Dear CABE Members and Friends,
Hablo solamente
un poco de Español, pero creo en la fuerza de la educación bilingüe. While
I continue to strengthen my bilingual skills, I am thrilled to be the 2010-2011
president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education (CABE). The
Colorado Association for Bilingual Education is just that, an organization for
bilingual education.
CABE is for bilingual teachers wanting to
improve their bilingual teaching strategies, it is for all teachers wanting
to improve their sheltered instruction and instruction for second language
learners, it is for administrators wanting to set up the best bilingual and ESL
programs for their district and schools; and it is for advocates wanting to
affect district, school, and state policies related to bilingual education. CABE
has kept me current with the most cutting edge research on bilingual education as
well as policies and laws surrounding bilingual students.
My first duty as President of
CABE is to thank all of the amazing presenters and keynote speakers we had at the
2010 CABE conference. We had a kaleidoscope of speakers; from experts in the
field of bilingual education such as Nancy Commins, Nancy Escamilla, and Elena Izquierdo;
to policy leader Dr. Barbara Medina, CDE’s State Director of Language Culture
and Equity Unit; to community leader Helen Thorpe, author of Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America.
The DREAM Act is one of CABE’s foci
for the coming year. When passed, the DREAM Act will give some of our best and brightest the ability to fully
contribute to our country’s well-being by serving in the U.S. armed
forces or pursuing higher education. This bill is good for our nation, because
it will provide an opportunity to find common-sense solutions to problems that
everyone agrees must be fixed. We must find the courage to stand up to the
politics of the moment, and do what is right for our country and for the next
generation, not just the next election.
CABE is also a firm supporter of the Alliance
for Multilingual and Multicultural Education (AMME - www.ammeglobe.com). “AMME’s Mission is to transform the policy and practice of
language education and academic achievement for Bilingual and English learners
in U.S. schools; to advance
equal educational access and opportunities; and to raise U.S. standards
for language education to the level of the rest of the world.” CABE plans to
support the 2nd Annual AMME Conference which will be held in San Antonio Texas,
April 6-8, 2011.
The CABE Board and I hope to see
you at our next conference on October 13 and 14, 2011. More information on the
conference will be posted to our Website in the coming months. We hope to
continue to expand our influence on our schools, our districts, our state and
our country.
Thank
you for your continued support to advance the vision and mission of CABE.
Sincerely,
Christine
Muldoon
President
- Colorado
Association for Bilingual Education
