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Thank you for attending MABE’s Annual Dual Language Bilingual Education Conference! 

Here are some post-conference updates for you: 

  • How did we do? There are two different ways you can help us improve.
    1) Conference Evaluation. Please complete the MABE 2025 Conference Evaluation. Once this evaluation is completed, your MABE 2025 Conference Attendance Certificate (PDP) will be emailed to you. We truly value your feedback as we are always striving to improve our services and best help our members.
    2) Session Feedback Form. After each session you’ve added to your schedule, you will be prompted to complete a quick Feedback Form that is embedded on Sched. Open the sessions you attended and scroll down past the description and speakers to access the brief evaluation.

  • We saw plenty of people taking pictures - and we took some too! Please add your images and videos to the MABE 2025 Conference Album or email them to admin@mabene.org – and feel free to download any you want for yourself, too. 

  • THANK YOU to our sponsors (explore their pages for some freebies), volunteers and conference committee, and presenters, without which today wouldn’t have been possible! Big shoutout to our Keynote Kate Menken, the UMass Center at Springfield and Tower Square for hosting, and to Windham Public School Teachers Band for live music, especially Carlos Rivera-Ocasio and Enoch Robbins for lending their sound system for the Opening and Closing Ceremony. 

  • Sched will be up through the month of April so that you can learn more about us, get some resources (for DLE tools and research), and explore session details. After that, session materials will be uploaded to MABE’s Member’s Only Pages. 

  • You have until Saturday, March 22, 2025 to get your own conference shirt, if you haven’t already. 

  • SHARE #MABE2025: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn: @MABEnortheast

Thank you for sharing and learning with us! We hope to work with you again soon. 
← Back to schedule
The Experience of Six Dual Language Teachers FILLING
Saturday March 8, 2025 1:15pm - 2:00pm EST
Room 9
In Massachusetts, bilingual education has a complex history, including a ban in 2002 and a recent policy shift with the passage of The LOOK Act in 2017, which re-allowed bilingual education in the state. This change has led to the establishment of new dual-language programs across Massachusetts, creating a need for more bilingual educators.
This study was designed to explore the role of six bilingual educators in one dual language program, provide a definition and clarity around their work (particularly about language instruction and language of instruction, and offer practical implications for teacher preparation programs for languages other than English in dual language programs. Throughout each teacher trajectory, we can trace an understanding of the Spanish component of bilingual teachers and how their preparation and pathways into being bilingual teachers impact their sense of their preparation. Also, examine the unique challenges and needs of bilingual teachers providing instruction in Spanish and Spanish. Last but not least, it will make the intersection of two ideologically contested fields: bilingual education in the US (Spanish instruction in DLP) and teacher preparation and support.
This case study examines six teachers' paths to becoming a teacher in one dual language program with different backgrounds and experiences working in a young bilingual program, and the challenges they face in the classroom and school. The Research questions are:
What are the pathways of being bilingual (Spanish component) teachers in a Dual Language program in MA?
What are the experiences of Spanish component teachers in one dual language with boutique school characteristics?
What challenges do they identify that are tied to the language of instruction? (what are challenges that they identify that are unique to teaching Spanish in a DL program)
What connections, if any, emerge between bilingual teachers' educational backgrounds and professional experiences?

Lunchtime Talks are informal conversations led by peers, colleagues, and professionals on specific topics. Anyone is welcome to join a Lunchtime Talk at their leisure. Some attendees may choose to bring their meal to Lunchtime Talks. View all offered Lunchtime Talks here.
Presenters
avatar for Yokaira López-Tifa

Yokaira López-Tifa

PhD Candidate, UMass Amherst
Yokaira is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Children, Families, and Schools at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests focus on languages other than English (LOTE) teachers, racial justice and bilingual education, drawing from her extensive experience in... Read More →
Sponsors
avatar for UMass Amherst College of Education

UMass Amherst College of Education

MABE thanks this sponsor for exhibiting and hosting the conference. 
Saturday March 8, 2025 1:15pm - 2:00pm EST
Room 9 UMass Amherst Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield, 1500 Main St, Springfield, MA 01115
  Lunchtime Talk, Advocacy
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Attendees (39)


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