Crises can happen with no warning or with certainty. The epic numbers of multilingual learners experiencing these phenomena is as diverse as are the types of language programs, instructional practices, and schoolwide policies they are provided. Our ever-changing educational landscape often evokes uncertainty as to how to work with these students and their families. In a conversational style, this FREE one-hour webinar engages participants along with the authors of Beyond Crises: Overcoming Linguistic and Cultural Inequities in Communities, Schools, and Classrooms in tackling some of the pervasive issues that educators of older multilingual learners face today and how some schools are addressing these successfully. 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021
12:00 p.m.

Continue reading Webinar: Beyond Crises: With Secondary Multilingual Learners at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

“Debbie Zacarian sat down with us to talk about how we can better serve English Learners in our latest episode of #ThinkPareShare. Guess what? Deficiency plans are a thing of the past! Teaching to strengths and being culturally and linguistically responsive are paths to a better future. How do we change the ethos that brought us here so that we can go where we want?” Farhan Shah, Instructional Specialist at Houston ISD. See the full interview here.

Continue reading Debbie Zacarian Interviewed by Houston ISDs Sharpstown High School Stories Project at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

The nation’s #1 website serving educators and families of English Learners, Colorín Colorado, with generous funding from the National Education Association, produced a new section about identifying, assessing, and teaching English learners who may have learning disabilities.

Colorín Colorado’s new website section includes four comprehensive sections including:  (1) special education and ELs: challenges and opportunities, (2) identifying student needs, (3) the special education referral process for ELs, and (4) instruction and assessment.

Continue reading Identifying and teaching English learners with disabilities at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

Many are using social networking to get word out that the US Departments of Education and Justice released guidance and tools about the legal obligations of teaching English learners. Last month, the US Department of Education released an English Learner Toolkit to help state and local education agencies help English Learners (ELs) by fulfilling these obligations. The guidance is an important time to remind us of the following.

English Learners are Not a Monolithic Group

English learners speak over 350+ languages and, while many come from countries other than the US, the majority of elementary-aged and a significant number of secondary ELs are born right here in the U.S.

Continue reading Launching the Just-Right Tools for English Learners at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

The film, Spare Parts, was released last month. It’s based on the true story (and book) about 4 undocumented Latino high school students who formed a robotics team that beat MIT engineering students in a contest. Their personal stories as well as the more recent questions, responses and comments heard at President’s Obama’s Town Hall meeting on immigration policies shine much-needed light on a large and growing segment of the nation’s population.

Understanding the needs of students
We often make decisions based on limited information.

Continue reading English Learners Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.