Cultural Connections Lab

Alicia Stevens-Blair is an educational consultant, advocate, and cofounder of SustainED LLC , dedicated to empowering students and equipping educators with the tools they need to succeed. Throughout her career, she has championed the use of innovative educational resources—including emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence—to create inclusive and dynamic learning environments that ins...

Today’s guest is Miguel A. Briones, an award-winning educator, community organizer, public speaker, and author. Miguel is also the founder of Know Culture Publishing , established in 2023 with the mission to empower marginalized communities impacted by generational trauma, systemic inequities, and cultural displacement. Through its work, Know Culture Publishing creates opportunities to share diver...

Samuel Aguirre is the Senior Director of the Consortium and State Relations Department at WIDA. His team engages and supports WIDA Consortium member states to ensure successful implementation of all WIDA products and services. The Consortium and States Relations team also engages and facilitates state expertise within WIDA to deliver high quality products and services for multilingual learners and...

Explore how digital-age teaching strategies can transform learning for multilingual and multicultural students in this engaging podcast. We’ll uncover the advantages of flipped learning and discuss how to design equitable approaches that meet the needs of diverse learners. Dive into practical methods for balancing the six language domains—listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and visuall...

David Rogers supports the work of Dual Language Education of New Mexico-DLeNM whose mission is to promote the effective design and implementation of dual language education in New Mexico, and beyond. In his thirty-five years as an educator, David has served as an education volunteer and program coordinator in Peace Corps Paraguay, South America, a bilingual special education teacher in South Bronx...

Dr. Jobi Lawrence has almost three decades of experience working across all levels in the field of education and as a parent to three grown adult children. From her early career at the local level as a classroom teacher, to serving as the Title III Director at a state education agency, to her role at the national level as the Director for the National Clearinghouse of English Language Acquisition...

Okhee Lee is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She is committed to advancing research, policy, and practice that promote STEM and language learning for all students, particularly multilingual learners. Lee was a member of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) writing team and served as leader for the NGSS Diversity and...

Michael Rodríguez is the Executive Director of Dual Language Education of NM (DLeNM). For six years, he served as the organization's director of operations, heading up and expanding its Program Design and Leadership Development offerings while supporting schools, districts, and state agencies across the country to create quality, sustainable dual language programs. During his fifteen years as a sc...

Montserrat Garibay is the Assistant Deputy Secretary & Director for the Office of English Language Acquisition at the U.S. Department of Education. More recently, she was the Senior Advisor for Labor Relations at the Office of the Secretary. She was the secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO. Previously, she served as vice president for Certified Employees with Education Austin, a merged uni...

Liz Howard is an associate professor of bilingual education in the department of Curriculum and Instruction. Her current research focuses on the development of sociocultural competence among dual language students in the U.S. and Costa Rica, and she was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to investigate the development of sociocultural competence among dual language stud...

Heather Graham is currently the Multilingual Coordinator for Bethany Public Schools in Oklahoma. She has previously worked as a School Counselor, and recently was presented the opportunity to transition into the Multilingual world. Her Multilingual Program is small but rapidly growing. She has enjoyed learning about her students, teachers, and families and hopes to continue to bring awareness and...

Alejandra Vázquez Baur is a fellow at The Century Foundation, where she manages the Bridges Collaborative , an initiative that champions school integration. In 2022, she co-founded the National Newcomer Network , a coalition that brings together educators, researchers, and advocates invested in developing systemic solutions to address newcomer student inequity in K–12 schools. Under Alejandra’s le...

Akash Patel , originally from India, began his teaching career in very small rural communities in Oklahoma where people had never seen or met “a brown Indian guy who spoke five languages and had traveled to over 50 countries. He used his travel experiences to design all of his lessons. For example, he used his experiences of working with elephants in South Asia to teach children to make elephant p...

Suzie is an entrepreneur, business owner, transformational speaker, and bestselling author. She is the CEO and Founder of the RTE Academy, a coaching program designed to strategically transform the lives of successful women who feel unworthy. Survivor, or as she likes to call herself Thriver of multiple illnesses including cancer and over five abdominal surgeries, she found the way out of societal...

Sunny Day, Miss Oklahoma 2023, is a first-generation high school and college graduate. She graduated from Norman Public Schools in 2013 and went on to obtain her Bachelor of Arts in Communications at The University of Oklahoma in 2018. She has been a public-school teacher at Bridgestone Intermediate in Western Heights Public Schools since 2018. Sunny has had many roles in her school, she has taugh...

Join me and four graduate students (Aya Iwamoto, Genevieve Simmons, Hyekyong Yun, & Julie Muir) from the University of Central Oklahoma’s Master’s in Bilingual Education program as we reflect on the impact of data utilization within language programs, examining both its positive contributions and potential pitfalls. Drawing from personal and professional experiences, we discuss how data-inform...

Dr. Stephen Krashen completed his Ph. D. in Linguistics at UCLA (1972), and is currently an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. Dr. Krashen is the author of more than 525 articles and books in the fields of bilingual education, neurolinguistics, second language acquisition and literacy. He has received numerous awards including the Mildenberger Award (1982), g...

Mónica Suyo moved from Lima, Perú to Norman, OK in 2001. Her dream was to study abroad and explore other cultures. Prior to studying at the University of Oklahoma (OU), Mónica was an exchange student in Sevilla, Spain. She graduated from OU in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She also holds a Master's degree in Human Relations. She has been in education for over 15 years and has profes...

Daniela Perieda is passionate about bilingualism and education reform. She is the author of “Become a Bilingual Family – The Best Method For Raising Bilingual Children, Even If You Only Speak One Language” and is the Past President of the Oklahoma Association for Bilingual Education. She holds a Family Life Education – Child Development degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, OK....

Savanna Payne has worked in education as a teacher, OELA grant coordinator, and facilitator for the past 10+ years. She is currently an English Language Development Administrator at Oklahoma City public schools and oversees English Language Development programming in multiple middle schools. She received a Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. Her educational backgr...

Ronald Mauricio Sandoval was born in San Luis, Jilotepeque Guatemala. He grew up in Guatemala and El Salvador during its Civil War. After high school, he served a 25 month mission in the mountainous region of Momostenango Guatemala where he learned to speak Quiché. After his mission, He completed his undergraduate work in education at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. Early in his career in...

For the past 25 years, Sally has dedicated her time and energy to teaching multilingual learners both at the elementary and secondary levels. In her current role as an EL facilitator, she supports secondary ELD and core content teachers with effective teaching strategies to support second language acquisition for EL students. Sally holds two educational degrees from the University of Central Oklah...

Paul Parkerson grew up in Spain and is fluent in both Spanish and English. He's a K-5 bilingual/ESL interventionist in Denton ISD who has worked with elementary multilingual students in Texas for 20 years in various language programs. He received his Ph. D. in Reading from the Department of Literacy and Learning at Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX, where he has also worked as a research assi...

In this captivating podcast episode, delve into the inspiring journey of Dr. Kelly B. Forbes, a bilingual dancer whose passion for education shines through. Dr. Forbes shares his insights on fostering inclusive learning environments for multicultural and multilingual students, advocating for equitable access to education for all. Through his experiences and expertise, listeners gain valuable persp...

Andrea Bitner is a passionate educator, author, and professional development provider that has worked with students in grades K-12 through her twenty-three years in public education from all around the world. Her first book, “ Take Me Home ” addresses the journeys of some amazing young multilingual students who exhibit the fuel and grit to navigate and embrace the American dream. She is also a co-...