The Western Initiative for Language Leadership (WILL) is a two-year program designed to reach out to novice language teachers in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest. WILL unites and supports these teachers through technology, action research, and leadership training to combat isolation and encourage professional development. The long-term goal of WILL is to promote a high-quality international education for students by building teachers’ pedagogical and leadership skills.

WILL participants are already spreading their knowledge and expertise throughout our community and impacting language learning in the Pacific Northwest. Among the first WILL cohort of forty participants, three became state foreign language association presidents or presidents-elect, two regional association representatives, and one a state conference chair. These new leaders now fulfill their role as mentors for the current wave of WILL participants.

CASLS launched its second two-year program engaging WILL participants in June 2005. Through the duration of the program, this new cohort of novice rural teachers will not only receive pedagogical and leadership support from national experts and CASLS staff, but they also gain mentorship support from members of the first WILL cohort. Applications to participate in the 2007-2009 WILL project will be accepted in winter/spring 2007. To learn more about the work done by participants, view their leadership projects.