaches to co-planning and co-teaching to help EAL and classroom teachers work together to scaffold language and content learning.

WIDA helps us to engage families, empower teachers and accelerate learning for our multilingual students. And at my school, we found that implementing the strategies from the Virtual Institute actually helped all students.

This innovative, self-paced online course is for educators who are just getting to know WIDA. The course consists of four modules and takes about two weeks to complete.

The best thing is that you’ll decide when and where you learn. And the flexible Virtual Institute can be used independently or with a team at your school.

Are you ready to explore how WIDA can help you discover what your multilingual learners can do? Sign up for the WIDA Virtual Institute on the WIDA website today.

Registration information

Once you register, and your account is activated, the course will be accessible for two months.

Register

What you will learn

Module 1

  • Preview WIDA as a system
  • Explore language in academic contexts
  • Consider assessment purposes and tools

Module 2

  • Analyze data to inform instruction
  • Consider an assets-based approach
  • Develop tools and processes to leverage student assets

Module 3

  • Use WIDA resources to analyze linguistic demands of curricula
  • Explore how the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition is organized
  • Use the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition to plan units that integrate language and content

Module 4

  • Identify why we collaborate
  • Explore the collaboration cycle
  • Apply WIDA resources to support the collaboration cycle

Course schedule

This course is self-paced and accessed through an online learning platform through the University of Wisconsin – Madison. This course is estimated to take 15-20 hours, including both onscreen interactions and offline personal reflection and action planning.

Personalize your learning! You choose the time and place that best fit your schedule.

Once you register, and your account is activated, the course will be accessible for two months.

Facilitated cohort option

This individual course is self-paced and can be taken as a facilitated cohort. By participating in this course with colleagues, you can deepen your understanding and collaboratively plan for implementation. In order to support school-based teams learning together, WIDA will provide one free registration for you or a colleague to facilitate discussion with groups of five or more educators from your school who register as a cohort. We recommend that this local facilitator has previous experience with WIDA resources and assessments.

For more information about how to register as a cohort with a designated facilitator, please contact Bethany Guse at bguse@wisc.edu.

Cost

Prices in U.S. dollars

$550 Regular Price

Registration fee includes access to the online learning system and relevant course materials as fillable PDF downloads.

Certification and credit option

After completing all modules and activities for the virtual institute, participants may request a certificate of completion to demonstrate professional learning hours.

University Credit

Participants are eligible to earn one graduate level credit through the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This is an additional cost and paid directly to University of Wisconsin-Madison.

To register for credit

  1. Choose "credit registration" during the registration process.
  2. Apply for special student status by following the directions provided in your confirmation email
  3. Complete the assignment. Instructions will be provided after the completion of the course.

If you have questions please contact us at international@@wida.us

Refund policy

Registration fee is non-refundable. No refunds will be issued for participant cancellations or no-shows.

Technology requirements

The Virtual Institute exists in an application called Canvas and has been tested on the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari. It’s recommended that you access Canvas with the most current version of your preferred browser; however, Internet Explorer is not supported by Canvas.

You can access Canvas from a browser on your Android/iOS device. However, mobile browsers are not supported, and features may not function as expected compared to viewing Canvas in a fully supported desktop browser.

Canvas can accommodate low internet bandwidth environments down to a minimum of 512kbps.

WIDA is committed to providing materials that are accessible for all learners. Please see the WIDA Accessibility Statement for more information.