Conference on Instruction for Multilingual Advancement (CIMA) Emergent Bilingual Learners Conference is back on January 20, 2027! This event is designed for educators teaching Emergent Bilingual students in Bilingual and ESL programs. Engage with keynote speakers and attend presentations by teachers and experts who will provide actionable strategies and insights. By the end of the day, you’ll feel ready to improve learning outcomes for all students acquiring languages.
Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld
Keynote description
This keynote invites participants to explore how scaffolding can be used to support and celebrate the many gifts of multilingual learners. The presenter will offer a framework for planning, instruction, assessment, and reflection, focusing on a widely recognized process—scaffolding—which supports the linguistic and academic development of multilingual learners in grades K–12. Drawing on classroom examples and authentic research-based practices, the keynote will emphasize how scaffolded supports can amplify multilingual learners’ strengths and ensure full access to meaningful, rigorous instruction.
Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld is a professor emerita at Molloy University, NY, where she taught graduate courses related to cultural and linguistic diversity. She is an author/consultant, and sought-after national and international speaker, whose work primarily focuses on teacher collaboration and content and language integration in support of multilingual learners. She is the coauthor/coeditor of over 35 books, 14 of them national best-sellers.
Guest Speaker: Nancy Motley
Session description: Small Moves, Big Gains
Small moves are brief, actionable, and low-to-no prep, and author Nancy Motley has many to share. Join her as she demonstrates how any teacher can achieve big gains with multilingual learners by simply making a small move. She will also highlight how to turn any small move into an automatic habit.
Nancy Motley is the Chief Learning & Innovation Officer and a senior educational consultant for Seidlitz Education, specializing in building capacity among teachers, specifically supporting literacy and language development. For the past two decades her work with teachers, schools, and districts has centered around increasing students’ success with straightforward and actionable strategies. She is widely known for her user-friendly approach.
Nancy is the author of Small moves, big gains: Teacher habits that help kids to talk more, think more and achieve more, and Talk, read, talk, write: A practical routine for learning in all content areas (K–12), 1st and 2nd editions. She is also the co-author of The diverse learner flip book. When she is not writing, she is traveling the nation to support coaches and teachers through job embedded professional development focused on meeting the needs of multilingual learners, magnifying student engagement, and increasing reading, writing, and communication skills for all students.
Nancy’s previous educational roles include: classroom teacher, reading specialist, intervention program coordinator, professional development instructor, and curriculum developer.
Because of her dynamic approach to teaching and learning, she was awarded the Alief Independent School District’s Teacher of the Year Award in 2003. Her passion for and commitment to education is still just as evident today as she trains and coaches teachers, collaborates with leadership, and creates new educational resources.
She holds a Masters of Arts in Counseling that she uses to help teachers build strong, authentic connections with their students. Nancy lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two wonderful daughters.
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