What is a dual-language classroom? How does it help English speakers as well as English learners? How can teachers establish a strong bilingual classroom culture?

Alma Exley Scholar Soribel Torres-Jiménez answered these questions and many more at a dual-language educational conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ms. Torres-Jiménez, whom we honored in 2023, presented at the conference with her teaching partner, Yamailys Diodonet. They share a fourth-grade classroom at Roberto Clemente International Dual-Language School in Waterbury, Connecticut.

The annual La Cosecha Dual-Language Conference brings together bilingual and dual-language educators, researchers, and advocates from across the country. The conference is sponsored by Dual Language Education of New Mexico (DLeNM), which promotes bilingualism, biliteracy, and educational equity. “La Cosecha” means “the harvest” in Spanish, symbolizing the sharing of collective knowledge, experiences, and best practices to strengthen dual language education.

Said Ms. Torres-Jiménez, “Our presentation focused on our experiences as new dual-language teachers. We shared the lessons we have learned while building an effective and equitable bilingual program at our school.” They teach in a fourth-grade, dual-language classroom at Roberto Clemente International Dual Language School in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Their presentation covered:

• Establishing a strong bilingual classroom culture,
• Affirming students’ identities and home languages,
• Implementing effective biliteracy strategies in a 50/50 model,
• Collaborating successfully as co-teachers, and
• Supporting students academically in both English and Spanish.

How do the teachers cooperate in a dual-language classroom? They follow a 50/50 dual-language model. Students receive half of their instruction in English and half in Spanish. Ms. Diodonet teaches the Spanish-language component. Ms. Torres-Jiménez, who also happens to be bilingual in Spanish and English, teaches the English-language component.

Ensuring Academic Growth

“Yamailys and I work closely together to align our instruction, support our students’ academic growth, and ensure consistency across both languages,” Ms.Torres-Jiménez said. “This model allows students to develop strong literacy skills in both English and Spanish while valuing their cultural and linguistic identities.

“Presenting at La Cosecha allowed us to reflect on our teaching practices while learning from experienced educators from across the nation. We gained new insights into biliteracy development, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and program implementation.”

Increasing Student Engagement

“Our students are benefiting because we brought effective strategies back to our classroom, strengthening instruction in both languages. The conference reaffirmed the importance of honoring students’ linguistic and cultural identities. This increases student engagement, confidence, and academic success.”

Ms. Torres-Jiménez is a graduate of Career Academy, a public high school in Waterbury, and the University of Connecticut. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from UConn with a major in elementary education and a concentration in mathematics. She also has a Master of Science degree from UConn in Curriculum and Instruction.

Theodore Martinez, who was honored as an Alma Exley Scholar in 2018, has received a Doctor of Education degree from the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Martinez is a fourth-grade teacher at the Academy of International Studies, a public elementary school in South Windsor operated by the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC).

While teaching there, he also has taught in the Connecticut Teacher Residency Program, a program that offers an alternate route to certification through residency experience, and he has taught college-level courses in the Connecticut Department of Corrections through the Second Chance Pell Program.

Others with Doctorates

Dr. Martinez, who grew up in Hartford and Windsor, is the sixth Alma Exley Scholar to have earned a doctorate after being honored by the scholarship program. The others are Miguel Cardona, Khalil Graham, Justis Lopez, Vernon-James Riley, and Violet Jiménez Sims.

Three other Alma Exley Scholars already had doctorates when they received their teaching certification through Connecticut’s Alternate Route to Certification. They are Sibani Sengupta, Santosha Oliver, and Zakiah Parrish.

This means that nine of the 40 Alma Exley Scholars honored since 1995 have doctorates.

Multiple Degrees

Dr. Martinez, left, with other members of his doctor of education cohort.

Dr. Martinez holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut, a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Southern New Hampshire, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Hartford. He is working on completing a Certificate in Advanced Graduate Studies in Advanced Educational Leadership with the University of New England. It’s a two-year program which will lead to his 092 Intermediate Administrator Certification. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Learning Center, a CREC high school in Bloomfield.

Different Perspectives of Diverse Students

Dr. Martinez’s doctoral dissertation is titled “Freedom Looks Different for Everyone: Transforming Pre-Packaged Literacy Programs Through Critical Literacy.” In his doctoral studies, he concluded that pre-packaged educational programs erase the identities of students who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

He observed that fourth graders were being taught about the Revolutionary War from a Eurocentric, monocultural perspective. Therefore, he developed an approach, rooted in critical literacy, to incorporate the perspectives of the variety of people living in America at that time: enslaved and free Blacks, Native Americans, and white colonialists including Loyalists and Patriots.

As a result of his research, one of his students was able to identify that “Everyone wanted freedom, but freedom looked different for everyone.”

Dr. Martinez asked, “How do I, as a fourth-grade teacher, use literacy to increase representations of culturally and linguistically diverse learners? What trends emerge in student learning when fourth graders utilize critical literacy to challenge master narratives presented in pre-packaged literacy programs?”

In teaching content such as the American Revolution, teachers need to find ways to increase representations of culturally and linguistically diverse learners and critical literacy offers a framework to do so, Dr. Martinez concluded.

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Now you can call them Doctor.

Two Alma Exley Scholars have received Doctor of Educational Leadership degrees from Harvard University. They are Dr. Vernon-James Riley, whom we honored in 2008, and Dr. Justis Lopez, honored in 2015. 

Dr. Lopez, left, and Dr. Riley

Educational Entrepreneurs

While at Harvard, Dr. Riley established an educational consulting enterprise, VJR Consulting Firm, which supports school districts with leadership coaching, professional development, and strategic planning services. Already, Dr. Riley and his team have trained more than 10,000 educators in cities across the country. Read more.

Dr. Lopez is re-invigorating the organization he established as an undergraduate, Just Experience, in the educational social entrepreneurship sector. As founder of this enterprise, he has created curriculum for classes, facilitated workshops, hosted hundreds of events, and has performed as a DJ for clients’ significant life events. He is also creating other educational initiatives “that are rooted in healing, justice, joy, and liberation.” Read more.

From Harlem to Harvard

Dr. Riley grew up in Harlem, New York City, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale. He went on to earn master’s degrees from Michigan State University and Teachers College at Columbia University.

Early in his career, he was founding dean of students at Summit Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., and founding director of operations at Amani Public Charter School in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Subsequently, he served as principal at North Star Academy Charter School in Newark, New Jersey, and vice provost of National School Leader Programs at the Relay Graduate School of Education in Washington, D.C.

Vernon-James Riley presenting his capstone defense at Harvard.

A Son of Manchester

Dr. Lopez hails from Manchester, Connecticut. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in educational entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania.

He began his career teaching social studies at Manchester High School. He also taught social studies at a public high school in the Bronx, N.Y. Then he served as alumni affairs coordinator at the Council for Opportunity in Education, Washington, D.C.

Future secretary of education? Justis Lopez tries out the chair of U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona when visiting his office in Washington. 

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