Featured Speakers
"Featured Speakers list will grow as we approach conference time"
Barbara Flores
is a teacher educator and professor at California State University, San Bernardino. For the past 15 years she has been engaged in collaborative action research with teachers and administrators in their implementation and transformation of whole language with culturally and linguistically diverse children. She coauthored Reading in a Bilingual Classroom: Literacy and Biliteracy with her mentors, Drs. Kent and Yetta Goodman, and has published various articles and chapters in journals and books.
Virginia Collier & Wayne Thomas
are researchers in the area of school effectiveness forlinguistically and culturally diverse students. Both
Collier and Thomas have worked with school districtsacross the country for the past 22 years. Their award winning national research has had substantial impact on school policies throughout the world. Collier and Thomas continue to provide leadership training for superintendents, principals and policy makers on the effectiveness of dual language enrichment education. Dr. Collier is Professor Emerita of Bilingual/Multicultural/ESL Education and Dr. Thomas is Professor Emeritus of Evaluation and Research Methodology at George Mason University.
is the nationally-touring and Boston Music Award winning Pan-Latin ensemble led by Puerto Rican/Argentine singer and bongo player Rosi Amador and New Mexican guitarist and composer Brian Amador. Featuring Rosi's crystalline voice, Brian's lush Spanish guitar, and virtuoso musicians from Uruguay, Perú, Panamá and Argentina on piano, winds, bass, and percussion, the sextet has established a reputation for their quirky original compositions that address matters of the heart, social and global aspiration, and for their unique and driving interpretations of contemporary Latin music.
Since 1994, Sol y Canto has brought audiences to their feet from the Kennedy Center to the White House, the California World Music Festival to Boston's Symphony Hall, Puerto Rico's Museo de Arte to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Boston Globe hails them "sublime ambassadors of the Pan-Latin tradition" and their many accolades include Best of Boston for Latin rhythms by Boston Magazine and Outstanding Latin Act by the Boston Music Awards.
Mary Capellini
taught in large urban schools as a bilingual elementary teacher, mentor teacher, and reading resource teacher for 12 years before also teaching at the college and university level. She is the author of Balancing Reading and Language Learni
ng: A Resource for Teaching English Language Learners, K-5 (2005), as well as the author of book chapters and articles and numerous bilingual children’s books. She works with schools and districts across the country improving the reading, writing, and speaking development of all children in a variety of ways, including working as a long-term onsite consultant, providing workshops, working in classrooms, doing demonstration lessons, leading literacy institutes, and providing keynote presentations.
Jennie DeGroat
is from the Eastern Diné Agency of New Mexico. She currently teaches courses in bilingual/multicultural education at the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English, National Association for Bilingual Education and National Indian Education. Jennie's work involves educating Native American communities across the country about language loss issues and revitalization in creating speakers. Jenni has a rich history of working with the Diné peoples and since moving to Arizona from New Mexico, has worked with Apache language teachers in Cibecue, AZ and the Athabascan language teachers of Alaska.
Consuelo Kickbush Castillo
Consuelo is a renowned, charismatic, passionate and influential speaker with a mission to empower the next generation of leaders. Throughout her career, Consuelo has shared her personal knowledge on becoming an effective leader in today's global marketplace with hundreds of schools, colleges, universities, corporations, and government institutions both in the U.S. and abroad.
Born and raised along the border in a small barrio in Laredo, Texas, Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch is all too familiar with the challenges of poverty, discrimination and illiteracy. Although she grew up without material wealth, Consuelo was taught by her immigrant parents that she was rich in culture, tradition, values and faith.
Jeff Zwiers 
Jeff has worked for many years as a mentor in urban school settings, trains teachers in language and literacy strategies, and teaches at Stanford University. He consults for international education development projects that promote bilingual education, critical thinking, formative assessment, and engaged learning. He has published books and articles on reading, thinking, and academic language. His most recent book is Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms (2008). His current action research focus is on using academic conversations to accelerate the development of content understandings, communication skills, and cognitive skills in all subject areas.
José-Luis Orozco 
is a bilingual educator, children's author and recording artist whose work draws upon the rich heritage of the Spanish-speaking world. Through his music, José-Luis Orozco has sought to expose a wider audience to Spanish language children's traditions and promote Latin American culture. It is his desire to pass on this heritage to the children of today so that they may take pleasure in passing it on to the children of tomorrow.
Kathy Escamilla 
Kathy is a professor of education in the division of social, bilingual and multicultural foundations. Her research centers on educational issues related to Spanish speaking language minority students in U.S. schools. She is specifically interested in issues related to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy in early elementary grades for this Spanish speaking population. Her recent research has also examined assessment practices and the impact of high stakes testing on these children.
Carla Aragón
Dr. Carla Aragón is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with
more than 35 years of broadcast experience.
Carla left television news in November 2007 to pursue other
interests, which include writing a bilingual children’s book called “Dance of
the Eggshells/Baile de los Cascarones.” Honored several times for her
outstanding work in journalism and community service, Aragón was conferred an
Honorary Doctorate of Letters from her alma mater, New Mexico State University
in May 2009.
Carla currently holds the office of secretary for the New
Mexico Women's Forum. She is Lector at the Aquinas Newman Center at UNM; a
“Pennies for the Homeless” volunteer; was a member of the Women of Distinction
Committee for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum; was a member of the development
council for UNM’s Children’s Hospital; and a member of the board of trustees of
the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation.
You can learn more about Carla at http://spiritedvoiceandtalent.com/
OTHER FEATURED SPEAKERS...
- Elena Izquierdo-University of Texas, at El Paso - El Paso, TX
- Patricia Latham-Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations - Highlands University, NM
- Adrian Sandoval-Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations - Highlands University, NM
- James Lyons-Alliance for Multilingual, Multicultural Education - Washington, D.C.
- Paul Martínez-CESDP at Highlands University – Española, NM
- David W. Moore-Arizona State University
- Esther DeJon-University of Florida
- Regional Dual Language Educators
- DLeNM Family
Lisa Meyer-Jacks, Natalie Olague, Ruth Kriteman, Diana Pinkston, and Lawrence Sánchez.