Annual ESL Symposium to Focus on Scaffolding

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Aida Walqui, left, and Shabina Kavimandan

The sixth annual English as a Second Language Symposium presented Feb. 28 by the University of Arkansas will focus this year on scaffolding for culturally and linguistically diverse students in the age of Common Core state standards.

Instructional scaffolding refers to support given during the learning process that is tailored to the particular needs of students. It is designed to promote a deeper level of learning.

Featured speakers for the daylong symposium will be Aida Walqui, director of teacher professional development at WestEd, and Shabina Kavimandan, a researcher and instructor at Kansas State University. Educators who attend can receive 6 hours of professional development credit approved by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The symposium will take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at Guesthouse International, formerly the Clarion Inn, in Fayetteville. Registration may be done online through University of Arkansas Conference Services.

Project RISE (Realizing and Increasing Student Excellence) in the department of curriculum and instruction, College of Education and Health Professions, is sponsoring the symposium. It draws teachers and administrators from throughout Arkansas.

Bios of the speakers:

Aida Walqui is responsible at WestEd for teacher professional development efforts that support teachers throughout their careers. Previously, she taught in the Division of Education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the School of Education at Stanford University.

She has written two books for the study of Spanish for Spanish speakers in American schools, a book for teachers of Spanish as a second language in Andean countries, a book on the teaching of indigenous languages in intercultural and bilingual programs, an ethnographic study of immigrant students in secondary schools in the United States and a number of articles in journals and edited volumes.

A native of Peru, Walqui received her Licenciatura in Literature from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru. She holds a master’s degree in sociolinguistics from Georgetown University and a doctorate in language, literacy and culture from Stanford University.

Shabina Kavimandan is a national presenter, district consultant and a program manager and instructor at the College of Education, Kansas State University. For the past several years, her research and teaching have focused on literacy development for second-language learners and, specifically, oral language, vocabulary and comprehension development to enhance academic skills among culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Kavimandan is particularly focused on the knowledge systems that students bring with themselves and ways teachers can capitalize upon these knowledge systems within the scope of literacy development.