LESLLA 2022 Featured Speakers
Day One Plenary - Virtual - Zoom*
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
8:00 AM PST, 10:00 AM CST, 5:00 PM CET
Developing the Literacy and Second Language Learning for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LASLLIAM): Surprises, Opportunities and Collaborations
Rola Naeb, PhD, Northumbria University, UK
Rola Naeb, PhD, Northumbria University, UK
In this talk, we will provide insights into the new reference guide on Literacy and Second Language Learning for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants which is linked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and provides Can-do descriptors at levels below and up to A1 as well as extensive recommendations on how to use these to encourage/assist learner emancipation and learner development. With this guide, the authoring group intends to contribute to enhancing language-learning opportunities for non- and low-literate adult migrants by supporting their language educators in designing, implementing, evaluating and improving curricula and teaching materials tailored toward the specific needs of the learners. We will be focusing on the surprises and challenges we encountered while developing the guide; the opportunities it provides to enhance the learning-teaching processes and the current and future collaborations it offers.
Read Rola Naeb's bio
Dr. Rola Naeb is the outgoing past president of LESLLA and is a senior lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Northumbria University in the UK. She is also a member of the authoring team of the Literacy and Second Language Learning for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants reference guide. For over 15 years, she has been working on various projects focusing on the LESLLA contexts. EU-Speak focuses on training LESLLA teachers through online distance learning modules. Diglin aims to support emerging readers by developing tailored digital resources.
*Where is the Zoom link for Dr. Naeb's talk? Click here for instructions.
To access LESLLA 2022 Virtual Sessions, including Dr. Naeb's plenary you must have completed the TWO-STEP registration process:
Register for LESLLA 2022 and pay via Wild Apricot. You will receive a confirmation that contains a registration link for Zoom.
Register with Zoom in order to receive your personalized link to join the virtual symposium. Please check your spam folder if you do not receive the payment confirmation email with a link to register on Zoom. Questions: leslla.org@gmail.com
Day Two Plenary Panel - Student Center Ballroom
Thursday, October 20, 2022
9:30 am - 10:45 am MST
LESLLA in the Borderlands
facilitated by Jennifer Stanowski, Literacy Connects
facilitated by Jennifer Stanowski, Literacy Connects
Meheria Habibi, International Rescue Committee
Rhiannon O’Leary, Literacy Connects
Jennifer Makowsky & Rukhsara Amini, Refugee Education Program
Tucson is a complex and richly diverse city with a history of human settlement going back 4,000 years before the arrival of Europeans in the late 1600’s. Tucson’s LESLLA community today is shaped by its status as a refugee resettlement city, its proximity to the US-Mexico border and the cultural overlap that occurs in the borderlands, as well as by anti-immigrant federal and state policies. How do service providers in Tucson create a welcoming LESLLA community in the shadow of the border wall? This panel will explore the challenges and strengths in the Tucson LESLLA community, and what we can share with the world.
Read panelists' bios
Meheria Habibi is a former refugee from Afghanistan. She has a Bachelor's of Science in Management and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Public Administration. Meheria has over 15 years of experience working with refugees and immigrants in the non-profit sector. She currently works as the Monitoring and Compliance Program with the International Rescue Committee. She is also a co-founder and Board member of a local community-based organization, the Tucson Afghan Community. She has lived in Tucson for over 20 years with her two sons and mom.
Dr. Rukhsar Amini is a student at Pima Community College Refugee Education Program. She was born in 1991 in Kabul, Afghanistan. She graduated from High school in 2011. Then she entered the medical field in 2012 and graduated in 2018. She worked as an obstetrician in a government hospital for two years. She was very happy with her job. When the Taliban came to her city, she could not perform her duties. So she left Afghanistan. She has been a refugee for a year and is hoping to pursue her profession in the U.S. Fun fact: She would like to one day do skydiving and go on a cruise!
Jennifer Makowsky has worked as an instructor at the Refugee Education Program at Pima Community College since 2015. Prior to working at Pima, she taught English in London and in Washington D.C. She is also a freelance writer and copy editor. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Fun Fact about Jennifer, she has been to the Grand Canyon over 20 times, once by riding a mule to the bottom.
Jennifer Stanowski is the Director of the English Language Acquisition for Adults (ELAA) program at Literacy Connects in Tucson, Arizona. A native Minnesotan, she backpacked her way out of the snow two decades ago, and found her love for adult basic education in the desert borderlands. In addition to English language acquisition, Jennifer’s work has focused on developing programs to support immigrant and refugee adults’ civic engagement and career development. Fun fact: Jennifer almost danced with the recording star, Prince, on her 21st birthday.
Rhiannon O’Leary is the Program Coordinator for the Adult Basic Literacy program of Literacy Connects. She primarily works with adults learning basic reading skills. Many of her students have experienced interrupted or unfulfilling education in the US while others are immigrants and refugees learning literacy in English. Her favorite part of her job is finding books that students will enjoy reading.
Day Three Plenary - Student Center Ballroom
Friday, October 21, 2022
9:30 am - 10:45 am MST
Stepping outside the classroom: Using community resources and local partnerships for instruction
Barbara Eiswerth, PhD
Iskashitaa Refugee Network, Tucson, AZ, USA
Jenna Altherr Flores, PhD
University of Nevada, Reno, USA
This pedagogy-focused presentation will give an overview of how to build upon existing community resources to engage students in authentic, contextualized, and meaningful instruction and learning experiences. The presentation will review successful Language Experience Approach (LEA) lessons, and provide participants with a step-by-step routine for organizing and teaching LEA lessons for LESLLA learners, particularly through collaboration with local partners.
Read panelists' bios
Barbara Eiswerth, PhD, founded Iskashitaa Refugee Network in 2003 as a community-based organization serving UN resettled refugees. With their input, she developed innovative programs that foster social interaction between refugees and established community members within a framework of food security and environmental sustainability.
Jenna Altherr Flores is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. She earned her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching from the University of Arizona. Jenna served on LESLLA’s inaugural board of directors as Secretary from 2018–2020. She was also Chair of TESOL International’s Refugee Concerns Interest Section, and the co-founder of the AZTESOL Teachers of Refugees Interest Section. Jenna has worked extensively with LESLLA learners, teaching both in the Refugee Education Program at Pima Community College, and at Iskashiita Refugee Network. She also co-developed a professional development training program for teachers of LESLLA learners with Literacy Connects.
Jenna’s research interests lie in language, literacy, multimodality, and social semiotics. More specifically, she explores how people with diverging literacy profiles make meaning both from multimodal texts, as well as how they make meaning through writing. Her research has been published in venues that include The Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Assessment Quarterly, The International Journal of Multilingualism, Critical Multilingualism Studies, and Educational Linguistics.
Fun fact: When Jenna & her family lived in Tucson, they had a 5-foot rattlesnake who lived in the dry creek bed behind their house, but never bothered them. They affectionately referred to him as Stanley. .