Visitors from a national convention in Atlanta sat in classrooms across Hall County Thursday to see ways the school system is prepping kids for the 21st century.

About 20 people from the National Association of Gifted Children convention toured three Hall County schools.

"One thing the convention does each year is spotlight points of interest culturally in the area where the convention is," said Sally Krisel, Hall County Schools director of innovative and advance programs. "We were very flattered that a national organization asked us to host an action lab. It was sold out."

The lab was part of pre-convention activities and showed how local educators are equipping students from kindergarten to high school for the future, Krisel said.

The tour began at World Language Academy, a public charter school that immerses children in Spanish and English, with additional instruction in Mandarin Chinese.

Georgia Nelson, a gifted teacher at Hough Street Elementary in Barrington, Ill., said she believes many forward-thinking schools in the United States are looking at programs similar to World Language.

"Research shows this is good for kids. It makes them better workers and global citizens. It's good to see this in practice," she said.

The next stop was Da Vinci Academy, where middle school students who have a passion for art, science and technology earn high school credit and take college courses. The school is often described as a "21st century one-room schoolhouse."

Last month, Da Vinci was the first stop for the annual Bus Trip Across Georgia, which included education leaders from across the state. Similar to that visit, students acted as human statues for the guests. They dressed and gave presentations as historical figures as the group toured the campus. The visitors also strolled through the school's Museum of Inspired Learning, which featured student projects on China.

"The freedom they have to pursue creative ideas is fabulous. They were poised and their public speaking skills are amazing," Nelson said. "I also noticed a lot of technology at Da Vinci. A lot of the students were carrying around laptops."

The day was also meant to highlight how Hall County is creating 21st century multilingual learners. The tour ended at West Hall High School, where visitors saw the school's International Baccalaureate Program in action.

In the program, teachers identify gifted and high-achieving native Spanish speakers and place them in advanced placement Spanish and honors classes and then in their IB Bilingual Program.

After a brief presentation by teachers, West Hall students explained ways the IB program was beneficial to them.

Senior Yerisson Cardenas, whose native language is Spanish, said he struggled with English at first but was able to pick it up quickly. By high school, he said, West Hall's emphasis on literature honed his skills in each language.

"When I walked into a math or science class I saw things from the English literature viewpoint and the Spanish literature viewpoint. It gives me a different perspective than if I only had one language, and I think it's helpful," he told the crowd.

The group was able to sit in for Belinda Sauret's class, where students presented a project about characters from the story "Don Juan" in Spanish and English, and also sat in on other classes.

Attendee Sarah Sweet, a first-grade enrichment teacher at Buford Elementary School, which is in a district that borders Hall County, said it was her first time seeing the school system. Her district uses the English as a Second Language program for non-native speakers, but she would like to see a multilingual program used someday.

"From what I saw here, native Spanish speakers who are taught part of the time in Spanish can excel more quickly and show their true abilities," she said.

Nelson said the trip is a great way to get some face time with educators and have some of their questions answered in person.

One goal of the event was to inspire attendees involved with gifted programs, in hope the ideas will find their way across the country. West Hall IB coordinator Laurie Ecke gave the visitors advice about how to implement the program at their schools.

"We're the first public school in the U.S. to have an IB Spanish AI and English B program, but we hope there will be more in the future," she said.

Nelson said she plans to speak with leaders at her school about offering language instruction. Her school only offers before and after school programs, which aren't reaching everyone, she said.

"What I really liked is how schools acknowledge the skills of native speakers and see that as an asset. I think that's how we should have looked at it all along," Nelson said.

The National Association of Gifted Children Convention began Thursday and will continue through Sunday at the Georgia World Congress Center.