As the Vice President of Program Development, Mrs. Patricia Ochoa-Mayer is responsible for monitoring the overall quality of PIQE’s components at each of the 10 regional offices in California. Mrs. Ochoa-Mayer leads a team of two PIQE Senior Professional Development Trainers and two Curriculum Writers. Having worked at PIQE for the past 22 years, Mrs. Ochoa-Mayer collaborated with Dr. Alberto Ochoa in the design of the program’s curriculum. In addition, she has overseen the writing of PIQE’s Early Childhood Development curriculum and Teacher Professional Development Workshop. Mrs. Mayer-Ochoa has also directed the design and implementation of PIQE programs and Best Practices outside of California, including: Arizona, Texas, Virginia, Minnesota, and Montana. Mrs. Ochoa-Mayer was an elementary school teacher in her native country, Mexico. In 1983, she obtained a California Teaching Credential. Mrs. Ochoa-Mayer has a degree in Educational Psychology and an M.A. in Education.

Laura Beltle began working for Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program in 2008 as Sponsorship Developer & Volunteer/Intern Coordinator for the Lancaster office. She also acts as case manager in the Reception & Placement Program and as paralegal in the Immigration Legal Services Program. Laura is a member of the Council of Volunteer Coordinators of Lancaster.

A native of Lancaster County, Laura received her bachelor’s degree from Lancaster Bible College then spent two years working in church planting in Skopje, Macedonia where she grew to love diversity of culture and language. She then completed a Master of Arts degree in Intercultural Studies at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Upon returning to Lancaster after several years away, she was pleasantly surprised to find a thriving refugee resettlement program and quickly moved to get involved. She is thrilled to be in a position of connecting the native community of Lancaster with its newest diverse neighbors.

Session Description: Church World Service (CWS) – Immigration & Refugee Program has been resettling newly arrived refugees to the Lancaster area since 1987. Acting initially an affiliate partnership called PRIME, in 2006 the Lancaster branch became a direct sub-office, taking on CWS-IRP by name. In recent years, CWS has been active in resettling families and individuals fleeing persecution from Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Somalia, Cuba and more. This session will provide background information on the legal process surrounding refugees for issuing admittance to the U.S. and their travel experiences before coming to America. It will then expand on the local resettlement experiences of refugees with specific activities of Church World Service and other resettlement offices in Central PA. Information on the specific ethnic groups arriving and challenges they face in coming to Pennsylvania will also be discussed.

Dr. Hershberger is a supervisor for the Chester County Intermediate Unit. Her responsibilities include the Migrant Education Programs for Southeastern Pennsylvania, encompassing the counties of Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks; 21st Century Community Learning Center programs for at-risk Latino youth; Family Literacy Programs; and BrainSTEPS, a school reentry program for children with traumatic and acquired brain injuries. She taught French, Spanish, English, and ESL before becoming a K-12 curriculum supervisor and high school administrator in Lancaster and Chester County school districts. Dr. Hershberger received her BA in French from Grove City College and MA in ESL from the University of Arizona. She earned her doctorate in Educational Administration and Policy at the University of Delaware. Her areas of interest are collaborative approaches to supporting at-risk students and their families, long-term English learners, and professional development for teachers of ELLs.

Session Description: What happens to our kids after they are exited from our ESL programs?  Why do they struggle with learning difficulties even after they have been deemed “proficient?”  Long-term English Learners (LTELs) have academic needs that are different from ELLs who are still receiving ESL direct services.  Learn about LTELs and how to support them by using effective strategies that help them acquire the academic language and background knowledge that they may be missing.

What ESL Institute LTEL workshop participants will be able to do after participating in this session:

• Define the term Long-term English Learner and identify those characteristics in their students
• Name three effective strategies to develop academic language and background knowledge
• Develop an action plan for strategy implementation 

Ms. Carmen Shahadi Rowe earned her Masters in TESOL from Eastern Mennonite University. She has taught ESL and Spanish for the Conestoga Valley School District for ten years. She also served as the District ELL Secondary Supervisor and eventually the ELL Coordinator for the School District of Lancaster and gained invaluable experience leading one of the largest LEP (Limited English Proficient) Programs in the State of Pennsylvania. Presently she has moved back into the classroom at Burrowes Elementary School as she completes her doctoral course work and dissertation in Educational Leadership through Immaculata University.

In addition to her role in education at the School District of Lancaster, Ms. Carmen Shahadi Rowe has also taught ESL to Iraqi refugees displaced in Jordan. She is an adjunct faculty member with Millersville University and Eastern Mennonite University. She is actively involved in community service and advocacy and frequently presents workshops on teaching English language learners.

Session Descriptions:

Cooperative Learning and English Language Learners: As teachers we are challenged everyday with keeping all of our students engaged in the learning process. Content area teachers with limited English-proficient students, as well as ESL teachers can find the challenge overwhelming.  Educational theorists and our own experience tell us that one of the best ways for students to learn is through social interaction, and yet oftentimes our ELLs not given ample opportunities within the classroom to interact with their peers and use the targeted cognitive academic language.  This session is designed to help you become familiarized with some tested and proven cooperative learning teaching strategies that will successfully involve every student in your class in every activity, every time.  The teaching strategies presented are geared for the junior/senior high student, although most could easily be adapted for younger students.

Cultural Diversity in the Classroom: U.S. demographics are rapidly changing and our schools are becoming increasingly more diverse.  In this session participants will gain an understanding of how one’s cultural orientation determines norms for relating to others, time, and the natural environment.  To aid our discussion of the implications of these cultural values in the classroom, we will take a look at two widely used models for cultural analysis.

Ms. Natalie A. Byler earned her undergraduate degrees in English and Theatre from UCLA/UC Davis, and then went on to earn Master’s degrees in both Secondary English Education and Behavioral Science. During her graduate study, at UC Davis and Sacramento State, she earned her teaching credential in both Secondary Language Arts and Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development (CCLAD). Her thesis work was focused on gender and cultural issues in the secondary classroom and she also served as the Heterogeneous Grouping and Multi-Cultural Education Mentor for the Grant Union High School District. While still in California, she taught journalism, theatre, English, and ESL, in varying combinations, for over 12 years. She also served for many years as a coordinating Master Teacher for the UC Davis Graduate School of Education as well as a Teacher Research Consultant/Presenter for the Area 3 and National Writing Projects, based out of UC Davis and UC Berkeley, and remains an active member of their teacher research program.

Natalie transferred her career to Pennsylvania in 2003 and currently teaches English-as-a-Second Language, Communication Arts, and IB/Honors Literature courses for the School District of Lancaster. She hopes to begin work in earnest on her PhD in Urban Education and TESOL methodology this fall once her son joins his older sister in the collegiate world.

Session Description (Reading and Writing in the ESL Classroom: Strategies for Authentic Student Engagement): Armed with the premise that “writing is thinking,” this workshop will explore ways to enhance the engagement of your ELLs as they learn to take responsibility for their own learning through transacting with text and writing reflectively about what they read. Total participation techniques will be emphasized with a “real world” focus on authentic engagement skills for the secondary ESL and content area classroom.

Session Description: This parent/student panel will address the cultural, linguistic and academic needs of a special diverse group of our students . . . our Refugee ELLs.  A panel of refugee parents and their children will be sharing their journeys and the challenges they have encountered accommodating to a new culture. Lancaster County has recently experienced an influx of refugee students from Nepal, Iraq, Myanmar (the former Burma), and Haiti.  These students add a rich cultural dimension to our school communities and come with a wealth of unique background knowledge. Institute attendees will gain new insights into helping this unique group of students attain academic achievement.  A Q&A session will follow the panelists’ presentations.