On April 20, CABE held its most recent chapter meeting at the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus. We were pleased to host guest speaker Linda Guthrie, former secondary vice president of UTLA and tainer for the Governor's Institute. Guthrie taught in New York City for a year and was a history professor at North Carolina Central University before coming to teach at the prestigious Sacred Heart Academy for Girls in La Canada-Flintridge. While teaching for 25 years at Virgil Middle School, she was the UTLA Chapter Chair and chair of the English & ESL Department. She is member of the team that developed the English as a Second Language (ESL) Course of Study. Guthrie obtained National Board Certification in English as a New Language for Young Adults and is a facilitator. Her book donations to Allesandro Elementary School Library later resulted in the naming of the library in her honor.

The GSEP Alumni Office hosted the third annual reception for the presentation of the California Association of Bilingual Education (CABE) Visionary Award on March 11 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. This year’s recipient was Omar Guillen (MS ’07), alumnus of the master of science in administration and preliminary services credential program, who serves the Anaheim City School District as a parent involvement specialist in curriculum and instruction.

The CABE Visionary Award is given to an alumnus who has exemplified and advanced the CABE mission of promoting bilingual education and quality educational experiences for all students in California. The reception was attended by students, alumni, faculty, staff, CABE representatives, and friends of Pepperdine, and coincided with the 35th Annual CABE Conference at the San Jose Convention Center. This year’s theme was “Celebrating 35 Years of Promoting Best Practices for English Learners.”

As a part of his position with the Anaheim City School District, Guillen oversees the District Advisory Committee/District English Learner Advisory Committee (DAC/DELAC), which includes multilingual parents, administrators, and interested community members. Attendance for the monthly meetings has increased nearly 100 percent under his leadership. In addition, Guillen is a part of the Family Involvement Network at the Orange County Department of Education, for which he has presented on increasing parental involvement at schools and welcoming non- or limited-English speaking parents to schools. Guillen is also part of the Dual Language Immersion Program within the district, and the training team for the School Site Council, which instructs teachers, parents, and administrators in English and Spanish.

The Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) chapter of the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) installed new officers on January 22 at the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus.

The Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) chapter of the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) installed new officers on January 27 at the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus. The new officers are GSEP alumni Jeneffer Osorio, vice president; Mireya Garcia, secretary; and Gloria Gasca, treasurer. The new officers join GSEP alumnus Edgar Angulo, who is currently serving the second year of his term as president. Dr. Maria Quezada, chief executive officer of CABE, swore in the new officers and addressed the chapter and its members. Also on hand were Dr. Eric Hamilton, associate dean of education at GSEP, and Dr. García Ramos, associate professor of education and faculty advisor to the chapter at GSEP.

In February the chapter worked with the GSEP Office of Alumni Relations to coordinate the second annual GSEP CABE Visionary Award reception, held on February 26 at the Westin Hotel in Long Beach. The award recognizes an alum whose work in the field of education embodies the mission shared by GSEP and CABE, to advance bilingual education and provide quality educational experiences for all students. This year the award was given to Bertha Benavides, a student in the Master of Arts in Education with Teaching Credential (MAETC) program at the Irvine Graduate Campus. Benavides worked as an outreach coordinator for Washington Elementary School, consistently going above and beyond her duties to ensure that the students' parents were informed and active in the schooling of their children. All of the parents with whom Benavides works are Latino, and many are immigrants and English-language learners. Thus, while not a bilingual teacher, Benavides has ensured that she incorporates her students' native language and culture into her classroom lessons. Benavides also taught the Second Language Development Courses as an adjunct professor of Education at GSEP.

The reception coincided with the 2009 annual CABE conference at the Long Beach Convention Center from February 25-28. Garcia Ramos, Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with an Emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy student Khoa Ngo, and MAETC adjunct faculty member Dr. Eva Valle presented a workshop entitled "Creating Common Ground: Teaching for Social Justice and Empowering Students to Find their Own Voice and Self-Identity." This was a culmination of work that grew out of a partnership between GSEP's teacher education program and Animo Leadership Charter High School. The presentation highlighted the impact that the partnership has had on the students of Animo Leadership. In addition, García Ramos conducted a workshop for educators and administrators entitled "Constructing New Futures through a Project Based Learning (PBL) Approach."  The workshop was intended to help educators walk through the steps needed to introduce and engage learners, especially English language learners, though a PBL approach.

GSEP assistant professor of education Dr. Anthony Collatos and co-teacher Mary Johnson also presented at the conference, in collaboration with Master of Arts in Education with Teaching Credential alumna Mireya Garcia. Their presentation, entitled "New Models of Authentic Parent Engagement" featured the GSEP Urban Parent Teacher Education Collaborative (UPTEC), directed by Collatos and designed to encourage parents and community members to become teacher educators. The presentation also highlighted Johnson's 21^st Century Urban Parent Recasting Model for parent involvement, recently adopted by the Los Angeles Unified School District and currently under consideration by the California Department of Education as a model program. "Each year we present at CABE, I am impressed by the amazing number of individuals eager to hear how we can better empower parents and encourage schools to include parents and community members as critical stakeholders," said Collatos.

Jordan Gonzalez, a current MAETC and UPTEC student shared, "It was impressive to see how others react to the same professors we get to work with every week. Leaders from around the state are interested in the work we are doing in UPTEC." Lucia Perez Barrow, a family and community engagement coordinator for the San Francisco Unified School District, expressed appreciation by stating, "These are exactly the type of programs we need to help parents and educators realize we need each other to make a difference in our schools." Collatos, Johnson, and five of the current UPTEC students will present a similar panel at the American Research Association Annual Meeting in April.

The Pepperdine CABE chapter also organized a presentation to demonstrate how teachers can connect with students and their communities. Attendees learned how LAUSD Central High School/Tri-C infuses community resources to strengthen lives and inspire success. "TOGETHER: Imagine, Inspire, Illuminate!" took place at Pepperdine's West Los Angeles Campus on March 25. Guest speakers included Ronda Dixon, Esq. and Calvert Sims, executive director and counselor respectively of Dixon Recovery Institute, Inc. The evening will also included food, raffles, and networking opportunities.

Dr. Reyna Garcia Ramos, Maria Valle, and Khoa Ngo

New CABE officers

The California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) and its Pepperdine University Chapter are actively promoting the development of bilingual educators with several events this season.

CABE held its 2008 annual gala benefit dinner on October 4 in Long Beach. Ms. Soccoro Cruz, anchorwoman from Noticias 62, was the master of ceremonies for the evening. Dr. Reyna Garcia Ramos, professor of education at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP), was the chair for the silent auction that raises money for the teachership fund. The fund annually awards scholarships to students in teacher education programs that seek to become bilingual educators in California's K-12 public school system. This year's recipients included GSEP Master of Arts in Education with Teaching Credential student Jeneffer Osorio and alumna Mireya Garcia. Both will receive a $2,000 teachership toward completing the bilingual certification process.

Garcia Ramos and the officers of the Pepperdine University CABE Chapter also presented at the annual conference of the Association of Mexican American Educators from October 17-18 in Los Angeles, California. Garcia Ramos and Edgar Angulo (MAETC alumnus), Gloria Gasca (MAETC alumna), Mireya Garcia and Jeneffer Osorio discussed "Día de los Muertos: Culture, Language and Art" to help educators, administrators and parents acknowledge students' cultural traditions and infuse those themes into the classroom as a way to validate students home language and motivate students in schools.

The Pepperdine University CABE Chapter held its first meeting of the 2008-2009 academic year on October 22 at the Pepperdine University West Los Angeles graduate campus. The gathering included meeting new members and learning techniques for infusing cultural themes into the classroom experience. 

Award winners Jeneffer Osorio and Mireya Garcia