Language First - A Conference for Dual Language Immersion Educators

Dr. Rosa Perez-Isiah

Ed Leader for Social Justice, Assistant Superintendent, Actionable Equity Advocate, Author, Speaker

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Dr. Rosa Isiah has served students for 30 years. Currently, she serves as Assistant Superintendent in the Hacienda La Puente USD. Dr. Isiah is actionably passionate about equity and social justice, multilingual Ed, women in leadership, and closing opportunity gaps for historically underserved students. Dr. Isiah’s experiences as an immigrant, emerging multilingual, a child in poverty, and a first Generation college grad, add to her passion for her work.

Dr. Isiah is the founder of #WeLeadEd Twitter chat and the WeleadED BAMradio radio podcast. Dr. Isiah co-authored five books on the whole child, ELs, equity, leadership, and the power of relationships, including Beyond Conversations About Race (2021). Dr. Isiah was the recipient of the Loyola Marymount University 2019 Leader for Social Justice award.

Dr. Isiah is an Educational Consultant and Speaker who presents on a number of topics including Educational Leadership, Culture and Equity, and Social Justice. Dr. Isiah serves as an Advisory Board member for the Alliance for Excellent Education Future Ready Schools and as part of the Phi Delta Kappan (PDK) International Board of Directors.

• 8:00 - 8:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Pantlind Ballroom

  Welcome and Keynote - Dr. Rosa Perez-Isiah

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald B

  Relationships Matter

Rebecca Gómez

First Grade Spanish Immersion Teacher

The Woodlands Christian Academy

Rebecca Gómez is currently the 1st grade Spanish Immersion teacher at The Woodlands Christian Academy just north of Houston, TX. She was the Director of a Spanish Immersion Program for many years in Iowa and before that taught many different grade levels from kindergarten to university in México, the USA, and Japan. She is passionate about linguistic and cultural diversity and loves to share that passion with her students and school communities as a whole. She is married with two teenage children and loves to read and bake in her spare time.

• 3:00 - 3:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  addalingua Frameworks Made Practical

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Grand View

  Creating a Culture that Privileges and Promotes High Levels of Proficiency in the Minority Language; Implementing the LIOPT

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Creating a Culture that Privileges and Promotes High Levels of Proficiency in the Minority Language; Implementing the LIOPT

Stephanie Irizarry

director of teaching & learning

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Stephanie Irizarry, director of teaching & learning at addalingua, spends her time drafting and overseeing framework and assessment development projects, and facilitating Language First professional learning both in-person and online. When working with Stephanie, be prepared for 100% enlightenment on educational topics you thought you understood in easy-to-understand terms. The woman knows her stuff, and she knows her audience.

Before diving into her passion for dual language and immersion education, Stephanie earned an undergraduate teacher certification in Spanish and Elementary Education. Prior to joining addalingua full time in 2015, she had already spent over 12 years teaching and coaching across World Language, DLI & ESL general education contexts in K-12 public education. While teaching full time in the classroom, Stephanie went back to school to complete her M.Ed in Literacy Studies with an emphasis in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and an additional M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction with Certification in Dual Language and Immersion Education. Stephanie loves supporting educators and those who are becoming educators, which is why she recently accepted an additional role as Adjunct Professor at Grand Valley State University. There, she teaches EDI 430 and supervises teacher interns in their final teacher internship semester.

Stephanie and her Puerto Rican husband, David, are raising their two sons in a Spanish-only household, where they are encouraged to respect and appreciate their heritage. One of her greatest joys is watching her sons’ home and school environments celebrate the straddling of two cultures and two identities.

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Pearl

  Understanding Spanish Literacy Foundational Skills

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Progress Monitoring Plan in Dual Language Immersion Education

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Understanding Spanish Literacy Foundational Skills

Leonardo Islas

Senior Account Executive

Language Testing International

Leonardo Islas is a seasoned professional with a passion for education and technology. With a Master of Science in Education from California State University, Fullerton, Leonardo brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his work in the educational technology (EdTech) industry. Leonardo spent several years teaching English as a second and foreign language, both domestically and abroad. His experiences as an educator not only honed his communication skills but also gave him valuable insights into the needs and challenges of educators and learners. Currently, Leonardo serves as the Senior Account Executive at Language Testing International as an assessment and learning product expert, leveraging his deep understanding of education and technology to empathize with educators and enhance their learning experiences.

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald B

  Developing Intercultural Competencies: Empowering Students through Virtual Peer Exchanges

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald B

  Leveraging the ACTFL Assessments for DLI Success

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald B

  Leveraging the ACTFL Assessments for DLI Success

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald A

  Developing Intercultural Competencies: Empowering Students through Virtual Peer Exchanges

Marianne Raitz

Reading Specialist

Zeeland Christian School

Marianne Raitz is the Reading Specialist at Zeeland Christian School in Zeeland, MI. She holds a Master's degree in Elementary Education as well as a Master's degree in the Administration of Education. She was born in San José, Costa Rica and was raised in a bilingual household, learning English from her mother and Spanish from her father. Before moving to Michigan she taught preschool and elementary and was also an administrator. Upon moving to Michigan she started working as a Spanish Immersion teacher in preschool, then moved to first grade. She did Reading Recovery training and then transitioned teaching in the classroom half time and providing reading support to struggling students the other half of the day. This is her third year as a full time Reading Specialist at ZCS. She loves helping children discover their potential as readers and the transformation that she sees in them when they "break the code" and learn what reading is all about.

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Pearl

  Spanish Literacy Interventions (session in Spanish / en español)

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald B

  Spanish Literacy Interventions

Dr. Aradhana Mudambi

Director of Multilingual Education

Framingham Public Schools

Dr. Aradhana Mudambi is the proud owner of Language and Equity, an organization that supports schools and school districts that are starting or improving their Dual Language programs. She also owns and writes for the blog, Social Justice and Education, and is a columnist for duallanguageschools.org. She is the Director of Multilingual Education at Framingham Public Schools where she has worked to improve Dual Language Education programs in Spanish and Portuguese and to provide innovative language opportunities for students who speak low incidence languages.

Previously, Dr. Mudambi was the Director of ESOL, Bilingual Education, and World Languages at Windham Public Schools where she started Dos Ríos, a One-Way Dual Language Education program, at every elementary school. She has also been a building leader, and has taught Dual Language Education, Transitional Bilingual Education, ESL, Spanish, and Peace Education in Texas, Florida, India, France, and England.

• 3:00 - 3:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Pearl

  What High Academic Achievement Means in Terms of Bilingualism and Biliteracy

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald B

  What High Academic Achievement Means in Terms of Bilingualism and Biliteracy

Dr. Tara Fortune

Researcher and founder

Dr. Tara Fortune is currently an independent consultant specializing in strategic planning and research-informed support for dual language and immersion education. For over twenty years she served as Director of the Immersion Research and Professional Development Project at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), University of Minnesota. In this role she partnered with veteran practitioners and leading immersion researchers to offer professional learning that bridged research and practice. Her work has involved schools, districts, state agencies, universities, and non-profit organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. Fortune's work includes a longstanding interest in supporting educators to effectively meet the challenges of struggling learners in immersion and dual language education.

• 1:00 - 1:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Pantlind Ballroom

  Plenary - Dr. Tara Fortune

• 10:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Grand View

  Dual Language Immersion Education: The Case of the Struggling Learner

Stacey Vanden Bosch

co.founder

addalingua

Stacey holds a Master’s Degree in Romance Linguistics with a focus on Second Language Acquisition from the University of Washington and a certificate in Dual Language and Immersion Education from the University of Minnesota. Besides studying, traveling, and volunteering in many Spanish-speaking countries, she has held teaching positions as adjunct faculty and delivered Spanish or world language methods courses at Seattle Pacific University, University of Washington, Hope College, and Aquinas College. Stacey also founded the first private school Spanish and Chinese dual language immersion programs in Michigan, where the program grew from 60 to 400 students.

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Grand View

  Creating a Culture that Privileges and Promotes High Levels of Proficiency in the Minority Language; Implementing the LIOPT

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Language FIRST: Addressing beliefs and practices that undermine the goal of bilingualism & biliteracy

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Creating a Culture that Privileges and Promotes High Levels of Proficiency in the Minority Language; Implementing the LIOPT

Amanda Armsey

Dual Language Immersion Educator

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Amanda Armsey is a bilingual educator with over five years of experience in a DLI classroom, from preschool through secondary. An innovative professional, she possesses innate knowledge of classroom management, course design, and curriculum and program development. Her experience is in both Spanish and English Immersion settings, Spanish as a second language, and ESL both nationally and internationally. She is passionate about the interwoven nature of language within our world, revealing the power of language to others, and equipping people to walk in their God-given identities.

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Sand or Rock: Building a Firm Foundation, Language First, in DLI Programs

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald A

  Sand or Rock: Building a Firm Foundation, Language First, in DLI Programs

Dr. Roy Lyster

Professor Emeritus

Dr. Roy Lyster is Professor Emeritus of Second Language Education at McGill University in Montreal, Canada (https://mcgill.ca/dise/roy-lyster). His research has examined content-based second language instruction and the effects of instructional interventions designed to counterbalance form-focused and content-based approaches. He is recipient of the Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in Foreign Language Education and the Robert Roy Award presented by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers in 2017. He was co-president then president of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics from 2004 to 2008. He is author of a module called Content-Based Language Teaching published by Routledge in 2018, and three books: Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content published by Benjamins in 2007, Vers une approche intégrée en immersion published by CEC Publishing in 2016, and Scaffolding language development in immersion and dual language classrooms (with D. J. Tedick) published by Routledge in 2020.

• 10:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Grand View

  Workshop Part I: Reactive Scaffolding to Support Content and Language Integration

• 2:00 - 3:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Grand View

  Workshop Part II: Proactive Scaffolding to Support Content and Language Integration

• 8:00 - 8:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pantlind Ballroom

  Plenary - Dr. Roy Lyster

Dr. Diane J. Tedick

Professor Emeritus

A former dual language teacher, Dr. Diane (Dee) J. Tedick is Professor Emeritus of Second Language Education at the University of Minnesota, where she worked as a teacher educator and researcher in the field of immersion and dual language education for over 30 years. She provides professional development experiences for immersion and bilingual teachers in the U.S. and internationally that are focused on pedagogical strategies to support content and language integration and to maximize acquisition of minority languages. She has co-edited two books on immersion, both published by Multilingual Matters: Pathways to Multilingualism: Evolving Perspectives on Immersion Education (2008) and Immersion Education: Practices, Policies, Possibilities (2011). She co-authored (with Roy Lyster) a book for dual language and immersion teachers titled Scaffolding Language Development in Immersion and Dual Language Classrooms (Routledge, 2020). She is also co-editor of a book to be published in 2024 by Multilingual Matters titled Teacher Development for Content-Based Language Education: International Perspectives.

• 10:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Grand View

  Workshop Part I: Reactive Scaffolding to Support Content and Language Integration

• 2:00 - 3:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Grand View

  Workshop Part II: Proactive Scaffolding to Support Content and Language Integration

• 1:00 - 1:50 PM, Apr 27, 2024 Pantlind Ballroom

  Plenary - Dr. Diane J. Tedick

Dori Huang

Chinese Instructor

Weber State University

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Using Cohesive Devices to Construct Written Discourse by High School Chinese DLI Learners

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Pearl

  Leveraging Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) Meetings to Facilitate DLI Program Planning

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Grand View

  Leveraging Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) Meetings to Facilitate DLI Program Planning

Melissa Monroe

World Languages Specialist

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Pearl

  Leveraging Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) Meetings to Facilitate DLI Program Planning

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Grand View

  Leveraging Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) Meetings to Facilitate DLI Program Planning

Clare Chamberlin

Secondary Spanish Dual Language Educator

Jenison Public Schools

Clare Chamberlin graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in Education and received her masters in Spanish Bilingual Education from Aquinas College. After beginning her career in Detroit Public Schools in elementary bilingual classrooms, she has been teaching secondary Spanish immersion at the middle school level for 13 years with a focus on Spanish Language Arts, the last 8 at Jenison Public Schools. Chamberlin has helped two different districts establish and grow their secondary dual language immersion programs.

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Pearl

  Maximizing Oracy in the DL Classroom: Fostering Group Discussions and Integrating Digital Composition into Curriculum

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 27, 2024 Grand View

  Maximizing Oracy in the DL Classroom: Fostering Group Discussions and Integrating Digital Composition into Curriculum

Randi Alferink

Interventionist

Jenison Public Schools

Randi Alferink holds a Master’s in Education for Curriculum and Instruction from GVSU and has been working in education for almost 20 years. She has experience as an aid at Telamon Migrant Head Start, a paraprofessional at West Ottawa Public Schools in the Great Start Readiness Program, in the Autism Spectrum Categorical classroom, and as lead teacher for WOs Spanish Immersion three-school, preschool, and extended-day Kindergarten programs. She has been working for Jenison Public Schools since 2010 where she has taught Spanish Immersion Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and is now the Spanish Immersion interventionist for grades K-6.

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Storytelling for Oracy

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Storytelling for Oracy

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Storytelling for Oracy

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Storytelling for Oracy

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Storytelling for Oracy

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Pearl

  Storytelling for Oracy

I have been married for 35 years to my husband, Ismael, and together we have two adult children, Keilah and Samuel. We all live in sunny South Florida. My husband and kids are all in IT while I'm the only educator in the family. Prior to working at Kendall Christian School, I was a 1st grade teacher and then a middle school language arts teacher - this is my 25th year in education. Serving at church, reading magazines, and watching period pieces are some of my favorite pastimes. I'm passionate about all things cultural, enjoy road trips, and consider myself a definite word nerd.

• 3:00 - 3:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald B

  A Field Trip To Spain: The Ultimate Spanish Immersion Cultural Experience

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald A

  A Field Trip To Spain: The Ultimate Spanish Immersion Cultural Experience

Mr. Bernal is a former WL, DLI & ESOL administrator in SC for over seven years. He led a second language program with 26,000+ students, motivating them to grow linguistically and culturally.
Mr. Bernal developed multiple initiatives to close the achievement gap in the ESOL programs helping his ESOL students to meet their growth criteria, as well as increase the percentage of Multilingual Learning exiting the ESOL program to a 150% in a three-year period.
He extended the participation of WL and ESOL students in the SC Seal of Biliteracy helping students from different linguistic backgrounds to receive recognition for language proficiency in more than one language. His second language program had over five different languages and a DLI program in Spanish, Chinese Mandarin, French, and German.
Currently, he is an International Account Manager for Avant Assessments & Professional Learning, supporting bilingual initiatives in the US and Latin America.

• 2:00 - 2:50 PM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald B

  Seals of Biliteracy and Other Animals

• 9:00 - 9:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald B

  Seals of Biliteracy and Other Animals

Lilah Ambrosi

co.founder

addalingua

Lilah studied Spanish and bilingual education at Aquinas College and earned her M.A. in educational leadership from Western Michigan University. She taught for many years within a pioneer Spanish immersion program in West Michigan. As the program rapidly grew and began to draw regional attention, her role shifted from facilitator of learning within the classroom to school leader committed to excellence for the entire program.

• 11:00 - 11:50 AM, Apr 26, 2024 Emerald A

  Language FIRST: Addressing beliefs and practices that undermine the goal of bilingualism & biliteracy

• 3:00 - 3:45 PM, Apr 27, 2024 Pantlind Ballroom

  Closing

Alex Zhou

Middle School Mandarin Teacher

Zeeland Christian School

Alex Zhou is a bilingual educator with over 10 years of experience in Mandarin Immersion education. He holds a Master’s degree in Education from Calvin University. He has spent most of his career on classroom instruction as well as creating and developing materials for Mandarin language learners from all age and ability levels. Alex is a passionate advocate for enhancing learning outcomes by building positive relationships with students in and out of the classroom.

• 10:00 - 10:50 AM, Apr 27, 2024 Emerald A

  Building Relationships in the Middle School DLI Classroom