Meet the TexLER Committee

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The Texas Language Education Research (TexLER) Conference Committee is a student organization comprised of undergraduate, Master's and Ph.D. students of the Department of Bicultural & Bilingual Studies and TESOL in the College of Education and Human Development.

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Committee Members

Kathryn I. Henderson is the faculty advisor for TexLER. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, College of Education and Human Development at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her education interests include language ideologies, language policy and dual language bilingual education programs.

My name is Martha Zapata, I was born in Mexico City and I'm currently a student at UTSA working on my bachelors on Bilingual Education. I've worked with children for a long time already but I have a special interest in working with bilingual children. I believe those children are still being underrepresented and in some cases undermine that is why I'm always looking for new ways to address their needs.

Nguyen is the Academic Coordinator of the TexLER Committee. He is a first-year Ph.D. student in Culture, Literacy, and Language at UTSA. Before moving to San Antonio, worked as an ESL teacher in Vietnam. Then he earned his M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from University of Houston. His research interests include language learning, literacy practices, and identity among Vietnamese Americans.

Shiyi Sandra Han is an undergraduate student majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies at UTSA. Her current position in TexLER is UTSA Networking/Volunteer. In her spare time, she likes swimming, playing the ukulele, and the harmonica, traveling, and singing. She is bilingual and fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese. Shiyi is passionate about tutoring people on different subjects.

Amalia "Maya" Guirao, Educational Specialist at The Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, UTSA teaches Spanish Language courses designed for bilingual teacher candidates and serves as Advisor for the UTSA undergraduate and graduate bilingual student organizations BESO and GLOBE. Her area of research interests includes Spanish language acquisition for heritage speakers; Sociocultural approaches to language, literacy, identity; bilingualism/biliteracy; Latin@ education; bilingual education; teacher education; and qualitative and ethnographic methodologies.

Elise is currently a doctoral student in the Culture, Literacy, and Language program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She has a range of English teaching experiences, including at intensive English programs in the U.S., an international school abroad, and as an English Language Fellow in Uzbekistan. Elise is interested in serving language teachers around the globe through professional development, advocacy, and mutual learning.

Alpha A. Martínez-Suárez is a third year Ph.D. Fellow in the Culture, Language, and Literacy program at University of Texas at San Antonio. She currently teaches Análisis Lingüístico y Bilingüismo (Language Analysis & Bilingualism) at COEHD in UTSA. She is a two-time Academy for Teacher Excellence Presidential Distinguished Scholar awardee and co- founder of the Focused Library for the Dreamers’ Resource Center at UTSA.

Fabiana has been teaching English as a Second Language for twelve years. She holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics & TESOL and has worked as an ESL/EFL teacher in the United States, Brazil and Japan. Fabiana is passionate and devoted to her students’ learning. She is positive, enthusiastic, and teaches with a smile. She loves interacting with diverse groups of students, can problem solve, and work as a team.