CIMA 2021: Conference on Instruction for Multilingual Advancement

Want to grab a discount on your CIMA attendance? We've got three tiers of early bird discounts for those that register in advance for our conference. Discounts are applied during the registration process in ecampus.

1. Early Bird: Now through Jan 15th with discount code CIMA140
2. Right on Time: Jan 16th through Feb 5th with discount code CIMA160
3. Just in Time: Feb 6th through Feb 19th with discount code CIMA180

Lorena Germán

Lorena is a Dominican American educator focused on anti racist and anti bias education. She’s a two time nationally awarded educator and has been featured in the New York Times, NCTE journals, ASCD, EdWeek, and more. She published The Anti Racist Teacher: Reading Instruction Workbook, and is currently working on a book with Heinemann (2021) about curriculum development focused on social justice. She’s a co-founder of #DisruptTexts and The Multicultural Classroom and Chair of NCTE’s Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English. Lorena lives in Austin, Texas where she is a mami and wife- two of her most important roles.

Keynote Description

What does it mean to teach young people language and literacy in a way that leads to positive social transformation? While there is so much buzz around teaching for equity and doing anti racist work in education, not too many of us educators know what that means in practice. Through this keynote, we will explore the why and how for teaching through and for racial justice. You will learn about a stance that can support your work, a framework to design your content, and strategies for implementing these ideas with students. My hope for us is that we can end our time together with a series of tools to bring back to our classrooms that will equip our students to be the justice-oriented leaders we need them to be.

Dr. Edith Treviño

Dr. Edith Treviño, also known as “Dr ET” is a dynamic presenter, self-taught edtech, storyteller, author, advocate of language, wife, mother, friend, and passionate educator who lives and teaches in La Frontera. Dr. ET is an immigrant from Coahuila Mexico, and as a resident alien proudly served in the United States Army Reserves. Dr. ET resides with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. Dr. ET is the Dreamer In Chief of Dr. ET & Company, LLC.

ET holds a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Bilingual Studies from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Master of Education degree from Sul Ross State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania.

The Cinco Super Powers of Bilingualism

This session will cover the Cinco (5) gifts of being bilingual. This will be a fun and innovative session which will empower bilingual teachers with the mindset and self efficacy that is needed in bilingual education. Within the five gifts, also exists the power that we unleash within our own students.

Marie Douglass

Marie Douglass is the Round Rock ISD World Language K-12 and Secondary ESL Coordinator in Round Rock, Texas. She is a National Board certified teacher and taught French (levels I- AP and IB) and Spanish (Levels I & II) for 19 years in middle school and high school settings. She was a Department Chair for 12 years on various campuses. She has served on the 2013-2014 review committee for the LOTE Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills with the Texas Education Agency.

She has served on the Executive Board of the Texas Foreign Language Association (TFLA) as president elect, president, and past president. She has also served as the SWCOLT (Southwest Conference on Language Teaching) representative for the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign languages (NADSFL). She currently serves as the current President-Elect of the Texas Association for Language Supervision (TALS).

Teaching World Languages through the lens of Social justice with

In this session, attendees will learn about the reason for inclusion of social justice instruction in the world language classroom. They will also explore how social justice education connects with the standards and skills that frame world language education today.

Dr. Maneka D. Brooks

Dr. Maneka D. Brooks is an associate professor of reading education at Texas State University who is committed to collaborating with teachers, schools, and communities create meaningful literacy learning environments for linguistically and culturally diverse students. At Texas State University, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on literacy and diversity. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she conducts research that focuses on literacy development of bilingual adolescents.

Her research has been published in Journal of Literacy Research, TESOL Quarterly, The High School Journal, and other venues. When she is not working with teachers at the Texas State, Dr. Brooks serves as a consultant for various projects with school districts and education-related organizations. Dr. Brooks earned her PhD in Educational Linguistics from Stanford University Graduate School of Education, a M.A. in Secondary Bilingual Education and B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from Loyola Marymount University.

Cultivating A Multilingual Classroom: The Importance of Text Selection for LTELs

Research highlights the importance of supporting students' cultural identity within literacy instruction. In this session, I will discuss the use of non-English texts in English only instructional context as a resource for content area instruction and to create an inclusive environment for bilingual adolescents. Educators will leave this talk with knowledge about the implications of dynamic bilingualism for content area learning and with strategies to integrate English and non-English texts for content area instruction that engages all of students' linguistic abilities.

This session has a specific focus on meeting the needs and strengths of students identified as LTELs; however, it is useful for educators of bilingual and multilingual adolescents broadly.

Session title	Time	Content Strand
Keynote Speaker: Lorena German Through this keynote, we will explore the why and how for teaching through and for racial justice. You will learn about a stance that can support your work, a framework to design your content, and strategies for implementing these ideas with students.	3:00 PM - 4:30 PM	Bilingual, LOTE, ESL
Uso de textos culturalmente relevantes para contextualizar los componentes de la lecture En esta sesión los participantes entenderán cómo utilizar textos culturalmente relevantes como textos mentores para enseñar las destrezas de la lectura desde la fonética hasta la escritura. Se compartirá un ejemplo de una lección.	5:00 PM - 5:55 PM	Bilingual
Community Connections in the Age of COVID In this session, learn about the development of embedded service-learning programs for third year Spanish students, and for ESOL Methodology students. Tracey's Spanish students have been working with children enrolled in Bilingual Education at a local Primary School for two years.	5:00 PM - 5:55 PM	LOTE
Equitable Communication for Families of English Learners with Talking Points How do we ensure all parents are seeing and understanding your school and classroom communication? Many families do not interact with email regularly and may be missing important information. In this session, we will learn how to effectively use the text messaging app Talking Points with translation support and discuss best practices when communicating with families of EL students.	5:00 PM - 5:55 PM	ESL

Session Descriptions

Keynote Speaker: Lorena German

What does it mean to teach young people language and literacy in a way that leads to positive social transformation? While there is so much buzz around teaching for equity and doing anti racist work in education, not too many of us educators know what that means in practice. Through this keynote, we will explore the why and how for teaching through and for racial justice. You will learn about a stance that can support your work, a framework to design your content, and strategies for implementing these ideas with students. My hope for us is that we can end our time together with a series of tools to bring back to our classrooms that will equip our students to be the justice-oriented leaders we need them to be.

Uso de textos culturalmente relevantes para contextualizar los componentes de la lecture

En esta sesión los participantes entenderán cómo utilizar textos culturalmente relevantes como textos mentores para enseñar las destrezas de la lectura desde la fonética hasta la escritura. Se compartirá un ejemplo de una lección.

Community Connections in the Age of COVID

In this session, learn about the development of embedded service-learning programs for third year Spanish students, and for ESOL Methodology students. Tracey's Spanish students have been working with children enrolled in Bilingual Education at a local Primary School for two years. Spanish students apply their oral language proficiency skills, support local teachers, and develop an understanding and appreciation for bilingual/multilingual education. The weekly service-learning program is dubbed BRILLA: Bilingual Readiness through Interaction, Language, Literacy and Alliances. Tracey's ESOL Methodology students partner in conversation and in cultural exchange with ESOL students in China and Vietnam. In the Summer/Fall 2020, these projects went forward virtually. Be inspired to get your students out into the community, virtually or in-person, to engage with heritage or native speakers of the target language!

Equitable Communication for Families of English Learners with Talking Points

How do we ensure all parents are seeing and understanding your school and classroom communication? Many families do not interact with email regularly and may be missing important information. In this session, we will learn how to effectively use the text messaging app Talking Points with translation support and discuss best practices when communicating with families of EL students.

Session title	Time	Content Strand
The Cinco Super Powers of Bilingualism ESL Featured Speaker: Dr. Edith Treviño This session will cover the Cinco (5) gifts of being bilingual. This will be a fun and innovative session which will empower bilingual teachers with the mindset and self efficacy that is needed in bilingual education. Within the five gifts, also exists the power that we unleash within our own students.	3:00 PM - 3:55 PM	Bilingual
Teaching World Languages through the lens of Social Justice LOTE Featured Speaker: Marie Douglass In this session, attendees will learn about the reason for inclusion of social justice instruction in the world language classroom. They will also explore how social justice education connects with the standards and skills that frame world language education today.	3:00 PM - 3:55 PM	LOTE
Cultivating a Multilingual Classroom: The Importance of Text Selection for LTELs ESL Featured Speaker: Dr. Maneka Brooks Research highlights the importance of supporting students' cultural identity within literacy instruction. In this session, I will discuss the use of non-English texts in English only instructional context as a resource for content area instruction and to create an inclusive environment for bilingual adolescents.	3:00 PM - 3:55 PM	ESL
What's going on? Secondary Dual Language in AISD Pedro Gonzales We invite DL teachers and administrators to come and hear what AISD's secondary Dual Language program looks like in upper grades as it reaches 12th grade. The districts secondary DL coordinator will share videos, student work, and anecdotes to inspire conversation and reflection.	4:00 PM - 4:55 PM	Bilingual
Equity Literacy Lydia Torres This session provides Equity opportunities with ideas for "LITERACY and Language" while embracing social justice awareness with student participation.	4:00 PM - 4:55 PM	LOTE
Additive Bilingualism within ESL Programs Carlene Thomas How can educators support a positive bilingual identity for ELs participating in an ESL program? Join this interactive discussion on effective methods for integrating and valuing primary language within ESL programs.	4:00 PM - 4:55 PM	ESL
Using PVR and CLC to Support Language Acquisition Damaris Free In this session, participants will learn the teaching strategies of Preview, View, Review (PVR) and Cross-Linguistic Connection (CLC) and how they can be used to help our students leverage their first language to support their acquisition of a second language.	5:00 PM - 5:55 PM	Bilingual
Cultural Competence: Fostering the 5th Language Skill in the WL Classroom Blanca Badillo In this session, participants will explore culturally-responsive teaching practices for increasing learners’ cultural competence and empathy towards others. The focus will be on purposeful use of technology to achieve this goal, which will also enhance classroom climate and students’ sense of belonging.	5:00 PM - 5:55 PM	LOTE
The Future of Biliteracy: Adapting Proven Literacy Strategies to Empower English Learners in the Virtual Classroom Pamela Harvey This course will help educators learn virtual strategies to deepen students' understanding of texts so that they can make meaningful connections with the content and increase their English reading and writing skills, even when not physically in the classroom.	5:00 PM - 5:55 PM	ESL

Session Descriptions

The Cinco Super Powers of Bilingualism

This session will cover the Cinco (5) gifts of being bilingual. This will be a fun and innovative session which will empower bilingual teachers with the mindset and self efficacy that is needed in bilingual education. Within the five gifts, also exists the power that we unleash within our own students.

Teaching World Languages through the lens of Social Justice

In this session, attendees will learn about the reason for inclusion of social justice instruction in the world language classroom. They will also explore how social justice education connects with the standards and skills that frame world language education today.

Cultivating a Multilingual Classroom: The Importance of Text Selection for LTELs

Research highlights the importance of supporting students' cultural identity within literacy instruction. In this session, I will discuss the use of non-English texts in English only instructional context as a resource for content area instruction and to create an inclusive environment for bilingual adolescents. Educators will leave this talk with knowledge about the implications of dynamic bilingualism for content area learning and with strategies to integrate English and non-English texts for content area instruction that engages all of students' linguistic abilities. This session has a specific focus on meeting the needs and strengths of students identified as LTELs; however, it is useful for educators of bilingual and multilingual adolescents broadly.

What's going on? Secondary Dual Language in AISD

We invite DL teachers and administrators to come and hear what AISD's secondary Dual Language program looks like in upper grades as it reaches 12th grade. The districts secondary DL coordinator will share videos, student work, and anecdotes to inspire conversation and reflection. Participants will leave with a clear picture of the importance of their role in elementary DL programming and how it supports a successful PreK-12 DL experience.

Equity Literacy

This session provides Equity opportunities with ideas for "LITERACY and Language" while embracing social justice awareness with student participation.

Additive Bilingualism within ESL Programs

How can educators support a positive bilingual identity for ELs participating in an ESL program? Join this interactive discussion on effective methods for integrating and valuing primary language within ESL programs. Let’s break down the myths that inhibit strong, additive practices for ESL programming, including instructional methods and classroom culture.

Cultural Competence: Fostering the 5th Language Skill in the WL Classroom

In this session, participants will explore culturally-responsive teaching practices for increasing learners’ cultural competence and empathy towards others. The focus will be on purposeful use of technology to achieve this goal, which will also enhance classroom climate and students’ sense of belonging. Participants will walk away with strategies they can implement right away in virtual or hybrid learning environments. #YouCantBloomWithoutMaslows

The Future of Biliteracy: Adapting Proven Literacy Strategies to Empower English Learners in the Virtual Classroom

This course will help educators learn virtual strategies to deepen students' understanding of texts so that they can make meaningful connections with the content and increase their English reading and writing skills, even when not physically in the classroom. Discussion will include tips for teaching annotation, searching for context clues, group and partner discussions, and online platforms that help facilitate learning. This course is designed for teachers of English language learners.

Using PVR and CLC to Support Language Acquisition

In this session, participants will learn the teaching strategies of Preview, View, Review (PVR) and Cross-Linguistic Connection (CLC) and how they can be used to help our students leverage their first language to support their acquisition of a second language. By walking through a lesson together, participants will gain an understanding of planning PVR and CLC lessons, and how these strategies fit in their daily schedule.