Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Meet the Experts
Colorín Colorado and the American Federation of Teachers present a new series of podcasts, featuring interviews with leaders in the English language learner (ELL) education field from across the country. Topics covered range from ELLs in preschool to improving ELLs' graduation rates, as well as multicultural children's literature and professional development ideas for teachers.
Educators, administrators, researchers, librarians, and advocates for ELLs will find these engaging and informative interviews to be a wonderful resource for launching group discussions about ELL education.
Visit the Meet the Experts page on iTunes to download the podcasts or subscribe to this podcast series. (See About Podcasts and Videostreaming for more details).
Rebecca Palacios
To learn more about Rebecca Palacios, view:
Dr. Rebecca Palacios has been a pre-Kindergarten teacher in Corpus Christi, Texas, for more than thirty years. She's now a dual-language pre-kindergarten teacher at Zavala Special Emphasis School and holds certification from the prestigious National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, on which she also serves as the Vice Chair. She has received numerous prestigious awards and honors for being an outstanding educator from nationwide organizations.
She's served as an adjunct professor, has led delegations of educators abroad to learn about foreign education systems, and currently serves on the AFT's nationwide advisory task force on English language learners. Dr. Palacios holds degrees from Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi and the University of Texas at Austin.
Catalina Fortino
Catalina R. Fortino is a field liaison for New York City's United Federation of Teachers Teacher Center. As a liaison, Ms. Fortino coordinates professional development for schools servicing English language learners. A staff member for the Center for the past 17 years, Ms. Fortino previously served as a teacher of bilingual early childhood special education and as a bilingual educational evaluator in New York City public schools before entering the field of professional development.
Ms. Fortino served as the Chair of the New York State United Teachers committee on English language learners and is presently the chair of the United Federation of Teachers Task Force on English language learners. Ms. Fortino has also been an adjunct instructor in the City University of New York Literacy Certificate Program. She coordinated the initial New York City School Support Teams for Chapter 1 Schoolwide Projects as well as institutes on social issues impacting our children and youth.
Frances Contreras
Dr. Frances Contreras is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in the College of Education in Leadership and Policy Studies. Dr. Contreras presently researches issues of equity and access for underrepresented students in the education pipeline. She addresses transitions between K-12 and higher education, community college transfer, faculty diversity, affirmative action in higher education and the role of the public policy arena in higher education access for underserved students of color.
Dr. Contreras has conducted research using the College Board Data on Latino high achievers in the United States, and data on the UC system using individual applicant and admission profiles at select UC Campuses. She has recently completed a manuscript with P. Gandara, "The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies," (Harvard University Press).
In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Contreras serves on the Board of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, the Journal of Advanced Academics, and has been appointed by Mayor Nickels as a member of the Families and Education Levy Oversight Committee for the City of Seattle. Dr. Contreras received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Educational Administration & Policy Analysis, Master of Education from Harvard University, and B.A. from University of California, Berkeley.
Jesus Cortez
In this podcast, Dr. Cortez outlines effective reading and writing instruction methods for ELLS. His handout is available here:
Dr. Jesus Cortez has taught at California State University, Chico for the past twenty-six years. He served as CSU, Chico's Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Studies for 16 years, and was named California State University, Chico Outstanding Professor 1992-93. Dr. Cortez currently teaches courses in Reading, Multicultural Children's Literature, and Literacy for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations.
In addition, Dr. Cortez, a former elementary and secondary school teacher, has worked as a consultant on issues of Literacy and Multicultural Literature at both the state and federal level, advising the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, University of California, Santa Cruz, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs, the U.S. Research and Evaluation Committee, the U.S. National Head Start Bureau, the California State Department of Education, and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Currently Dr. Cortez serves on two national committees for International Reading Association (IRA): Teachers' Choices and Children's Choices, joint projects for IRA that identifies and rewards exemplary literature in the field. Dr. Cortez is frequently featured at national events, conferences, and professional development workshops as an expert in the education of the linguistically and culturally diverse student populations.
Thank you for all of the information and support that you offer on your website, which is so helpful for parents and professionals.
~ Beth
