Tina Hargaden has been a K-12 educator for 14 years, and has taught middle and high school English Language Arts, Reading, Social Studies, French, Spanish and ESOL. Her passion is supporting teachers to strengthen their literacy instruction, design courses that foster efficient and lasting language acquisition, and implement authentic performance assessment, because it is her firm belief that when we shift our language instruction to a proficiency stance, we help ensure equitable access to academic success for more students. She lives in Portland, Oregon and is the founder of the World Language Proficiency Project and CI Liftoff. Tina is the co-author of the book, Year-One:A Natural Approach to the Year, which provides step-by-step guidance for a year of communicative, proficiency-oriented World Language instruction. She has presented and keynoted at numerous state, regional, and national conferences, worked with many school districts and departments, and given workshops and institutes to educators all over to support them in strengthening language outcomes for all students.