Language Culture & Identity Regional Conference

A regional conference for educators, administrators, service providers and other personnel interested in language acquisition, academic achievement and social-emotional well-being of New Americans.

Presented by the Multilingual & Multicultural Center of Portland Public Schools.

Schedule for Conference:
7:45-8:30 Registration
8:30-8:45 Welcome/Intro
8:45-10:00 Keynote
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:30 concurrent sessions
11:30-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:45 Concurrent sessions
1:45-3:00 Concurrent sessions
3:00-3:30 Closing/raffle

Price $125.00 includes continental breakfast, lunch
$95.00 PPS employees
$150.00 onsite registration

For more information and registration, please visit the conference event page on the Portland Public Schools website.

The Franco-American Collection will be hosting a lecture by Prof. Rhea Côté Robbins on the topic “Franco-American Gender Roles: Motherhood and More” Thursday April 17th at 2:30 pm at USM LAC.

Robbins is a professor of Franco-American Studies at the University of Maine, and is the founder of the Franco-American Women’s Institute, an organization of women who gather together as a force for the specific purpose of promoting Franco-American, ethnic women's voices in a variety of forms.

Anyone with a Franco-American connection will know that women have a special place in that community. Mothers and mémères have been vital in preserving Franco-American culture for generations.  But there have been plenty of Franco-American women who didn’t fit the traditional role of wife, mother, and home-maker.  Franco-American women have been entrepreneurs, authors, politicians, musicians – and have left their distinctive mark in a number of areas.

The event is part of the Franco-American Collection’s Spring Lecture series, organized in partnership with USM LAC faculty and made possible by support from the University of Maine System’s Diversity Committee. 

The event is free and open to the public.