43rd Annual NABE Conference a Success!

The 43rd Annual National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Conference held in San Diego, California was meaningful! The theme was Sailing into the 21st Century:  Multiple Languages, Multiple Paths, Lifelong Advantages.  Dr. Jose Cruz and I had the honor of presenting our culturally-relevant papers at the conference hosted February 12-15, 2014 at the San Diego Convention Center. Professor Rosa Salas Palomo served as the Chair during our Asian Pacific Islanders Special Interest Group session.  Her Co-Chair was Dr. Shu-Yuan Lin. Although the Guam Delegation was a small group, they proudly represented the island amongst the others who presented.  Their presentations focused on Sailing to an Innovative Way of Reaching Out to Pacific Islanders,Creating a Safe Classroom Environment for ELLs' Learning, Student Achievement: Bi-literate Magic in Core Subjects for Lifelong Advantages,and Alii World: Palau Language Commission Has Arrived at the Digitalized World of the Internet.  Other highlights of the conference included the following: NABE - CABE Pre-Institute, The Seal of Biliteracy: An award, a policy, a strategy and tool for our bilingual movement, Dual Immersion as a Turn-Around Model:  Successes and Challenges, How to Align Common Core State Standards for All Learners, Educating for Global Competence:  The Value of Multilingualism, To Translanguage or not to Translanguage?  How to and How Not to, and so much more!

In addition, school visits to Nestor Language Academy Charter School and Riverview Elementary School were outstanding!  The Nestor School focuses on a two-way immersion program, including Spanish and English, grades K-6.  It also focuses on bilingualism, biliteracy, and positive cross-cultural attitudes and activities.  On the other hand, Riverview Elementary School focuses on a one-way immersion program.  It offers two world language programs, including Spanish and Mandarin.  It infuses 21st century learning skills, including world language instruction, technology, critical thinking, and creativity!

I received a "I Support the Seal of Biliteracy" sticker as part of my participation in the NABE - CABE Pre-Institute.