QTEL 2022 Summer Institutes Spotlight: Meet Our Keynote Speakers and Facilitators

Equity and Quality in a Changing World: Register for the 2022 QTEL Summer Institutes

Equity and Quality in a Changing World is the theme of this year’s Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) Summer Institutes. The Institutes gather educators from around the country and abroad to experience and understand powerful models of learning, which they can turn into instructional practices that cultivate global competencies and academic development for English Learners and all other students.

In keynote addresses, experts in multilingual and English Learner education—Dr. Aída Walqui, Dr. Ofelia García, and Dr. Francisco Jiménez—will share insights on how best to serve English Learners during these complex times and explore how to ensure an equitable and quality education for all learners.

Meet the Keynote Speakers

For the last 22 years, Aída Walqui has worked at WestEd, where she started one of its signature programs, the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative. Walqui is Principal Investigator and Director of the National Research and Development Center to Improve the Education of English Learners in Secondary Schools housed at WestEd.

Ofelia García is Professor Emerita in the Ph.D. programs of Urban Education and Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures (LAILAC) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her extensive publication record on bilingualism and bilingual education stems from her experience living in New York City after she left Cuba at age 11.

Francisco Jiménez is the Fay Boyle Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Santa Clara University. He is the author of the award-winning collection of autobiographical short stories, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child.

Meet the Facilitators

Since 1999, WestEd’s Quality Teaching for English Learners team of professional developers, teacher leaders, researchers, and materials developers has been recognized for its expertise in helping educators increase their capacity to teach rigorous academic content to English Learners.

The QTEL team draws on its members’ extensive experience in English learners’ education to produce the modules and processes foundational to QTEL’s work. Members of the QTEL team have backgrounds as K–12 teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators, university teachers, professional developers, and curriculum specialists.

Recently, QTEL Summer Institute facilitators shared why the Institutes are meaningful to them.

Katherine Crichton designs and leads professional development and coaches teachers who seek to improve their pedagogical knowledge and practices for working with multilingual learners. In this video, she talks about what she finds energizing and enlightening about the Summer Institutes.

Jennifer Blitz works with state education agencies and site and district teams across the country to bring about instructional improvements for English learners. Jennifer shared why she feels humbled by the educators that attend QTEL Summer Institutes:

“We know that our multilingual learners can and should have access to the same rigorous learning opportunities as their peers, but this is often not the case in classrooms across the country. I know that educators want to do all they can to design quality educational experiences for all of their students. I feel privileged that educators choose to spend a week during their hard-earned summer to come together with their colleagues from across the country to better their practice and improve instruction and outcomes for our multilingual learners. Their dedication humbles me.”

Kathia Romo Ben Sadok supports and assists schools and districts to improve the instructional practices and education outcomes for English Learner and multilingual students. She specializes in English Learner support, elementary literacy, and dual-language learners. She explains why she loves engaging with QTEL participants:

“I truly enjoy meeting and interacting with a cadre of teachers from across the country who are dedicated to enhancing teaching and learning for English Learners. Additionally, hosting the summer institutes in-person affords the opportunity to engage with deep learning around supporting English Learners.”

Johnpaul Lapid assists site and district teams with implementation of English language development standards in tandem with Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Literacy and Math Standards. He describes the fulfilling discourse with others who share the same mission of creating better outcomes for English and multilingual students:

“During the Summer Institutes, I am eager and excited to share how to create powerful learning opportunities that invite English Learners to engage in high-challenge learning tasks coupled with high supports. However, what I enjoy most about our institutes, is the opportunity to meet educators from across our nation and abroad as we discuss how to support English Learners during complex times.”

Space is limited. Register for QTEL Summer Institutes today.