Aída Walqui, Senior Research Scientist at WestEd, will take part in two panel discussions at the 2022 TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, held March 22-25, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Convention offers professional development opportunities to English language educators at all levels from around the world. In lively interactive sessions, educators develop a global perspective through the exchange of ideas and practices. Participants integrate knowledge of current trends in the field while developing a professional network.
The event is the organization’s first hybrid conference. The theme this year is Inspiring Innovation, Empowering ELT Professionals.
Aída Walqui directs the National Research and Development Center for Improving the Education of English Learners in Secondary Schools at WestEd. She started one of the agency’s signature initiatives, Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL).
In the panels, Walqui and colleagues will explore the importance of rigorous materials to guide English Learners’ education and the theories and approaches to scaffolding instruction. Review the full details of each panel below.
Thursday, March 24
Session: Quality Instructional Materials: The Hallmark of an Equitable Education
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
Location: Room 316
This panel brings together experts to discuss the importance of rigorous materials to guide the education of English Learners. Building on five years of research and implementation, a framework to enhance the quality of materials is presented from various perspectives.
Panelists:
- Renae Skarin, English Learners Success Forum
- Aída Walqui, WestEd
- Harold Asturias, University of California, Berkeley
- Crystal Gonzales, English Learners Success Forum
- Jack Dieckmann, Stanford University
Friday, March 25
Session: Scaffolding for Quality, Equitable, and Humanizing Opportunities for Multilingual Learners
Time: 6:00 a.m.–6:45 a.m.
Scaffolding has been widely referenced in education but often in reductive ways. Misunderstandings of scaffolding and its importance are prominent, especially for multilingual learners. This panel focuses on theories and approaches to scaffolding and case studies of scaffolding work with multilingual learners and professional learning with teachers. Note: This is a prerecorded session. Presenters will be available to answer questions after participants view the session.
Panelists:
- Luciana de Oliveira, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Ruslana Westerlund, WIDA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Aída Walqui, WestEd
- Rita MacDonald, WIDA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- David Crowther, University of Nevada, Reno
- Megan Madigan Peercy, University of Maryland, College Park
- John Chi, University of Maryland, College Park