Powerful Practices for Supporting English Learners: Elevating Diverse Assets and Identities

Fern Westernoff is a speech-language pathologist with over 35 years of experience at the Toronto District School Board. She served on the Immigrant Assessment Team, which prompted her to pursue doctoral studies regarding  bilingualism and second language learning at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. She co-instructed in the Kindergarten Early Language Intervention (KELI) Program, where she was also a co-program leader supporting the development of the program. Fern continues to publish and present widely in Canada, the U.S., and Israel regarding cultural and linguistic diversity and communication disorders in education.

Stephaney Jones-Vo is president of Starfish Education, LLC focusing on equity for English Learners. With over a decade of Title III grant directing, refugee sponsorship, and K-12 ESL classroom teaching experience, she served as an English Learner and Diversity consultant at a regional state education agency supporting multiple school districts to increase English Learner achievement. She has designed and facilitated ESL endorsement and cultural competence courses at several universities. A frequent presenter in the U.S. and in Canada, she has co- authored multiple books, chapters, and articles;  designed and delivered a variety of adult ESL classes for specific purposes and in the workplace, and advocated widely for English Learners. 

Paula Markus served as the ESL/ELD Program Co-ordinator with the Toronto District School Board from 2001-2017. She is currently a sessional lecturer in the Masters of Teaching Program at OISE/University of Toronto, preparing pre-service teachers to support English Learners.  Paula is the founder of the annual “Celebrating Linguistic Diversity” Conference, Ontario’s largest professional gathering of K–12 teachers of English Language Learners for the past two decades. She continues to be an invited presenter at school districts and conferences across Canada and the U.S.