Upcoming Free Online Webinars
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- Asking children to design digital games to learn vocabulary: Opportunities and Challenges for “research for children” Thursday, April 21, 2022 | 4:30 – 5:00pm EST
- Global Perspective on English Teaching Monday, April 25, 2022 | 4:30 – 5:30pm EST
- A Brief Introduction to Computational Linguistics Monday April 25, 2022 | 7:15 – 8:15pm EST
last updated 2022 April 20
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents
Asking children to design digital games to learn vocabulary: Opportunities and challenges for “research with children”
Presenters: Dr. Yuko Goto Butler
Click here to view or download the PDF event flyer.
Although research with children has gained substantial attention in child developmental studies, the methodological and ethical issues associated with research with children have not yet been sufficiently addressed in applied linguistics Based on a game design project that Dr. Butler conducted with 6th grade students in a public school in Japan, Dr. Butler addresses both the opportunities and challenges associated with conducting research with children Although I will focus on children in my talk, the same issues should be relevant to any learners being studied.
Free Registration
Free registration by e-mail to TESOL@umbc.edu
Yuko Goto Butler is Professor of Educational Linguistics in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the Director of the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Program at Penn. Her research interests include language assessment and second and foreign language learning among children.
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents
Global Perspectives on English Teaching
Presenters: Lucia Demarchi, Mohamed Galal, Yolanda Ramos, and Golshid Shoushtarian
Moderator: Francis M. Hult
Click here to view or download the PDF event flyer.
English is an international language that is taught in schools throughout the world. While there are commonalities, there is also substantial variation in how English education manifests in the school systems of different countries. In this session celebrating English Language Day, moderated by Professor Francis M. Hult, international students in UMBC’s TESOL program offer an overview of how English language teaching and learning takes shape in Argentina, Bolivia, Egypt, and Iran.
Free Registration
Free registration by e-mail to TESOL@umbc.edu
Lucia Demarchi is an international MA TESOL student and graduate assistant from Argentina . She has taught EFL at a private middle school in Buenos Aires City for three years and also has research experience working with scholars at the Universidad del Valle Atemajac (Mexico) and the Universidad del Salvador (Argentina
Mohamed Galal is an international MA TESOL student and graduate assistant fromEgypt. He has taught EFL for over 17 years. He has also worked for the UN as a liaison officer and interpreter and was h ead of the English Department at the Egyptian Military Technical Institute.
Yolanda Ramos is an international MA TESOL student an Fulbright Laspau scholar from Bolivia. She leads the English Club Tarija, a community service project based in Bolivia and has also taught in private institutes and universities. She is an U.S. State Department E-teacher program alumna, International Visitor Leadership Program participant
Golshid Shoushtarian is an MA TESOL international student from Iran. She has worked as an online instructor, translator, and interpreter in Farsi, English, and French for over 7 years.
Francis M. Hult is Professor and TESOL Program Director at UMBC. He has taught EFL and ESL at primary, secondary, and university levels in the United States and Sweden. A specialist in language policy and multilingual education, he has published widely in these areas, and he is a frequent speaker in Asia, Europe, and North America.
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents
A Brief Introduction to Computational Linguistics
Presenters: Dr. Na-Rae Han
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In this talk, I will present a brief overview of the field of computational linguistics The era of Artificial Intelligence is truly upon us, and we find ourselves relying on a dazzling assortment of software applications in our daily lives that are driven by language technologies But what’s fueling the dizzying advancement of these technologies? What roles do linguists and language data play in their development? And, how could key data resources like corpora be also useful in language education? These are some of the questions I hope to address
Free Registration
Free registration by e-mail to TESOL@umbc.edu
Na-Rae Han is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches computational linguistics and data science methods. She participated in multiple linguistic data and annotation projects throughout her career, many of which were published by the Linguistic Data Consortium.
Past Events events
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents
Linguistic Landscape Analysis for Educational Contexts: Schoolscapes Unpacked
Presenters: Dr. Roswita Dressler
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Linguistic Landscape Analysis is a methodology that allows researchers to examine how languages are used on signs in specific contexts. While early adopters of the methodology envisioned examining the signs in and around schools, work on schoolscapes only began to emerge in the last 10 years. Schools provide an interesting context for linguistic landscape analysis since some of their signs fall under policy guidelines, whereas others organically appear as teachers choose to post them. In some cases, either guided by teachers or on their own, students are signmakers. Yet, little is known about how school signs interact with the signs of the neighborhoods in which they are situated. Do they exist as islands within their neighborhoods or is there interaction, either one-way or two-way? In particular, how are languages of the instruction and languages within the demographics of the neighborhoods reflected or interrelated? As an example of how such questions can be addressed in schoolscape research, I will present a recent study of schools in Canada that offer minority language Bilingual Programs and the linguistic landscape of the neighborhoods around the schools. Findings revealed the dominance of English in the schools and multilingual neighborhoods and the influence of schoolscapes on their neighborhoods. This talk will be of interest to those interested in linguistic landscape as a methodology and bilingual education research conducted in other countries.
Free Registration
Free registration by e-mail to TESOL@umbc.edu
Dr. Roswita Dressler is an Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Her research examines Second Language Teaching and Learning. She is a former teacher of German and French as Second Language (FSL) in Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia. In 2020, she was awarded the Robert Roy Award by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers.
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents
Improving Second Language Teaching through Action Research
Presenters: Dr. Roswita Dressler
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Teachers have questions about their teaching, but don’t often have the time to engage in systematic research to discover answers. A colleague and I have been working with a group of six German – English Bilingual program teachers for four years to investigate how to promote the learning of German in an elementary school. Our initial work introduced a teaching approach intended to foster oral development – the Neurolinguistic Approach – designed by Joan Netten and Claude Germain for a specific second language program, the French Intensive program. Our work with the teachers allowed them to expand the approach to a different format (three sets of two Intensive weeks) and across a wider range of students (Kindergarten – sixth grade). We are now shifting our focus to the reading phase of the literacy loop within the approach. A lack of resources is a common complaint and the most obvious stumbling block for these teachers to provide a strong focus on reading print and digital resources. To overcome aspects of this stumbling block, we are innovating in the area of text leveling for German children’s books, an aspect we take for granted in English, but has not been practically applied in German schools. This talk will inform teachers and future teachers about second language teaching innovations that can improve second language teaching focusing on oral language development and the promotion of reading in the target language.
Free Registration
Free registration by e-mail to TESOL@umbc.edu
Dr. Roswita Dressler is an Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Her research examines Second Language Teaching and Learning. She is a former teacher of German and French as Second Language (FSL) in Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia. In 2020, she was awarded the Robert Roy Award by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers.
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program presents
An Insiders Guide to Fulbright and UMBC’s TESOL International Partnerships
Presenters: Dr. Jiyoon Lee, Dr. Brian Souders, Leah Ginty, and Mike Shapiro
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Did you know that UMBC TESOL students have won the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student scholarship to teach English overseas? What about our TESOL program international partnerships to complete your MA TESOL non-certification internship?
If you’re interested in learning more about applying for a Fulbright U.S. Student award or in completing your non-certification internship abroad, join us for a conversation with Dr. Lee, Dr. Souders, Leah and Mike that will address questions you may have.
Dr. Jiyoon Lee is the international coordinator of the UMBC TESOL program. She manages international partnerships and closely works with the program’s international students. She advises those who are interested in teaching abroad for their non-certification internship as well as their future employment. She has also served as a reviewer for the English Language Fellow Program at Fulbright.
Dr. Brian Souders has mentored hundreds of UMBC students with their applications for Fulbright and other global scholarships in his role as UMBC’s Associate Director for Global Engagement Opportunities. He has also served as a reviewer for the Fulbright English Language Assistant Program. He has worked in UMBC’s Center for Global Engagement for more than two decades, supporting their global plans to study, research or teach overseas.
Leah Ginty received a 2019-2020 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award to Benin, where she co-taught English lessons with local teachers in secondary schools, English clubs, and U.S. embassy-sponsored programs. She earned an M.A. in TESOL with PreK-12 certification from UMBC in 2019. In 2016, she earned an M.A. in French Literature from Boston College, where she had been a French teaching fellow and research travel grantee. She graduated from UMBC in 2014 with a major in MLLI (French), a certificate in Gender + Women’s Studies, and a minor in music. She currently teaches ESOL 1 at White Oak Middle School in Montgomery County.
Mike Schapiro has a M.A. in TESOL from UMBC and a B.A. degrees in Spanish Language and Literature and Communication from the University of Maryland College Park. In Spring 2020, he completed a scholarship with the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in Colombia, teaching English to vocational high school students. He has also taught in Costa Rica, community colleges, and the Washington University of Virginia. Currently, he is teaching math to ESOL students at White Oak Middle School in Montgomery County.
An Intimate Conversation with P-12 ESOL Teachers at Different Stages of their Careers
A virtual session sponsored by the TESOL club
Presenters: Monica Ivy, Katherine Kirsch, Noora Mahmassani and Sarah Gawens
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Are you planning to teach in a public school? If so, you don’t want to miss this opportunity to hear what it’s really like teaching in the field from four ESOL teachers at different stages of their careers.
Monica Ivy is an ESOL teacher at Burleigh Manor Middle School, Howard County. She has been teaching since 1997 in varying capacities. Monica has
experience as a classroom teacher (4th- 5th grades) and as an ESOL teacher at the Preschool, Elementary, Middle and Adult levels. She is currently mentoring teachers and facilitating adolescents’ literacy. She got her M.A.Ed in Literacy as a Reading Specialist at Loyola University Maryland and her M.A.Ed in Curriculum & Instruction specializing in Multicultural/Multilingual Education at George Mason University.
Katherine Kirsch graduated from UMBC in 2017, with a MA in TESOL. This is her 6th year as an ESOL teacher at Jackson Road Elementary School in Montgomery County. After two years teaching in Kindergarten, second and third grades, Katherine migrated to upper elementary, where she loves working with the older students. Teaching is Katherine’s second career, having spent a dozen years in the labor movement.
Noora Mahmassani is a 2019 graduate of UMBC’s MA TESOL Program. Noora started her teaching career with two years as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Mexico City, Mexico. This is her fourth year as a Middle School ESOL teacher with Baltimore County Public Schools. She has hosted a UMBC student intern, written ESOL curriculum for BCPS, taught BCPS’s pilot bilingual summer school program, and currently teaches evening adult ESL classes with the Esperanza Center.
Sarah Gawens is in her first year as an ESOL teacher at Sargent Shriver Elementary in Silver Spring, MD. She previously was a volunteer ESL instructor and tutor for the Frederick County Literacy Council from 2018-2020 and the York County Literacy Council from 2015-2018. She was an adjunct ESL professor for Frederick Community College for the 2018-2019 academic year. Sarah holds a BA in Fine Arts from Mount St. Mary’s University and is now completing her MA TESOL with P-12 teaching certification at UMBC.
Breaking into Adult TESOL
A virtual session sponsored by the TESOL program
Presenters: Katie Edwards, Owen Silverman Andrews, Rachel Griggs, and Coleman Caldwell
Click here to view or download event flyer.
In “Breaking Into Adult TESOL”, four speakers share their experience going from students, to adjuncts, to specialists in Adult Education. The four presenters have gone down unexpected paths to end up in administrative positions. By hearing about the skills learned along the way, attendees will be able to identify new ways to stand out and seek out the education and opportunities that are sometimes hard to come by in Adult Education.
Katie Edwards is the Grant Program Coordinator at Howard Community College’s English Language Center. Katie has worked with instructors to develop rigorous and dynamic English curriculum, focusing on workplace skills and career training. Before venturing into adult education, she taught English at a Chinese university for two years and completed her K 12 ESOL internship. Katie received her Master’s in TESOL from UMBC in 2016.
Owen Silverman Andrews is the ELL Instructional Specialist at Anne Arundel Community College. In this role his responsibilities include curriculum and faculty professional development across AACC’s English for Academic Purposes, English Basic Skills, English for Specific Purposes, and Teaching English as a Second Language programs. He graduated from the UMBC MA TESOL program in 2016.
Rachel Rriggs is the ESL Instructional Specialist at Frederick Community College and a consultant for the EdTech Center at World Education. She specializes in the implementation of educational technology in TESOL and the integration of digital literacy. In 2015, Ms. Riggs earned her M.A. TESOL from The New School Ms. Riggs also has ten years of experience teaching English abroad and locally to children and adults in individual, group, and classroom settings.
Coleman Caldwell is the English Language Acquisition Instructional Specialist at Strong City Baltimore’s Adult Learning Center. He has been teaching at Strong City since 2018 and Howard Community College since 2019 . Coleman started his ESL career tutoring Burmese warehouse workers in 2017 and later earned the 100 hour TESOL certification from Oxford Seminars in 2018. He completed his MA TESOL at Notre Dame of Maryland University in 2020. Coleman is an active member of MD TESOL as a life long learner and presenter.
Decolonizing Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents a Virtual Session in Celebration of International Education Week
Presenter: Angel M. Y. Lin
Click here to view or download event flyer.
In this presentation, I seek to deconstruct the discourses that naturalize and normalize what we call “postcolonial desires for colonial English” (Lin & Motha, 2021), a phenomenon observed in many officially post-colonial or independent societies as well as in contexts themselves considered (former) imperial powers. We do this first by tracing the historical origins of the gradual inscription of such desires upon the subjectivities and cultural imaginaries of the colonized by analyzing the historical processes of imperialism and colonialism, and the cultural and psychological aftermath of such processes. I conclude by outlining what is needed to interrupt the working of the effects of these processes at the level of subjectivity and cultural imaginary, as well as at the micro and macro levels of critical analysis and intervention in TESOL.
Reference
Lin, A. M. Y., & Motha, S. (2021). “Curses in TESOL”: Postcolonial desires for colonial English. In R. Arber, M. Weinmann, & J. Blackmore (Eds.), Rethinking languages education: Directions, challenges and innovations (pp. 15-35). Routledge.
Angel M. Y. Lin received her doctoral degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, in 1996. Her research and teaching have focused on classroom discourse analysis, bilingual plurilingual education, academic literacies, language across the curriculum, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), translanguaging and trans-semiotizing. She has published six research books and over 100 research articles and book chapters. She serves on the editorial boards of international research journals including Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, and Language and Education. In 2018, Angel Lin moved from the University of Hong Kong to Simon Fraser University to take up the position of Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Plurilingual and Intercultural Education.
An insider’s guide to Fulbright and the English Language Fellow Programs
The UMBC Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Program Presents a Virtual Session in Celebration of International Education Week
Presenters: Dr. Brian Souders, Leah Ginty, and Matthew Gleason
Click here to view or download event flyer.
If you are interested in learning more about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program or the English Language Fellow Program to teach English overseas, join us for a conversation with Leah, Brian, and Matthew. They will discuss important issues, such as:
• How do I decide which country and/or award type to apply for?
• What are a grantee’s day to day responsibilities?
• What are the steps of the application process?
• What should I do now to have a competitive application?
Dr. Brian Souders has worked with hundreds of UMBC students, alumni and faculty on a wide portfolio of Fulbright programs. An alumnus of both the Language, Literacy and Culture Program and the TESOL master’s program, he has served as UMBC’s Fulbright Program Advisor for more than a decade. He currently serves as Associate Director of Global Engagement Opportunities in the Center for Global Engagement.
Leah Ginty is an alumna of the 2019-2020 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. As an English teaching assistant in Benin, she co taught English in secondary schools, English clubs, and U.S. embassy sponsored programs. Leah earned an M.A. in TESOL with PreK 12 certification from UMBC in 2019. She currently teaches ESL at White Oak Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Matthew Gleason served as an English Language Fellow in the Philippines from 2018 to 2020. He received his MA in TESOL in 2018 An AmeriCorps alumnus, he completed a year of national service through UMBC’s Choice Program, in which he mentored high risk youth in homes, schools, juvenile courts, and local communities. He is currently in his second year as a TEFL Advisor for Fulbright Taiwan’s English Teaching Assistant Program.
Thursday, October 28, 2021 | 7:15p – 8:15p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
Challenges, lessons learned, and resources from online teaching and learning during COVID-19
A peer mentorship workshop sponsored by the TESOL club
Presenters Antoinette Irons and Kate Zimmerman
Antoinette Irons is a West Indian Jamaican 7th grade ESOL teacher at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring, MD. Before her current position, she worked 4 years as a paraeducator at Eastern Middle School, 3 years in Special Education and 1 year in ESOL. For the period of January to May 2021, she completed her internship at Eastern Middle School online. In August 2021, she graduated from the MA TESOL program at UMBC
Kate Zimmerman is a bilingual educator at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, MD, where she was born and raised. She began her career in education at the age of 26 as a paraeducator and endeavored to earn a Master’s degree and certification in TESOL at UMBC.
Monday, September 27, 2021 | 4:30p – 5:30p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
English Language Careers at the U.S. State Department
A conversation with Kate Bain
Kate Bain is currently the Global Program Officer for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN) Program at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of English Language Programs (OELP), in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since 2016 when she joined the OELP team, she has also served as a Senior Digital Media Strategist and been involved in domestic outreach and social media. Prior to that, she served as Manager of Online Projects at Georgetown University’s Center for Intercultural and Educational Development. Kate also taught at Georgetown University’s Intensive English Program, after serving for two years as a U.S. Department of State English Language Fellow in Barranquilla, Colombia. She began her career as a K 12 ESOL teacher and teacher mentor in Baltimore. She holds a Master’s of Reading Education from Towson University, a Bachelor’s of Arts in ESL Education from the University of Northwestern, and a Certificate of Social Media Management from Georgetown University.
Friday, April 23, 2021 | Noon – 1p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
English in a Multilingual World
A conversation with Constant Leung and Francis Hult
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Tuesday, April 27 2021 | 7p – 8p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
Tips on Taking the ESOL Praxis Exam
Presenters Sarah Gawens and BB Kim
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Are you planning to take the ESOL Praxis?
Sarah Gawens has been a volunteer ESL instructor and tutor for the Frederick County Literacy Council since 2018 and previously volunteered
for the York County Literacy Council from 2015-2018. She was an adjunct ESL professor for Frederick Community College for the 2018-2019 school year. Sarah completed and passed the ESOL Praxis (5362) and Teaching Reading Elementary Praxis (5205) in the summer of 2020. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from Mount St. Mary’s University and is now completing her MA in TESOL with K-12 initial teaching certification at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
BB Kim is an MA TESOL student pursuing the preK-12 teacher certification track at UMBC. She taught English at Daegu University in Korea for over seven years. She passed both ESOL Praxis (5362) and Teaching Reading Elementary Praxis (5205) in January 2021. She is in the process of applying to various counties in hopes of getting a conditional job offer. She has a BA in Speech from University of Hawaii and an MA in Communication from Hawaii Pacific University.
Wednesday, April 28 2021 | 7p – 8p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
Writing a Thesis with Current Thesis Students
Presenters Christina Crawford and Rida Neuhoff
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Thinking about doing the MA TESOL thesis option and full of questions about what to expect? Join us for this webinar hosted by the TESOL club with current MA TESOL Thesis students Christina Crawford and Rida Neuhoff. Christina began her thesis last spring and pivoted her intended study to deal with the challenges of the pandemic. She successfully passed her hearing in November and submitted the final version of her thesis, which examined the cultural contents of secondary ELT readings used in Austria, in March. Rida Neuhoff is in her first semester of thesis work and is preparing to carry out data collection on language learning in online communities. She is therefore working with IRB (the institutional review board) through the process of securing permission to carry out human subjects research. Both Christina and Rida will share their experiences, offer insights and answer questions from those who attend. This webinar will also be recorded.
Christina Crawford will be graduating in May 2021 with her MA TESOL + Thesis degree and graduate certificate in Instructional Systems Development. Christina works for the Department of Social Services at the Center for Family Success in Baltimore County as the Adult Education Instructor and Coordinator of the ESOL and Employment Readiness program. From 2014-2016 she taught English under the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program in Austria and continued teaching in higher education and K-8 until relocating to the US in 2020. In the world of TESOL, she is interested in program development, teacher training, and educational policy and equity.
Rida Neuhoff is at the tail end of her MA TESOL degree. As someone who desires to experience many different opportunities in her TESOL career, she has taken the degree path that will allow for a wide range of options, thus, in addition to the thesis, she is finishing up her internship for the P-12 certification. With only 3 classes to finish after this semester, Rida is hoping to start teaching in the public school in the fall of 2021 as a conditional hire while she finishes her degree. She hopes to eventually work with adult language learners, either domestically or abroad. Rida has plans to eventually pursue her Ph.D. and work at a university, training future English teachers.
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 | 7 – 8p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
An Intimate Conversation with Public School ESOL Teachers at Different Stages of their Careers
Hosted By: Joanne Amaro, Tema Encarnacion, Bridget Simmons
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Are you planning to teach in a public school?
If so, you don’t want to miss this opportunity to hear what it’s really like teaching in the field from three ESOL teachers at different stages of their careers.
Tema Encarnacion is an educator of multilingual students at Annapolis High School. She previously supported the ESOL program in Baltimore County Public Schools as the ESOL specialist and has worked with immigrant students and families in various capacities in Anne Arundel County Public Schools. After graduating from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, where she studied International Affairs and Spanish, Tema served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Upon returning from overseas, Tema completed her master’s degree in TESOL at the Notre Dame of Maryland University and has been working with immigrant students and families for the last 20 years. She is passionate about mitigating inequities for immigrant students and families and has co-founded the non-profit, The Chesapeake Language Project which aims to increase educational access for immigrant students.
Bridget Simmons is an alumna of the M.A. TESOL program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication. In the years leading up to teaching, she has volunteered locally at the Education Based Latino Outreach and the Esperanza Center as well as overseas teaching English classes at the Centro Boliviano Americano in Cochabamba, Bolivia and You Can Camp in Bergamo, Italy. In addition to these volunteer positions, she served on the Maryland TESOL board as the graduate student chair and interned at the English Language Institute at UMBC. She is currently an elementary ESOL teacher at Baltimore Highlands Elementary, developing and implementing lessons for 1st, 2nd, and 5th grade with a majority Spanish speaking population of students.
Wednesday, April 7th, 2021 | 7 – 8p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
An insider’s guide to Fulbright for English Teachers
Hosted By: Dr. Brain Souders, Christina Crawford, Leah Ginty, Mike Schapiro
Click here to view or download event flyer.
Did you know that UMBC has been named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution? If you’re interested in applying for a Fulbright U.S. Student award to teach English, conduct research, or pursue graduate studies overseas, join us for a conversation that will address questions you may have, such as: How do I decide which country and/or award type to apply for? What are the steps of the application process? What activities should I get involved with now to have a competitive application? What should I emphasize in my application essays? What are the grantee’s day to day responsibilities in their host country?
Dr. Brian Souders has worked with hundreds of UMBC students on their applications for Fulbright and other prestigious scholarships. He has also served on the executive board of the National Association of Fellowships Advisors, the professional organization of fellowship advisors. He attended two intensive Russian language study programs in Moscow, and worked for a year in Tallinn, Estonia as a research affiliate with the Estoniana Academy of Sciences under the auspices of the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) graduate fellowship program.
Christina Crawford will be graduating in May 2021 with her MA TESOL degree (with thesis) and graduate certificate in Instructional Systems Development. She works for the Department of Social Services at the Center for Family Success in Baltimore County as the Adult Education Instructor and Coordinator of the ESOL and Employment Readiness program. From 2014 2016 she taught English under the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program in Austria and continued teaching in higher education and K 8 until relocating to the US in 2020. In the world of TESOL, she is interested in program development, teacher training, and educational policy and equity.
Leah Ginty is an alumna of the 2019 2020 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. As an English teaching assistant in Benin, she co taught English lessons with local teachers in secondary schools, English clubs, and U.S. embassy sponsored programs. Leah earned an M.A. in TESOL with PreK 12 certification from UMBC in 2019. In 2016, she earned an M.A. in French Literature from Boston College, where she had been a French teaching fellow and research travel grantee. She graduated from UMBC summa cum laude in 2014 with a major in MLLI (French), a certificate in Gender + Women’s Studies, and a minor in music.
Mike Schapiro has a M.A. in TESOL from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish Language and Literature and Communication from the University of Maryland College Park. In Spring 2020, he completed a scholarship with the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Program in Colombia, South America, during which he taught English to vocational high school students. He has also taught in Costa Rica, community colleges, and the Washington University of Virginia. Currently, he is teaching math to ESOL students at White Oak Middle School in Montgomery County. In addition, Mike teaches ESOL to Spanish speakers for the nonprofit Identity and teaches math to fifth grade ESOL students for the George B. Thomas Saturday School program.
Tuesday, March 30th, 2021 | 7 – 8p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
An insider’s guide on preparing a competitive public school job application
Hosted By: Charlene Durant & Nylca Vandillen | Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Are you planning to work as a public-school teacher after graduation? If so, join us to learn more about what to expect when applying for a preK-12 teaching job and tips for how to prepare a strong application.
Charlene Durant is a graduate of Anne Arundel County Public Schools. She started her career as a secretary in AACPS then worked as an assistant in the human resources department. She has been a recruiter for various content areas in AACPS for the past six years. Her goal is to help individuals find their path and purpose. It brings her joy to connect candidates with their dream job.
Nylca Vandillen has a BA in Psychology and an MA in Organizational Management. She worked as a technical recruiter in the Silicon Valley for 15 years. She has worked in many roles in AACPS; she taught Spanish for seven years, worked with magnet students coordinating internship requirements, and now works in human resources as a recruiter.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | 7 – 8p (est) – Online: Virtual Event hosted by the UMBC TESOL Club
Yoga and Massage | Hosted by Sara Clement
Click here to view or download event flyer
Sara will present techniques for self massage and gentle yoga-inspired stretches to help ease stress and relieve those common ailments that sneak up on us from inactivity. Specifically, she will address neck, back and shoulders, low back and hips, and hands and wrists.
No yoga mat required. Helpful to have a tennis ball, a medium to large bath towel, and a belt or yoga strap.
Sara Clement is a MA TESOL student and currently working as the department’s graduate research assistant part time. Among Sara’s many teaching experiences over the years, two include yoga and massage therapy. Hoping to graduate in the spring of 2022, Sara has the intention to take her family abroad and teach English as a foreign language for a bit before pursuing a Ph.D.
Thursday, February 25, 2021 | 4:30p – 5:30p (est) – Online: Free Webinar
Understanding and Using K-12 English Language Proficiency Assessments to Promote Beneficial Outcomes for English Learners
Presenter: Ahyoung Alicia Kim
Click here to view or download event flyer.
English learners (ELs) comprise over 10% of the total K-12 population in the U.S. As part of the federal policy (Every Student Succeeds Act) to support ELs, they are assessed, identified, and placed in language instruction educational programs. Therefore, assessing ELs is an integral part of supporting ELs.
This talk focuses on WIDA ACCESS for ELLs (in short ACCESS), an English language proficiency assessment used across 40 U.S. states and territories, including Maryland. The presentation will begin by describing what ACCESS measures—English language development standards in the four language domains of listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Next, we will learn about how students’ responses are scored across the four language domains and presented on score reports. The talk will conclude by suggesting how educators could use ACCESS scores to promote beneficial outcomes for ELs. To appropriately use ACCESS scores, educators should accurately interpret test scores. In addition, educators need to be informed regarding appropriate decisions they can make using the scores, and the potential consequences of their decisions on student outcomes.
Dr. Ahyoung Alicia Kim is a researcher at WIDA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she conducts validation research of ACCESS for ELLs and other WIDA language assessments. Her research interests include language assessment, child bilingualism, second language literacy development, and computer-assisted language learning. Prior to joining WIDA, Dr. Kim was a post-doctoral fellow with a focus on child bilingualism at Cornell University. She has also led research on large-scale English proficiency exams at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea. Over the years, she has taught TESOL and ESL courses in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Kim holds an Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics and an Ed.M. in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Restorative Practices for English Learners At-risk in the Time of COVID-19
Presenter: Madelaine Pella Schwartz
In the time of a historic pandemic, ESOL educators across the globe have had to engage with new online learning platforms. Many have been forced to quickly learn and adapt to tools that they have rarely used, immersing themselves in the unique world of distance learning. Do we know if our ESOL students are fully ready and able to meet us there? This webinar will focus on five tools for keeping online teaching simple, meaningful, and engaging during the time of a crisis.
Ms. Schwartz is originally from Lima, Peru. She has taught EFL for 25 years and has accumulated 10 more years of international/local experience in every educational setting from K-12 to the graduate level here in the US. Ms. Schwartz is a practitioner that has led numerous educational partnerships, including the UMBC-UDEP educational partnership, and has advocated for many populations at-risk locally and internationally. She has presented on topics such as Academic Writing for Language Learners At-risk for the Fulbright Commission in Lima, Peru; served as a translator/copy editor for the Communications Officer (Peru and UNDP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) international taskforce team during the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” efforts in Lima, Peru during the time of post-terrorism (Sendero Luminoso); presented for CAL on the topic of “Teaching Voices” during Coronavirus in March; and led and launched initiatives on presentations on “Restorative Practices for English Learners At-risk” with a team of educators for MDTESOL as one of the chairs of the steering committee. She holds advanced certificates in Human Counseling and is currently enrolled at Harvard University completing her certificate in Educational Administration and Supervision in order to aspire to become a Principal. Ms. Schwartz is currently teaching ESOL for the Baltimore City Public School System in a low-income section of Baltimore city. Ms. Schwartz is a proud UMBC M.A. TESOL ’10 alumna.
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