Season 1 concludes with one final ‘Making Meaning’ episode—and there is plenty to process.

Meta is the word of the day as we think about the utility of meta-linguistic awareness and transfer as tools that empower students to take stock of their own language journeys.

Later, Victoria and Anna assess the assessment systems and dive deep into how they can better serve the needs of multilingual students. 

As a language learner herself, Alexandra Güílamo has spent more than twenty years serving a

wide range of language learner programs. Alexandra is a former teacher, academic coach,

elementary school principal, and district-level director in highly diverse urban and suburban

school districts. She is one of the leading dual-language experts, an author, and keynote

speaker, and the Chief Equity & Achievement Officer at TaJu Educational Solutions - a company

dedicated to professional development, coaching, & technical support for the educators,

leaders, and communities of dual language & bilingual programs.

1Resources

The Science of the Bilingual Reading Brain https://www.languagemagazine.com/2022/07/13/the-science-of-the-bilingual-reading-brain/

Coaching Teachers in Bilingual and Dual-Language Classrooms: A Responsive Cycle for Observation and Feedback https://www.solutiontree.com/coaching-teachers-bilingual-dual-language-classrooms.html

As a language learner herself, Alexandra Güílamo has spent more than twenty years serving a

wide range of language learner programs. Alexandra is a former teacher, academic coach,

elementary school principal, and district-level director in highly diverse urban and suburban

school districts. She is one of the leading dual-language experts, an author, and keynote

speaker, and the Chief Equity & Achievement Officer at TaJu Educational Solutions - a company

dedicated to professional development, coaching, & technical support for the educators,

leaders, and communities of dual language & bilingual programs.

Resources

The Science of the Bilingual Reading Brain https://www.languagemagazine.com/2022/07/13/the-science-of-the-bilingual-reading-brain/

Coaching Teachers in Bilingual and Dual-Language Classrooms: A Responsive Cycle for Observation and Feedback https://www.solutiontree.com/coaching-teachers-bilingual-dual-language-classrooms.html

Nicole Knight is the Executive Director of the English Language Learner and Multilingual Achievement Office at Oakland Unified School District.

She is honored to have served Oakland students for the last 24 years as a teacher, teacher leader and instructional leader at the site and district levels.

A National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language, Nicole has expertise in language and literacy development of multilingual learners, professional development for teachers and leaders, and equity-centered systems of continuous improvement.

She is also the mother of two bicultural and bilingual children, both students in Oakland public schools.

Resources

OUSD Roadmap to ELL Achievement, 2021-24 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Osl0ySTl-djnGXj_LnjS5q254nPKlgZO/view?usp=sharing 

OUSD Language and Literacy Framework, TK-5 https://docs.google.com/document/d/10lcL9PItdYsdd8TBjlf42P2rKf-SwSfImHHpVr-N2Mg/edit 

OUSD Language and Literacy Framework, HS https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Be9qyGYVplAwc8jzA-0HzKJP2NCvgO-8caMFlb5eKyg/edit

In this making meaning episode, we’re diving into how our time with Dr. Susana Johnson, David Rogers, and Cristina Sánchez-López. 

We discuss how to acknowledge and build on students’ home language experiences and create rich classroom experiences that focus on strong oral language skills. 

We also discuss what it means to teach students to be literate and what to do with that literacy.

Cristina Sánchez-López collaborates with educators in the US and Canada on many issues related to the education of Multilingual Learners (MLs) including developing culturally and linguistically sustaining Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS); bilingual special education; middle school mathematics; curriculum development; literacy across the content areas; parent engagement, and supporting Early Childhood educators who serve young Dual Language learners (DLLs).

Cristina has taught at the elementary, middle school and university levels in the US and Mexico.

She currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in multilingual education.

Cristina is co-author a number of publications including: Oxford University Press series Concepts for the Language Classroom Series: Focus on Special Educational Needs (2018); Special Education Considerations for Multilingual Learners: Delivering a continuum of services, 3rd edition (Brookes Publishing, 2023); Welcoming Bilingual Learners with Disabilities into Dual Language Programs (CAL, 2022); and an upcoming chapter entitled Collaborating at the Bilingual Special Education Interface in ¡Qué BUENO!  A History of the BUENO Center and its Legacy

Resources

National Committee for Effective Literacy  https://multilingualliteracy.org/

Center for Literacy Education https://iei.nd.edu/initiatives/notre-dame-center-for-literacy-education/news/identity-texts 

Unite for Literacy https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/ 

Mt Language Resources http://www.mylanguage.ca/resources.html 

Welcoming Bilingual Learners with Disabilities into Dual Language Programs https://www.cal.org/publications/welcoming-bilingual-learners-with-disabilities-into-dual-language-programs/

David Rogers supports the work of Dual Language Education of New Mexico-DLeNM whose mission is to promote the effective design and implementation of dual language education (www.dlenm.org) in New Mexico, and beyond.   

In his thirty-five years as an educator, David has served as an education volunteer and program coordinator in Peace Corps Paraguay, South America, a bilingual special education teacher in South Bronx, NY, and as a dual language classroom teacher, bilingual program coordinator, and school principal in the South Valley of Albuquerque.  In 1996 David and his colleagues helped to organize the first La Cosecha Dual Language Conference, which is hosted by DLeNM, where David served from 1999 until 2022 as the its first Executive Director.  

David is an advocate for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and has provided leadership support for advocacy groups like Transform Education New Mexico and NM Hispanic Education Advisory Council, and NCEL.  David has been recognized by our community for his work including – la Orden de Isabel la Católica, from the King of Spain (2013), Promoting Bilingualism award from the Association for Two-Way, Dual Language Education (2014), the Earl Nunn Recognition (2017) from the New Mexico Coalition for Educational Leadership and most recently the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce President’s award (2022). 

David is husband to dual language educator Rosie González-Rogers, and together they have four bilingual/multicultural daughters and call Albuquerque, New Mexico their home.

Resources

 National Committee for Effective Literacy

Center for Applied Linguistics 

Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education

National Dual Language Education Teacher Preparation Standards

 Charter School Theory of Change Logic Model

Susana Ibarra Johnson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education and TESOL at New Mexico State University.

Susana is a former bilingual education teacher. Her understanding and devotion go beyond her academic training to her own experience as a bilingual learner.

As a former biliteracy researcher and senior consultant for the WIDA Consortium, she conducted research and facilitated professional learning in language development both in English and Spanish.

Currently, as an assistant professor, she specializes in developing courses for bi/multilingual and biliteracy curriculum, instruction, and assessment with bilingual/TESOL educators.

Her qualitative research focuses on translanguaging pedagogy in bilingual education and English language development contexts to promote quality and effective bilingual education instructional programs and materials for emergent bilingual student populations.

García, O., Johnson, S. I., Seltzer, K., & Valdés, G. (2017). The translanguaging classroom: Leveraging student bilingualism for learning. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon. 

Johnson, S.I. (2021). A Chicana borderlander maestra teaching without fronteras. Multilingual Educator. 69-72. https://www.gocabe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ME_2021-FINAL.pdf

Johnson, S.I. (2022). Leveraging translanguaging through biliteracy: A wide-angle view of literacy with linguistically diverse students. Multilingual Educator. 49-52. https://www.gocabe.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ME-2022-Revised.pdf

Johnson, S.I., García, O., Seltzer, K. (2019). Biliteracy and Translanguaging in Dual-Language Bilingual Education. In: DeMatthews, D., Izquierdo, E. (eds) Dual Language Education: Teaching and Leading in Two Languages. Language Policy, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10831-1_8

NCEL (2022). Toward Comprehensive Effective Literacy Policy and Instruction for English Learner/Emergent Bilingual Students. https://bit.ly/3rH8gsR