February 2023 • Issue 65 • California Association for Bilingual Education
|
|
Biliteracy, Multicultural Competency, and Educational Equity for All! |
|
Important Upcoming Dates in this Newsletter:
February 18—Cash for College, Dinero para el colegio: taller virtual, gratuito, y bilingüe para familias
|
|
What's new in Sacramento that impacts education? Find out here... |
|
|
|
CABE Legislative Advocate Report
by Jennifer Baker
- CABE 2023 Sponsored Legislation
- Budget Proposal Protects Education Funding
- Legislative Committee Chairs/Members Announced
|
|
Send us your student artwork by February 13th... |
|
Reminder—CABE members receive a 15% discount on registration! |
|
Please join us in congratulating NABE Teacher of the Year... |
|
CABE welcomes new FACE Director... |
|
Meet Dr. MariaElena Esquer... |
|
|
|
Dr. MariaElena Esquer was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the youngest of three children. Her mother, a primary grades elementary teacher, and her father, an accountant/auditor, were devout Catholics who were forced to flee communist persecution after other family members were jailed and/or disappeared. Her parents and older siblings immigrated to the US with the assistance of uncles both in Mexico and California who sponsored them. |
|
The family spoke only Spanish at home and Elena learned English at a Catholic school in a "sink or swim" academic environment. She recalls, "Sister Marie Paul told me, 'You are pulling my leg, I'll have to tell your Dad.' I was terrified that he would think I had accosted the teacher, out but it turned okay after the teacher explained to him the meaning of the idiom." Her teachers constantly corrected her when she was reading aloud, and she never felt that her home language was valued. She struggled with test anxiety and desperately wanted to show what she knew but the language barrier prevented her from doing so. She remembers frequently asking, "Can I show you in Spanish what I've learned?" When they immigrated from Havana, her parents lost everything and highly valued the one thing they were able to keep—their education. Her father always used to tell his children, "No one can take away from you what is in your head." |
|
Elena says that she was a nerdy kid, always with her face in a book and she is still an avid reader today. After high school, she attended Los Angeles Community College (LACC) and worked part-time at a childcare center. A year later, she met her husband who proposed on the third date! As he had enlisted in the Army, he left shortly afterward for basic training. They married five months later and have been together for 39 years. The family later moved to Germany where he was stationed and upon their return, Elena returned to LACC, had four children, then moved to Palmdale. She got an A.A. in Humanities, transferred to Cal State North Ridge where she earned a B.A. in sociology, a B.A. in psychology, and a minor in criminology. At that time, her goal was to work as a civilian profiler for the FBI. During her FBI advisement period, she worked as a teacher during class size reduction. After one week of teaching, she called the FBI and retracted her application. She explains, "I knew my place was in the classroom and that I needed to be serving kids." |
|
After teaching 2nd and 5th grades for ten years and serving as associate principal for three years where she learned from "two really amazing principals," she became the principal of a dual language immersion school for seven years before serving for eight years in her current position as Superintendent of Educational Services. Dr. Esquer received her MA in Educational Administration from CSU Bakersfield and last December was awarded an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from UCLA. |
|
Elena's first conference experience was at CABE when her principal sent her to learn more strategies for working with English learners. While in the LA Convention Center, she remembers thinking about how much better she could be teaching. "I learned so much about language acquisition and ELs and it took me back to my own struggles in school. It was a great experience and when I returned to school on Monday, I immediately started implementing the strategies I'd learned." When asked why she's served two terms on the CABE Board as Region V Representative, she replied, "I wanted to serve on the board because service is the highest form of learning, empathy, compassion, commitment, and the desire to do for others. The two chapters I serve, Ventura Chapter #48 and Antelope Valley Chapter #58, are full of incredible people relentlessly leading the way for our English learner communities of students and families. As a CABE familia, we have so much impact on students, and it is an honor for me to serve on the board and be a part of that." |
|
In her free time, Elena loves to read "sappy" romance novels and visit Disneyland, her "happy place," with her husband George, a high school biology teacher, her children, Kristina (37), a NASA logistics specialist; Steven (36), a physical therapist; Jessica (32), a veterinary pharmaceutical technician; and Michael (30), a musician/cellist who is pursuing an advanced music degree and her four grandchildren (on the right), Elijah (16), Anjalia (12), Mateo (7), and Liliana (3). The family still loves to play board games together, go to movies, and play with their two coon hounds, Monkey and Desi.
|
|
CABE Summer Spanish DLI Institute registration coming soon... |
|
Is it time to renew your CABE membership?.... |
|
Learn about what's happening in local CABE Chapters.... |
|
Board and General Membership Virtual Meetings on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. CABE Yolo/Woodland Chapter 76 will have a virtual membership meeting to plan and discuss the remainder of this year’s chapter activities. The main topics for the meeting will be:
- Scholarship Fundraisers
- CABE 2023 Conference, Long Beach, March 22 - 25, 2023
- Chapter 76 High School Scholarship Committee
-
19st Annual Día del Niño y de la Niña Fair, Friday, April 28, 2023, Woodland, CA
Contact Information
Facebook: CABE Woodland
|
|
Chapter 76 High School Scholarship Fundraiser
Each year Chapter 76 provides at least two scholarships to graduating seniors who are pursuing a career in the teaching profession in programs with students whose primary language is other than English. During the year we have fundraisers and ask for donations from the community.
|
|
Día del Niño y de la Niña Committee Zoom Meetings
Our next virtual meeting for the 19th annual celebration of “Día del Niño y de la Niña” will be held in mid-February. The event will take place from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday April 28th at Ferns Park located on 750 W. Southwood Drive, Woodland, CA. Each child in attendance will receive a free book and a take home craft kit. Many community agencies will be available to provide families with information and resources.
|
|
|
|
Check out the latest issue of SFABE's newsletter... |
|
Other items of interest to the CABE Community... |
|
Attention, educators in California!
We would greatly appreciate your assistance in recruitment of educators currently teaching EL students to participate in the 2023 field test of the Observation Protocol for Teachers of English Learners (OPTEL), the observation protocol designed to support educators in monitoring and evaluating academic language use of EL students, per the requirements of California Education Code (EC) Section 313.3.
CDE OPTEL Webpage:
OPTEL Flyer:
Getting input from educators in the field is so important when it comes to creating high quality, relevant tools to inform our practice and improve our programs for student support. Please pass on the word to your colleagues!
|
|
A new guide intended for English learner and dual language learner advocacy organizations and individual advocates that provides guidance on how to approach and implement narrative change... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
