How many Latinos are in the field of aviation? Listen in to hear from Jonathan Tejada who was born and raised in the US by his Colombian parents and became interested in aviation as a young boy when they would travel to Queens, NY to watch planes landing and taking off at LaGuardia Airport. He shares his journey in aviation and how it led him to bi…

123 Andrés is a husband-and-wife duo that creates children's music in both English and Spanish. They have performed for audiences across the US as well as in Puerto Rico, Panama, and Mexico. They are performers, songwriters, advocates, authors, podcasters, and teacher trainers. This year, 2024, they won their second Grammy Award for Best Children's…

Just like the mariposas monarcas, María Chinchilla left everything that was familiar to migrate from Guatemala to New York at the age of seventeen.In her first published children’s book, Maria Becomes A Butterfly, María beautifully tells the story of how she weathered tormentas, discovered her superpowers, and finally found a sense of belonging. Th…

Angela Alvarez-Cooper and Dr. Laura Florez Gomez, clinicians, advocates, leaders, and everyday experts, talk with us about language acquisition myths that impact students with language delays and language challenges. Listen in and bust these myths, as they have never served our multilingual learners well.…

Marla Felton and Sue Spiegel join Bilingual in America to talk about the not-for-profit, Common Circles, founded by Marla Felton. Their interactive exhibit aims to increase empathy, decrease bias and help people find their shared humanity. After conducting extensive research, they have created a multi-faceted experience for students that allows the…

Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld speaks with us about her soon-to-be released secondary professional resource, Growing Language & Literacy for Grades 6-12. This is a follow-up to her 2019 Heinemann publication by the same title for grades K-8. We discuss her use of TESOL levels, the four areas that she weaves into each chapter, and the added value of lived ex…

Today we have the distinct honor of speaking with Dr. Alma Flor Ada and Dr. Isabel Campoy, educators, leaders, authors, advocates for multilingual education, and social justice trendsetters. Their children's books and poetry illuminate the richness of the Latino culture and their strong belief in the power of transformation and social justice. Thei…

Judith Aucar, Deputy Director of El Centro Hispano in Westchester, New York, joins us to talk about their 50th anniversary and how they will celebrate this important milestone. El Centro offers services to support all immigrants, regardless of language background, as they begin life in search of a better future. As Judith reflects on the growth of …

David Rogers supports the work of Dual Language Education of New Mexico-DLeNM, whose mission is to promote the effective design and implementation of dual language education (www.dlenm.org) in New Mexico and beyond. As they continue to serve students, families, and educators, they have added the MITOTE podcast to their repertoire! Welcome to the ai…

Valentina Gonzalez is an educational consultant for Rooted Linguistics and a content creator working with educators across the nation to support multilingual learners and their families. Her personal experiences as an immigrant fuels her passion for the work she does. She works with schools and districts to provide professional learning experiences…

What does it take to truly make an impact in this world? Author Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán, well known as an educator and dedicated champion for women impacted by domestic violence and social and economic inequalities, has blazed a trail of success and passion. In her wide-ranging and often heart-wrenching memoir, Cabán weaves her personal experiences and…

Julia Chapa has served emergent bilinguals as a Bilingual and ESL teacher in Texas for over 20 years. She has experience providing scaffolded instruction for second language learners, resulting in outstanding student achievement. In 2018, she began her company EDU Specialist, which supports parents and teachers working in bilingual and DL settings.…

Michael Rodriguez, Executive Director of Dual Language Education of New Mexico, reflects on this year's Dual Language conference, La Cosecha, that took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this past November, hosting more than 3500 attendees. And YES! We even have a save the date for next year's conference... Let's listen in...…

Jesus Cervantes is the National Director of Biliteracy and English Language Development (ELD) for Benchmark Education and a longtime advocate of bilingual education and Dual Language instruction. He has focused his career on providing English learners access to language and literacy. His areas of expertise are in literacy, biliteracy, and language …

A language learner in her own right, Alexandra Güílamo has spent more than twenty years serving a wide range of language learner programs. Alexandra is a former teacher, academic coach, elementary school principal, and district-level director in highly diverse urban and suburban school districts. She is a leading dual-language expert, author, keyno…

Claribel Gonzalez speaks with us about how sketch notes serve as an access point for abstract ideas and the various ways that images and visual literacy can support anyone but especially our Multilingual Learners (MLLs). Claribel has been a bilingual teacher, a bilingual coach, and a staff developer. When she is not designing sketch notes for resea…

Dr. Lillian Ardell, founder of Language Matters, is a biliteracy advocate, coach & staff developer. At her core, she is an applied linguist with a passion for teaching and learning. She speaks with us about the work she does to disturb monolingual bias, help educators flex into the bilingual advantage, and the need to experience small brave moments…

Today. my co-host, Yarina Sencion, and I have the great fortune of speaking with Dr .Aradhana Mudambi, an accomplished, multilingual educator and social justice activist. We had the opportunity to make her acquaintance last year at La Cosecha, the annual dual language education conference, and we arejust amazed at all the different things that we h…

While we are resting and recharging over the summer we are also working behind the scenes to get ready for Season 4. Listen in to meet Gaby Maldonado and hear who she is and what gifts she is bringing to BiLingual in America.

While Mariachi bands date back to 18th-century Mexico, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the music transformed regional folk music into more of an urban phenomenon. During Season 2 of Bilingual in America, we first introduced the White Plains, NY High School Mariachi band as part of our episode titled "Music as a Global Language". Today’s episo…

Bilingual children’s book author Maria Twena is a second-generation Latina, who felt very much like an outsider while growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana where she was balancing two languages and two cultures. Maria is the creator of the book series, MariVi: The Master Navigator, which will now also be featured as an animated series for TV. Throug…

Flor Bromley is a bilingual songstress originally from Peru. She is signed with 8 Pound Gorilla Records and has released three family albums. Her work has been praised by The Recording Academy, Red Tricycle, Broadway Workd, Parents Latina, Rockmommy, and The Toybook, among others. Her songs have been featured and played on the top 13 of Kids Place …

Areli Morales Romero was born in Puebla, Mexico, but was raised in New York City. She is a DACA recipient, and Areli Is a Dreamer is her debut children's book. A graduate of CUNY-Brooklyn College with a Bachelor's degree in childhood bilingual education, she currently works as a preschool teacher. Join us as Areli shares her story of living the lif…

Karlyn Tabb currently works at the German International School in White Plains, NY. Students attending the school learn language in a variety of ways. Some come from homes where German is not spoken or even part of their family tree. Karlyn, although not a native speaker, has family ties to Germany and that is what sparked her interest to learn the…

Mayor Thomas Roach was born in White Plains, NY, and currently resides there with his family. He received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany and his law degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He was the first person in his family to earn a four-year degree and is a product of the public education…

Dr. Rocio del Castillo and Dr. Julia Cloat are changing the multilingual dual language landscape. Together, they have co-authored their first book, Teaching Reading in Spanish: A Linguistically Authentic Framework for Emerging Multilinguals. In addition, they have co-founded Via Educational Consulting, whose mission is to provide practical and equi…

We are closing March, Women's Herstory Month, with a bang! Jacarina Soto is a first-generation Afro-Dominican American who went from getting her college degree and working in corporate America to living a purposeful life running her own spiritually directed business. Jacarina is a trauma-informed holistic coach and Master Energy Healing Guide. She …

Susan Bretti, Thought Leader and Director of the Changing Suburbs Institute, shares all the details of the upcoming, once again in-person, 17th Annual Educational Forum. The forum is hosted by Manhattanville College in New York and will focus on Culturally Responsive Teaching. The conference guest keynote speakers will be Dr. Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz, As…

Jacqueline Cabrera, a seasoned special education teacher, wife, mother, and bilingual extraordinaire, shares her pearls of wisdom on bilingual language acquisition as it pertains to the uniqueness of all students.

Today's episode highlights the transformational work of Dra. Veronica Benavides, the founder, and CEO of The Language Preservation Project. She and her team work to reverse the trend of language loss across generations. The Language Preservation Project team works with families and educators to leverage the strength found within culture and languag…

Dr. Devin E. Naar, a Judeo-Spanish language scholar, is the author of Jewish Salonica, and is an Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies, Associate Professor of History, and faculty at the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He speaks with us about the fascinating hi…

Today's episode focuses on recently retired Patricia Galluzzo and Virginia Calderon. These two women have worked for over a quarter of a century providing translation support and assistance as needed in both Spanish and English. Patricia came to New York at the age of 9 from her native Argentina, while Virginia arrived at the age of 20 in Californi…

Andres Salguero was raised in Bogata, Columbia, and grew up with his father. He earned his Doctorate in music. Christina Sanabria, from Colombia, grew up in a Spanish-speaking household in America. She was always involved in theater and dance, and later earned a master’s degree in education from U Penn. Together they are… Latin Grammy winners 1,2,3…

Dual language stakeholders…get ready! Today we are visiting with educators, authors, and consultants Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld, TESOL professor at Molloy University, in New York, and Dr. Joan Lachance, Associate Professor of Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of North Carolina. Together this team is unstoppable as they venture into…

Educator, Leader, and Change Agent Lorynn Guerrero is New Mexico's Teacher of the Year. She speaks with us about being beautifully bilingual at any stage of one's language learning journey, how she's left an impact at New America School La Cruces High School with the GRADS program, and how this is just the beginning of her legacy work. The GRADS pr…

This week on BiLingual in America, we continue the conversation with Dr. Virginia Collier and Dr. Wayne Thomas. They met in 1980, and for the past 40 years have devoted their professional attention to Dual Language programs and their benefits for students. They discuss how students in DL programs learn curriculum in their second language without th…

Dr. Virginia Collier and Dr. Wayne Thomas are internationally known for their research on long-term school effectiveness for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Dr. Thomas is a Professor Emeritus of Evaluation and Research Methodology and Dr. Collier is Professor Emerita of Bilingual/Multicultural/ESL Education, both at George Mason Uni…

On today's podcast, we continue to highlight scheduled speakers at La Cosecha Dual Language Conference, which begins on November 2nd. First, we hear from Dr. Barbara 'BK' Kennedy, founder of GlobaLingo Educational Consulting. BK is trilingual (English, German & Spanish), and has worked as a bilingual ESL and world languages teacher, as well as a di…

Today's episode features Patrick Werito, Coordinator of Tribal Initiatives for Dual Language Education New Mexico, and Michael Rodriguez, Director of Dual Language Education New Mexico. These two forces share details of their ongoing work with the bi/multilingual communities in New Mexico and beyond, and of course, what to look forward to at the up…

As more states and districts are embracing the “science of reading”, some educators and advocates have raised the question: Will these teaching methods work for English-language learners? Today we are joined by Mario Palma. Director of Bilingual ELL Solutions at American Reading Compan, and Dr. Kathy Escamilla, Professor of Education in the Divisio…

Joy School® English is produced by Alegra Learning, an education company with this simple mission: a life full of meaningful connections. While they are headquartered in Provo, Utah, Alegra Learnings' impact is felt on an international level. Brothers Tal and Eli Eyre share the mission and passion of Joy School® English with Segment Host, Suzanne L…

Three interesting statistics: The US has more immigrants than any other country in the world, Recent studies show that 40 million people living in the US were born in another country and Immigrants today account for 13.7% of the US population. With this in mind, today you will hear Yarina Sencion in conversation with Michelle Caceres. Michelle grad…

This segment is Part 2 of Pearls of Wisdom with Dr. Ofelia Garcia. If you missed Part One, you’ll definitely want to listen to that earlier episode. We begin this segment with Dr. Garcia reflecting on the importance of students being proud of who they are, their families, and their cultural roots. Dr. Garcia shared many pearls as we continued our c…

Sometimes as a podcast host you get to speak with a giant in the field and you just can’t get all of the conversation to fit into one episode so what are you to do??? Well, you decide to split the interview into 2 episodes! Yarina and I had a chance to speak at length with a well-known expert with broad and strong roots in the field of bilingual/mu…

In honor of Bring Your Child to Work Day, program co-host Suzanne Lasser and I shared the Bilingual in America platform with Abraham and Emil, our respective bilingual sons. In the first part of this episode, the boys interviewed a language role model from their lives. Emil speaks with Marcela DeAndrade, his language teacher. Abraham speaks with Ar…

Hi! I’m Suzanne Lasser and today, on BIA, co-host Yarina Sencion and I speak with Susan Bretti and Dr. Lauren Raubaugh about Bilingual in America’s partnership with Manhattanville College’s Changing Suburbs Institute aka CSI. The theme for CSI’s 16th annual educator’s forum, taking place virtually on Friday, April 22nd, is Cultural Responsiveness: …

Xánath Caraza is an internationally acclaimed poet & author, with works translated into seven languages, and a professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Today she speaks with Yarina Sencion about her multilingual life and the role each version of her identity plays in her work. During this powerful conversation, we once again touch on…

Dr. Nancy Cloud, Professor Emerita of the M.Ed. in TESL Program and in the Department of Educational Studies at Rhode Island College, is a specialist in ESL, bilingual and dual-language education. Prior to her work in Rhode Island College, she coordinated the M.S. TESL and Bilingual Education Programs at Hofstra University for ten years and federal…

BIA hosts Suzanne Lasser and Yarina Sencion had the privilege of speaking with native-born New Yorker Luana Graves Sellars who lives on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, one of the most culturally rich and historic areas of the South. A passion for her Gullah Geechee roots has led her to become a preservationist and cultural influencer through …

Dual Language programs are enrichment programs; they are richly instructional settings for students and, as we learn today, for teaching partners as well. They are learning spaces where students and teachers share, inspire, and feel creative. Johaira Buxo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The oldest of six children, she immigrated to t…