October 2025 Newsletter

Events News 

12th Annual Minnesota English Learner Education (MELEd) Conference

November 21-22, 2025 | Saint Paul RiverCentre

The Minnesota English Learner  Education (MELEd) Conference brings together the brightest minds in ESL, Migrant Education, and Dual Language Immersion. It will be held November 21-22, 2025 at the Saint Paul Rivercentre. Early bird registration is open now, and the schedule is available. Read below for information on how to attend for a discount, and our keynote speakers.

️ Attend for Free or at a Discount!

Keynote Speakers

Friday: David Lai & Gabriela Uro
In the Eye of the Storm: Multilingual Educators at the Center of Access to Education

Join David Lai (Director of EL Policy and Research, Council of the Great City Schools) and Gabriela Uro (Program Director, ELMES of WestEd) as they discuss the complex and crucial role of multilingual educators in today’s educational landscape.

Educators of multilingual students are constantly navigating environments in flux, harnessing their pedagogical expertise in language acquisition, commitment to culturally responsive practices, and vital human relations skills. Lai and Uro will discuss how the current climate places multilingual educators “in the eye of the storm” and underscore their essential part in ensuring English learners have meaningful access to education and academic success.

Attendees will engage with two resources:

  • A Framework for Foundational Literacy Skills Instruction for English Learners (2023): Illuminating what is uniquely important for early literacy and language acquisition for ELs.
  • Identifying and Supporting Newcomer Students (2025): Offering guidance for districts on identifying and effectively addressing the needs of newcomer students.

Saturday: Najalia Benjamin

We’re excited to welcome Natalia Benjamin, Director of Multilingual Learning for Rochester Public Schools and the 2021 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, to the keynote stage!

A fierce advocate for multilingual and multicultural education, Natalia brings a wealth of experience as a dually licensed K-12 ESL and reading educator. Her keynote will explore critical issues surrounding the liberation of marginalized students through the lens of:

  • Identity work
  • Heritage Speakers
  • Humanizing pedagogies

Drawing on her extensive work with organizations like Education Minnesota, TESOL, and the NEA, and her involvement in the FIRE-REA program, Natalia’s session will be a call to action for all who work to empower multilingual learners.

MELEd 2025- November 20-22, 2025

The Minnesota English Learner  Education (MELEd) Conference will be held November 20-22 2025 at the Saint Paul Rivercentre MELEd is a partnership between MinneTESOL and the Minnesota Department of Education. It is a merger of the annual MinneTESOL Fall Conference and the Minnesota ESL, Bilingual, and Migrant Education Conference. The Call for Proposals has been extended and will remain open until August 15. To submit a proposal, click here.  Presenters will be notified of feedback/acceptance on August 20.

STAY IN THE LOOP
For real-time updates and registration info, hit up our Conference web page.
We hope to see you there!

Meet the MinneTESOL Members

Name: Shannon Tanghe
Position a

t MinneTESOL: 3rd Vice President
Education Context: Metro State University, School of Urban Education, Asst. Professor & ESL Program Coordinator
Why you got into ESL: While in college I taught in Egypt, Korea, and Guyana. Those experiences sparked my interest in international English/ESL education and led me to pursue English language teaching as a career.
Current Projects: Preparing for the MELEd conference!  Also, I lived and taught in Korea for 16 years, so now I return each summer to teach university students in an international summer school program there. This summer, I also served as a US Dept. of State English Language Specialist, creating and piloting English curriculum for students in an immigration detention center in Thailand as well as for an urban teacher training course with the Bangkok Refugee Center. I am also excited to share that a co-edited book I have been working on, “Radical Inclusivity: CLA in the Language and Writing Classroom” is coming out in November!

Check out the Latest Issue of MinneTESOL Journal!

Featured Articles

In “Co-teaching in secondary mathematics: Teacher perceptions and the impact on student success,” Anna Meyer conducted a mixed-methods research study that examines the impacts and effectiveness of co-teaching in secondary mathematics classrooms for multilingual learners. She also addresses teacher perception of the co-teaching model and what factors are necessary for proper implementation. This study shows co-teaching as a viable strategy for promoting equity in education by integrating language and content instruction, ultimately enhancing student success.

Renee Ullom and Bailey Nafziger present their research on introducing multilingual strategies to an elementary science methods course in their article, “Implementing multilingual learner strategies within the 5E science framework: Preparing preservice teachers for the diverse classroom.” Findings highlight the positive effect of providing explicit instruction to preservice teachers on multilingual strategies and aligning second language acquisition principles to the 5E science model. It highlights the potential of structured, inquiry-based learning to enhance both science comprehension and language development for multilingual learners.

MinneTESOL Journal call for papers

Now is your chance to publish an article in the upcoming MinneTESOL Journal, a practitioner academic online journal. See Writing for the MinneTESOL Journal for more information. 

Journal submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.

Call for Volunteers: Research Survey on Language Teacher Practice

Darren LaScotte (Past President of MinneTESOL and current Technical Editor of MinneTESOL Journal) and Gulzhana Kuzembayeva (Visiting Scholar, University of Minnesota) are reaching out to current MinneTESOL members to invite you to complete a survey aimed at exploring research-based teaching practices in education. Thank you for your willingness to help our colleagues!

Did you know?

Past MinneTESOL newsletters can be found on our website, at http://minnetesol.org/minnetesol-newsletters

We want to hear from you

We are always looking for information to share from our members. Please send newsletter submissions to admin@minnetesol.org.

Past Newsletters
Share this Article