about the book

Valentina Canese, PhD, is director of the Instituto Superior de Lenguas (ISL) at the National University of Asuncion in Paraguay, where she teaches curriculum and applied research methods. She teaches bilingual education, language policies, and advanced research methods at other private universities in Paraguay. Valentina is member of Paraguay’s Research Incentive Program from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT). She conducts research on pedagogical and sociolinguistic issues in language teaching, technology in education, and distance education. Valentina is a board member of Paraguay Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (PARATESOL), an affiliate of the TESOL International Association, and represents Paraguay in the Latin America and Caribbean TESOL group. 

Valentina grew up in Paraguay, a bilingual country, and being from a family of immigrants, she has always been very interested in languages, especially English. She started learning English in middle school and by the time she was in high school, she began interpreting for visitors to Paraguay. For this reason, she was encouraged to study English as a major at the University, which allowed her to begin teaching at a very young age, discovering a vocation for the teaching profession. While in college, she realized that she wanted to continue learning about bilingualism and bilingual education, and with the help of her professors, she was able to secure a scholarship to continue her studies abroad.

Valentina holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the ISL/UNA, a master's degree in language education from San Diego State University in the United States of America (USA), and a PhD in curriculum and instruction for language and literacy from Arizona State University, also in the USA. Having earned both of her graduate degrees through support from the U.S. government’s Fulbright program, Valentina encouraged Susan to apply to Fulbright for spending several months in Paraguay to research and teach at the ISL and, thus, enhance the preparation of pre-service and in-service English language teaching (ELT) educators. With this support from Fulbright, Valentina and Susan worked together in editing the book, Teaching English in Global Contexts: Language, Learners, and Learning.

Susan Spezzini, PhD, is professor of English learner education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA), where she coordinates teacher preparation programs in English as a second language. Susan conducts research on preparing educators for effectively serving English learners and, also, on helping English learners overcome pronunciation challenges. She has researched the impact of professional development grants on how educators teach English learners and on how teachers help each other through collaborative mentoring. Susan is a board member of the Alabama-Mississippi TESOL affiliate, serves on the regional Southeast TESOL council, and is president emerita of PARATESOL (for which she was a founding member). 

Susan has always been fascinated with languages. While growing up on a farm in San Diego County, California (USA)—near the border with Mexico, Susan was in contact with Spanish and, also, German. Her maternal grandparents had immigrated from Germany and her paternal grandparents from Switzerland. After earning degrees in linguistics and language teaching, Susan followed a childhood dream that started when seeing President Kennedy on TV with the inaugural Peace Corps group. That dream took Susan to Paraguay where she served as a Peace Corps volunteer helping girls in rural communities along the Paraná River and, also, teaching English in their recently established high school. After marrying, Susan moved to Asuncion where she and her husband raised their family. Susan taught English at the Paraguayan American Cultural Center and then at the Paraguay-Anglo Center. Later, she taught languages and was curriculum coordinator at the American School of Asuncion. Susan also had the privilege of teaching linguistics in the evening, for almost 20 years, to first-year students at the ISL/UNA.

Susan holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of California in San Diego, a master's degree in teaching languages from the University of California Berkeley, and a PhD in curriculum and instruction (for ELT) from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. As a Fulbright Scholar (2021-23), Susan implemented Enhancing the Efficacy of English Language Educators in Paraguay. For this project, she collaborated with Valentina and other teacher educators to create the book, Teaching English in Global Contexts: Language, Learners, and Learning, for enhancing teacher preparation in Paraguay and other countries. Susan looks forward to having these 55 chapters used worldwide in the preparation of pre-service and in-service ELT educators.