Christopher Barley is as passionate about the annual New York City Association of Foreign Language Teachers/UFT fall conference as a bear is about honey. “A professional gathering of like-minded people is the fuel we need to keep doing the good work and hard work of teaching a foreign language in our schools,” says Barley, who teaches Spanish to high school students at the Essex Street Academy on the Lower East Side. “We share our commitment, ideas, support and strength, and back we go energized to our schools and our students.” He and some 350 other educators came together at union headquarters to discuss and promote language teachers and the crucial service they provide in an increasingly diverse world, says Irma Evangelista, the president of the association and a conference organizer. “We always have a tremendous turnout,” says Evangelista, adding that participants had 22 workshops from which to choose. Chancellor Carmen Fariña spoke at the conference. For his part, Barley has a theory about why teachers happily gave up a gorgeous weekend day for a six-hour, indoor gathering. “When you speak another language, you break down stereotypes,” said Barley, who also is fluent in Portuguese and Turkish. “You enter the very soul and culture of another person.” 

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