Bilingual/ESL Conferences

Region 4 Bilingual/ESL Virtual Conference 

December 15, 2020

Educators will expand their knowledge with evidence-based information designed for working with English Learners (ELs). Presentations will be framed around culturally relevant topics that impact the affective, linguistic, and cognitive domains of ELs. Session topics will address dual language, transitioning from L1 to L2, sheltered instruction, assessment, and technology.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. José L. Medina is the founder and Chief Educational Advocate at Dr. José Medina: Educational Solutions.  Prior to establishing the boutique educational consulting firm, Dr. Medina was a Scientific Researcher and the Director of Dual Language and Bilingual Education at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, DC.

José provides dual language technical assistance, professional development, and job-embedded support to dual language programs across the United States and globally.  He is a former dual language school principal and has served as an administrator and educator at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.  Dr. Medina co-authored the third edition of the widely-used Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education.  He is also the author of several children's bilingual poetry books including Lo que se dice, se hace and Familia. 

Keynote Presentation: "Importance of Sociocultural Competence in Serving Emergent Bilinguals"

• Emergent bilingual students in all school settings deserve access to grade level standards regardless of language proficiency.  As educators, it is our duty to reflect upon our own biases in an effort to continue to strengthen our sociocultural competence.  Participants in the keynote address will engage in personal reflection as a means to further become defenders of equity and social justice.

Margo Gottlieb, PhD, is co-founder and lead developer for WIDA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her professional career has been devoted to the education of multilingual learners in elementary and secondary settings. She has served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Santiago, Chile, was appointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Inaugural National Technical Advisory Council, and was honored by TESOL International Association in 2016 for her significant contribution to the TESOL profession. In recent years, Margo has focused on crafting language development standards, conceptualizing assessment as, for, and of learning, and designing linguistically and culturally sustainable curriculum.

Dr. Gottlieb has presented and consulted in over 21 countries and almost every state, providing technical assistance to school districts, universities, governments, publishers, and organizations. Over her career, she has published over 90 articles, monographs, handbooks/ guides, encyclopedia entries, and chapters as well as authored, co-authored, or co-edited over 20 books on language standards, academic language use, and classroom assessment. Margo’s most recent books include Classroom Assessment in Multiple Languages (2021), Assessing multilingual learners: A month-by-month guide (2017), Language power: Key uses for accessing content (2017 with M. Castro), and Assessing English language learners: Bridges to equity (2nd ed., 2016).

Keynote Presentation: Bridges to Educational Equity Through Classroom Assessment

• In this upside-down year, classroom assessment is occupying an increasingly visible and valuable place in the education of multilingual learners. In some ways, we are moving away from the traditional notion of reporting numbers and scores to one where students and their teachers are empowered and have agency. Join me in addressing how to engage in assessment as, for, and of learning as a bridge to educational equity.

Breakout Session 3: Making Curriculum Linguistically and Culturally Relevant

• To what extent does your curriculum reflect the languages, cultures, and experiences of your multilingual learners? Does it maximize access and opportunity for your students to achieve grade-level expectations? Does it include student interaction to maximize their academic language use? In this session we explore how to embed linguistic and cultural sustainability into curriculum and instruction.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

We are excited to share this year's list of breakout session titles!  Download the full descriptions for each session here.  For more information, e-mail bilingual@esc4.net. 

Research-Based Instructional Strategies for English Learners

• Brain Based Learning: Teaching the Way Students Really Learn from Eric Jensen and Liesl McConchie
• Math Phobia in Science? Let’s Talk
• Biliteracy In Motion
• Alternatives to Turn and Talk: Speaking and Listening in All Content Areas
• Tips & Tools to Scaffold Activities for ELs
• Applying Sheltered Instruction Daily in the Secondary Classroom
• Instructional Coaching: #Engaging English Learners
• Bridging History: Using Bilingual Museum Resources in the Classroom

• Celebrating Student Identities Through Culturally Responsive Literature
• Exploring Culturally Responsive Math Tasks for Equity
• Culturally Response Teaching & Sheltered Instruction
• Supporting the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Student

• De organizadores gráficos a párrafos.
• It's All About the Right Reading Activities!
• Motivate-Write-Feedback, Right!
• Writing Solutions for Writing issues
• Writing Across Content Areas with a focus on TELPAS
• TELPAS Readiness - Closing the Gaps

• ELs and Distance Learning: Supporting Language Development in Online Environments
• Integrating Technology Tools with Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Using Technology To Transform Math Instruction For ELLs And Bilingual Students

• Translanguaging Practices: Cross-linguistic Connections and Preview-View-Review in a Dual Two-Way Language Classroom
• Biliteracy Assessments: A Holistic and Additive Approach

• Juguemos con canciones, rimas y poesías
• Teaching the ABCs: Strategies that make letters and sounds stick!

• Keeping Families Connected Through Web-based Resources
• Planning for Success: Virtual Engagements

Download the full descriptions for each session here. We're looking forward to learning with you on December 15th!