CATESOL 2012 Deeply Rooted, Always Growing Oakland Marriott City Center & Oakland Convention Center Oakland , California April 12-15, 2012

To Be Presented at Opening Plenary Thursday, April 12, 2012

Pearson Longman Spirit of Teaching Award
Sponsor: Pearson Longman
Recipient: Bette Brickman, College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas

Dr. Brickman has broad experience in the field of English Language Development and other foreign languages. Moreover she has done much to further the profession: supervising ESL [ELD] Interns and adjunct faculty, developing curriculum, serving on department, division and college committees, and publishing various articles on topics of interest to the ELD field. Her numerous national conference presentations at TESOL, CATESOL and various other organizations' conferences are testament to her "spirit of teaching".

Nominated by a colleague, Linda Gannon, Dr. Brickman was highlighted as a mentor to many, and a teacher to all who attended her classes and workshops. Ms. Gannon muses that when asked about her retirement, her mentor, Dr. Brickman replied "that they will have to 'drag her away from the classroom kicking and screaming' because teaching is such a central part of her being." Dr. Brickman is a dedicated teacher, mentor and professional, and she truly exemplifies The Spirit of Teaching.

David E. Eskey Memorial Award for Curriculum Innovation
Sponsor: CATESOL Education Foundation
Recipient: Melissa Jaquish, San Francisco State University

Melissa Jaquish received a B.A. in English Education from Purdue University, and an M.A in TESOL with a Certificate in Post-Secondary Reading from San Francisco State University.

Melissa has taught in Indiana, San Francisco, and Paris, teaching academically under-prepared students in a rural setting, first generation language learners, and international students respectively. These experiences led her to pursue an M.A in TESOL where she developed her teaching approach, one that is competency based and strives to use students' preexisting skills and expertise as the foundation from which to develop a course.
 
Melissa presently works at both Foothill Community College and at English Studies Institute (ESI) on the UC Berkeley campus. At Foothill, she teaches composition and integrated skills; at ESI, she teaches ESL and is working on a curriculum for their reading and writing program.

An avid oenophile, Melissa also does wine education and received her 1st level sommelier degree from the Court of Master Sommeliers at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley.

      Gail Weinstein Teacher Recognition Award
Sponsor: Friends and Family of Gail Weinstein
Recipient: Gaylynne Hudson, Oakland CBET

Gaylynne Hudson first developed her passion for teaching and students learning in Canada. Gaylynne taught at a university in Korea and attended her first EFL conference with KOTESOL. After moving to California she found that CBET suited her professional interests: community-based learner-centered classrooms. Gaylynne has been a program advisor and teacher for the Oakland CBET program for the past decade. Additionally, Gaylynne has presented at local and state CATESOL conferences.

      Adult Level Professional Development Scholarship
Sponsor: Cambridge University Press
Recipient: Pamela Weiss Barr & Yelena Zimon, Fremont Adult School

Yelena Zimon attended my first CATESOL conference in 1994, eight months after immigrating to the United States from the former Soviet Union. She was fortunate to continue her professional career at Fremont Adult School, where her previous experience in EFL teaching future English instructors and translators helped her become a successful ESL teacher. Eight years ago, she assumed additional duties as ESL Department Chair. It is her pleasure and honor to support her colleagues in their professional development. As a long-time CATESOL member, she has always encouraged her faculty to join CATESOL. 

Yelena Zimon nominated Pamela Weiss Barr for this award.  They both are recipients of this year's Adult Level Professional Development Scholarship.

      Community College Level Teacher Development Award
Sponsor: Oxford University Press
Recipient: Susan Gaer, Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education

Susan Gaer has been teaching at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education since 1994 but has been a member of CATESOL since graduate school in 1978. She is a avid presenter. In the 1990s, she saw how technology could empower ESL students, and  started helping teachers and students use technology. She has been the adult level chair and technology liaison for the CATESOL state board. Most recently she has been developing activities to add in transition between credit and non credit ESL.

     IEP Level Teacher Development Award
Sponsor: ELS Language Centers
Recipient: Heidi Fridriksson, American Language Institute at San Francisco State University

Heidi Fridriksson is instructor at the American Language Institute at San Francisco State University (SFSU) where she currently teaches reading & writing, pronunciation and TOEFL skills to university-bound students. She holds a MA in TESOL and a Post-Secondary Reading Certificate from SFSU. She began teaching English with the aim to help people gain the tools they need to achieve their goals and better communicate across cultural boundaries globally and locally. In the future, she hopes to continue to teach in California and eventually abroad, as well as to have the opportunity to help train new ESL teachers.

     Rick Sullivan Stipend 
Sponsor: CATESOL
Recipient: Michael Lessard-Clouston, Biola University

Michael Lessard-Clouston comes from Toronto, Canada, where he grew up and completed his M.A. in TESOL and his Ph.D. in Second Language Education.  He has taught ESL at a high school, a community college, and a private language school, and did EFL teaching and teacher training in China (for two and a half years) and Japan (for ten and a half years).  He moved to the U.S. in 2005 and has worked in the graduate programs in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Biola University in La Mirada since then, yet also taught EFL academic writing in Indonesia for two months in 2010.  He regularly presents at CATESOL statewide conferences.

     Graduate Student Research Contest
Sponsor: University of Michigan Press
Recipient: Dan Villarreal, University of California, Davis

Dan Villarreal is a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Davis. His research interests include sociolinguistics, language attitudes, linguistics and education, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, variationist sociolinguistics, sociophonetics, and pragmatics.

     Community College Level Essay Writing Contest
Sponsor: Oxford University Press
Recipient: Perry Udom Wadhanaphorn, City College of San Francisco (Ocean Campus)

Perry Udomwadhanaphorn was born in San Francisco and went to West Portal Elementary School to learn Cantonese. His ethnic background is Thai/Chinese.  He can speak three languages: Thai, Chinese, and English.  His favorite hobbies are badminton and soccer.  In the past, he worked for the YMCA, helping disabled children ranging from age 6-24.  In addition he volunteered for many organizations like St. Anthony's, Stern Grove, and many more.  He love to travel around the world to experience different cultures and traditions.  He is currently attending City College of San Francisco, majoring in Criminal Justice. 

Perry is indebted to his teacher, Mr. Victor L. Turks, his encouragement and for this award.  The following is Perry's winning essay, "My Dream".

My Dream

Unquestionably, everyone has a dream they would like to achieve.  In order to achieve your dream, you probably need to acquire proper education in order to reach a career you desire.  Careers may vary from being an electrician, engineering, translator and many more.  Each and every one desire may change right away because of the world evolving rapidly.  Currently, I always dream of becoming a special agent and serve with the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The job of the FBI is in charged to protect and defend the United States from terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, including enforcing criminal laws. In order to achieve to become a FBI Special Agent, I must acquire a four-year college degree and three years of professional work experience.  The importance of this career, after the occurrences of the collapsed of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is to help prevent the United States from another terrorist attack.  This particular issue had the United States concern of citizen’s safety over terrorist.  In addition, the career is important because I always like to solve and investigate any types of crimes committed against the federal and international laws.  The English language was always somewhat a difficult language to learn even though I was born in the United States.  I understand English is an extremely important in my daily life and by laying out three particular ways how I would learn English in order to reach my dream.

       The first and foremost important way learning English will help me reach my dream is to improve my reading comprehension.  Despite taking courses in community college, achieving this first goal Is to be capable of identifying and understand what I am reading.  This continual pace should include reading books and novels, plus looking up unfamiliar vocabulary words and research any references that are unclear. The second essential way to learn English in order to reach my dream is writing.  This includes writing at an academic level and formally.  To progress my writing skills, I must be capable of using correct grammars, punctuations, and wordings.  As the pace flows, it should include practicing writing clearly and precisely according to what I would interpret on paper.  The last procedure is speaking fluently.  To speak fluently, my goals are to practice speaking with people and the public by using correct pronunciation with correct word form.  With all the three ways I listed, this is how English is an important way of fulfilling my dreams.

To Be Presented at the Adult Level Rap Session on Saturday, April 14, 2012

      Norma Shapiro Memorial Library Award
Sponsor: Jayme Adelson-Goldstein
Recipient: Linda Hargrove, Torrance Adult School

Linda Hargrove is a teacher at the Torrance Adult School. Her interest in teaching ESL was sparked by her year-long experience as a 16-year-old exchange student in Thailand. She taught ESL in during the1987 amnesty program in LAUSD and multilevel classes at Japanese and Korean Community Centers, gaining experience in planning lessons for students with a wide range of levels and a variety of native language. She teaches a multilevel ESL class with 12 different nationalities and levels from beginning literacy through advanced. She mentors fellow teachers on effective multilevel instruction and assists the EL Civics curriculum developer ensure that lessons are level appropriate. She presented a workshop on using games to teach ESL at CATESOL 2011.

      Adult Level Essay Writing Contest
Sponsor: Cambridge University Press
Recipient: Huichu Hsu, San Diego Community College District
Teacher of Recipient: Magdalena Kwiatkowski, San Diego Community College District

An Ordinary Tree
Huichu Hsu

If a plant has set its roots deep, its branches will be strong. When hurricanes and tornadoes come, it will not drift away. Family values are like roots. They help generations stand firm.

 Taiwan is the place where I come from. The oldest people in my family are my grandparents, who just celebrated their 90th birthday. They were born during the Japanese colonial times and experienced war and poverty. They never got educated, but I respect them very much because they worked hard and learned new skills as much as they could. My grandma was a cook at a factory; she had to prepare three meals for fifty workers alone every day. My grandpa worked in a rice-noodle factory, carrying out the noodles and spreading them on wooden tracks to dry. In the evening, he carried them back inside. The wooden tracks were heavy. After years of working, he developed back pain. However, he never complained.  When I was in elementary school, my grandma asked me to teach her to write her name in Chinese. She also learned basic math by herself. She was a hard-working person and taught me that laziness would bring me nowhere. She was also compassionate. She always saved things for others less fortunate even though she did not have much.

Today challenges are different. My family does not suffer from war and hunger any more, but  we have to be competitive to survive. We moved to America in 2007 because my husband was transferred by his company. I brought with me the qualities I learned from my grandparents: persistence, hard-work, and positive thinking. They help me endure. America is a dreamland for many, but life is still hard. Even though I have a Bachelor's degree from Taiwan, I cannot find a job in my profession. Last year my older child was diagnosed with ADHD. At first I felt crashed because in my dreams I had already seen him in an Ivy League school. He was my hope to become what I could not, but I had to put my pride aside and focus on him. Strangely, this diagnosis brought about compassion and patience not only in me, but also in my husband. He is now helping our son with his homework and volunteering at his school. As we are teaching our son how to deal with difficulty, I see hard work, which my grandparents taught me, is more important for success than intelligence.

Parenting is a journey of growth for me, not just for my children. I am an ordinary tree, but my roots are deep and strong. Once in a while I phone my grandma. She cries on the phone because she misses us very much. She does not know about ADHD, but she believes we can stretch our branches into the sky and overcome any difficulties!  I believe she is right.  How grateful I am to be able to pass her Taiwanese spirit onto my children.

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