Dr. Virginia P. Rojas | Simple Questions, Complex Answers: Reflecting on the Education of Multilingual Learners
Fri, 25 Feb
|English with Putonghua Interpretation
This session explores a triangular set of questions and answers advocating for ways to design and enact ecosystems which promote multilingual learners’ achievement in rigorous academic programs through effective language-in-education approaches.
Time
25 Feb 2022, 08:30 – 9:45
English with Putonghua Interpretation
About the Session
问题简单、方法复杂：对多语学习者教育的反思
罗哈斯博士
摘要：
国际学校如何为多语学习者提供适切教育是一个需要我们致力探讨的问题。 当中问题不易解决，或至少业界仍未能就各种问题的应对方法取得共识。到目前为止，最佳的方法就是参考一些有关在不同社会语言环境中教学并经过同行评议的研究报告结果。
本讲座将探讨一系列相关的问题及解决方法，提出计划和建立一个生态圈，使语文学习能顺利融入课程中，以提升多语学习者的学习成效：
1. 在多语学习者占多数的学校中，教师教育理念的问题和应对方法（亦即范式）；
2. 给多语学习者提供身份选择的问题和应对方法 （亦即课程）；
3. 多语国际学校期望它们学生将来成为什么类型的人 （亦即教学法）。
若耀中耀华能对以上问题作持续反思，其教育质素定必获得稳步提升。
简历
罗哈斯博士
TTC EAL认证及ASCD讲师
罗哈斯博士曾于 350 多所国际学校中主领专业发展和在职培训课程，并负责审核这些学校的语言教育课程。2020 年 12 月开始在墨西哥过半退休生活，教授当地孩子和成人西班牙语及英语。
目前，罗哈斯博士正协助「教师培训中心」(www.theptc.org/eal-training-center) 统筹和教授EAL的认证课程，以及帮助Knowledge Source Institute及Chapters International两个教育组织为EAL专家、世界各地语文教师和K-12教师在线上举办工作坊。
在其他国家工作以前，罗哈斯博士曾于新泽西州和纽约担任双语教师、新泽西州高等教育部双语教育办公室主任，以及新泽西州大学EAL国际认证课程的发起人之一。她于 2016 年 2 月成为「国际教育发展协会」(AAIE) 名人堂成员。
Simple Questions, Complex Answers: Reflecting on the Education of Multilingual Learners
Dr. Virginia P. Rojas
Abstract:
How international schools educate multilingual learners is one domain where we must all come to grips with questions that have no easy answers, or at least have no easy answers everyone can agree on! The best answer so far is that we have to rely on refereed research tempered with assorted checks and balances to account for implementation in varied sociolinguistic contexts.
This session explores a triangular set of questions and answers advocating for ways to design and enact ecosystems which promote multilingual learners’ achievement in rigorous academic programs through effective language-in-education approaches:
1. Questions and answers surrounding teachers’ philosophies in schools with a majority school population of multilingual learners (i.e. paradigms);
2. Questions and answers surrounding the identity options provided for multilingual learners (i.e. programs); and
3. Questions and answers surrounding the types of multilinguals international schools hope their students will become in the future (i.e. pedagogical practices).
The Yew Chung/Yew Wah Organisation’s continued reflection on these issues promises sustained growth and momentum on their journey already begun.
Biography
Dr. Virginia Pauline Rojas
TTC EAL Certification & ASCD Faculty
Dr. Rojas conducted professional development sessions, job-embedded coaching, and language-in-education programme audits in over 350 international schools before “semi-retiring” to live in Mexico in December 2020 where she teaches neighbourhood children and adults to read in Spanish and English.
Dr. Rojas currently coordinates and teaches the EAL certification programme in partnership with the Teacher’s Training Centre (www.theptc.org/eal-training-center) and conducts online workshops for Knowledge Source Institute and Chapters International for EAL specialists, world language teachers and K-12 classroom teachers.
Before working internationally, Dr. Rojas was a bilingual teacher in New Jersey and New York, the Director of the Office of Bilingual Education for the New Jersey State Department of Higher Education, and one of the founders of the EAL international certification programme for The College of New Jersey. She was inducted into the AAIE (Association for Advancement of International Education) Hall of Fame in February 2016.