Fall 2026 CoTESOL Convention

Whether in person or digitally, TESOL professionals have a most unique opportunity to make a difference in this world. Let’s work together, and let’s re-imagine our charge! The time is now. The place is here: CoTESOL. In this presentation, Professor Ehlers-Zavala shares her personal story of overcoming the odds. She engages the audience in a visionary journey that underscores the (1) role that TESOL professionals play in educating the leaders of tomorrow by enacting one’s own innate, or developed, superpowers; and (2) by believing in the potential that all TESOL professionals possess to lead and, consequently, impact their respective worlds, local and/or global. Through her talk, Professor Ehlers-Zavala celebrates the work of TESOL professionals across educational and geographical contexts. Through her account, enriched by interactions with her audience, she will suggest guidance to consider for elevating one another, empowering each other to stay strong and resilient, and staying engaged with the field through the professional organizations that bring us together. She reminds us that we are here to plant the seeds for what is yet to come, and that one thing is for sure… A caring and mindful approach to educating multilingual learners will go neither unforgotten, nor unnoticed. She believes that one’s time and effort will always matter and will contribute to make a positive difference even when one cannot clearly see it or ever witness it. Through her own personal/professional story, she will show how we, as TESOL professionals, are all constantly impacting and changing lives. Finally, she will strongly encourage everyone to continue to dare to dream and follow one’s passion, for she strongly believes that the outcomes will, more than likely, meet or exceed one’s initial expectations.

CLDE CDE Credit: 5.09(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: All members. 

In this session, we take a page out of history and reframe our current teaching contexts to explore strategies for continuing to uplift and sustain language teaching for the future during these most challenging times.

CLDE CDE Credit: 5.10(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: Higher Education / IEP SIG

This session will explore the four aspects of the TAIL Model: Translation, Adaptation, Interaction, and Language Transformation. Participants will discover how simple (and free) tech tools can provide essential language support, helping teachers adapt materials so students can meaningfully engage with content and their peers in authentic ways. Attendees will understand how to leverage technology to support, engage, and empower multilingual learners. (Be sure to bring a device to this session.)

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.10(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: All members. 

Participants will be informed on general rights of immigrant students as well as possible forms of immigration relief available to them and their families. The presentation will close by empowering participants to refer families in need to resources in the community.

Audience: Sociopolitical SIG

As the population of multilingual learners continues to grow across Colorado, schools face the dual challenge of ensuring equitable access to content while accelerating language development. This session will highlight how Harrison School District 2 is reimagining professional learning through a coaching model grounded in Jim Knight’s Impact Cycle and districtwide initiatives such as Newcomer Support, Co-Teaching Academies, Comprehensible Input, Translanguaging, and increasing high-quality student output. 
Participants will explore how to design and implement systems that (1) empower CLDE teachers as experts in their buildings, (2) position every teacher as a language teacher, (3) provide asset-based support for students and families, and (4) hold staff accountable for student growth without losing the relational core that makes professional learning effective. Attendees will leave with ideas and examples that they can adapt to their own contexts.
This session is designed for educators, coaches, and leaders who want to move beyond compliance and create sustainable, relationship-driven systems that raise expectations and outcomes for multilingual learners.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.12(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: Secondary Education

Discover how to keep instruction rigorous through purposeful questioning! In this session, you’ll learn how to craft and revise questions to target essential information while maintaining the complexity of vocabulary and content. Explore classroom examples that show questioning in action, and design your own “questioning ladder” to support deeper thinking and meaningful student engagement.

Audience: Elementary Education (EE) and general audience

Many today speak of being overwhelmed by the Information Age--there is so much to do and so little time—a time of “relentless change.” As a group, how can educators feel empowered and inspired when there is teaching, grading, meetings, and email that demand our time and attention? This presentation will discuss sources of empowerment and inspiration that are available to everyone now—in the classroom, in our communities, and in the world. In the end, inspiration and empowerment can actually support and even increase each other.

Audience: General audience. 

Who helped you on your own learning journey? We all have experienced the blessing of being empowered by an educator. Now as teachers, it is our turn to offer growth opportunities and support the development of a healthy learning mindset. To this aim, we can reflect on the definition of success not only in language learning but also in life. By modeling courage in its multifarious forms, we can inspire our students to redefine success and create their unique learning journey.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.09(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: General Audience

Before we educators begin to design and implement linguistically inclusive practices for our students, we must examine our own linguistic repertoires and consider how we can bravely create inclusion through building community, confidence/confianza, and complexity. In this session, we will have the opportunity to analyze and design activities through a translanguaging lens.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.10(2) ELEMENT B

Audience: Content Area

This presentation explores how strong teacher–student relationships support social-emotional development in elementary classrooms. Adriana Cabrera, a third-grade teacher at Sopris Elementary School in Glenwood Springs, CO, conducted a year-long action research project with 21 students in her class. Observations took place during morning greetings, family events, cultural celebrations, CREW circles, and small group activities, capturing student engagement, emotional expressions, and attendance patterns.

Grounded in literature highlighting the role of trust, active listening, and inclusive classroom culture, this study documented how intentional relationship-building strategies fostered increased participation, reduced absenteeism, and a stronger sense of community. Cabrera’s findings emphasize the connection between relational practices and student well-being, as evidenced by qualitative indicators such as smiles, hugs, peer-to-peer connections, and enthusiasm for learning.

Participants will gain practical strategies for cultivating positive relationships, integrating cultural events into classroom life, and supporting both social-emotional learning and academic success. The session will also address challenges and provide recommendations for fostering trust in multilingual and culturally diverse classrooms.

Cabrera’s work affirms that for educators especially in diverse communities building authentic relationships is not supplementary but foundational to student growth, belonging, and achievement.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.09(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: Teacher Education/Action Research

This presentation will examine possibilities when teaching adult ESL learners the perception and production of segmental features of English pronunciation in a hybrid flexible classroom where some students attended in person, and others attended online. Deliberate implementation of pronunciation instruction and practice in a hybrid flexible class can(?) increase students’ equitable access to educational resources If learning outcomes associated with the format are comparable to other formats (i.e. traditional face to face and online synchronous), programs could consider employing it in their hybrid classes. Specific attention will be paid to some of the pronunciation activities used in an adult hybrid ESOL class in Longmont, as well as some of the results of a Master's thesis on this research.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.10(1) ELEMENT A

Audience: Adult Education

In an era where language classrooms serve increasingly diverse and vulnerable student populations, English language teaching professionals face a profound question: What does it mean to truly educate when our students carry trauma, face systemic barriers, and navigate complex identity challenges alongside their language learning journey?
This keynote challenges the traditional boundaries of language instruction, calling educators to embrace a transformative approach that places courageous care and audacious hope at the center of pedagogical practice. Moving beyond the technical mechanics of grammar rules and vocabulary acquisition, Bryan Jordan will share how language educators become catalysts for healing, empowerment, and social justice.
Through compelling case studies and research-backed strategies, this presentation will examine:

• Courageous Care in Action: How to recognize and respond to student trauma, create psychologically safe learning environments, and use language instruction as a vehicle for emotional healing and cultural affirmation
• Audacious Hope as Pedagogy: Strategies for maintaining and cultivating hope in the face of educational inequity, helping students envision and work toward futures that may seem impossible
• The Intersection of Language and Identity: Supporting students in developing not just linguistic competence, but cultural pride and critical consciousness
• Practical Tools for Transformation: Concrete approaches for integrating social-emotional learning, restorative practices, and culturally sustaining pedagogy into daily language instruction

Attendees will leave equipped with both the moral framework and practical strategies needed to transform their classrooms into spaces where language learning becomes an act of liberation, where every student's linguistic and cultural assets are honored, and where education serves as a pathway to justice and opportunity.
This is not just about teaching English—it's about using the power of language education to change lives, communities, and the world. It's about having the courage to care deeply and the audacity to hope boldly, even when the odds seem insurmountable.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.10(2) ELEMENT B

Audience: General Audience