Kendi Ho is a Second Language Studies doctoral candidate and a Certificate for English Language Teaching for Adults (CELTA) Course Trainer at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She taught ESL at McKinley Community School for Adults for several years and was the Coordinator and Language Arts instructor for the individualized Career Achievement Network (iCAN) there. Her research interests include language assessment for program development and evaluation, workforce development for adult immigrants, and health communication in elder care.

Elizabeth Jiménez Salinas is a nationally recognized advocate for Multilingual Multicultural Learners, their families and the educators who teach them. She has authored language resources in more than 25 textbooks as well as Spanish language children’s books such as Lalo, ¿Cómo te llamas?, and El Corazón Sincero. Elizabeth has worked in the Legislative arena where she learned the skills of successful advocacy that she passionately shares with like-minded others. Jiménez Salinas has been a knowledgeable and tireless moving force behind the nation’s first Seal of Biliteracy, the launch of Dual Language Immersion programs, including underserved heritage language communities, worked with the DOE in Puerto Rico to bring bilingual education to the public schools, and designed and developed Newcomer programs in Middle School and High School.

Elizabeth’s consulting firm is called GEMAS which means “precious gems” in Spanish, but is also the initials of her five children – Gabriela, Eduardo, Maria, Alexandra and Salvador.

Jeenna Canche has taught High School Spanish levels 1-4 at three schools on Maui: King Kekaulike, Kihei Charter, and currently at Maui High. Over the past few years, she has served in several leadership capacities such as World Languages Specialist for the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE), Task-Force member for the Multilingualism Policy, Awards Chair for the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching, Department Chairperson at Maui High, and Board Member for the Hawaii Association of Language Teachers. Her current passion lies in working with language teachers to implement contemporary strategies in the World Languages classroom through conference presentations and professional development offerings.

Mrs. Diana Cristina Williams is a Spanish Teacher at Waipahu High School, where she has been teaching since 2012. Mrs. Williams is passionate about the power of reading in second language acquisition and her style of teaching is based on a comprehensible input approach. She was born and raised in México. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the Instituto Tecnológico del Mar, a Post-Baccalaureate in Secondary Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and she is currently working on her Master’s degree in Spanish Education at the University of Nebraska.

I have been coaching world language teachers in comprehension-based principles and methods since 2014 in Honolulu, HI, with learning demos in Mandarin Chinese and in Vietnamese. My research works to tie comprehension-based teaching practices to theoretical questions in SLA, Usage-based Linguistics (UBL), and Construction Grammar. My broader aim is for data-driven research and teaching practices to more closely inform each other.

Elisapeta T. Alaimaleata is from American Samoa and the Independent Nation of Samoa. She and her husband have raised 5 children while he served in the U.S. Military for 18 years. During his numerous world-wide assignments, Elisapeta held down the fort at home in the Islands. In 1988, she graduated from Faga‘itua High School in American Samoa as the Salutatorian of her graduating class. Having garnered scholarships and a congressional award for her academic achievements, she started her journey through higher education at American Samoa Community College where she earned an Associate of Arts degree after two years. As a product of American Samoa Department of Education, she taught in the public schools for more than 10 years before moving to Hawai’i. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Education from the University of Hawaii – Manoa. Currently, she is continuing her studies by pursuing her second master’s degree in Second Language Studies at Manoa, leading towards a doctoral degree.

John Mayer was a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa from 1970-1976. He established the Samoan Language and Culture Program at the University of Hawaii in 1976 and served as chair of the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures from 2007-2016. Dr. Mayer has worked with the local Samoan community for over 40 years and has been with Le Fetuao Samoan Language Center since its inception in 2008.