Second Language Educators Confer Sept. 27

09/09/2014 

Marisol Marcin, a Spanish/English as a second language (ESL) teacher in the Sidney (N.Y.) Central Schools, will discuss whether or not schools are prepared to meet New York state’s Common Core standards on Saturday, Sept. 27, at SUNY Cortland.

Marcin will deliver the keynote address “We are already there!” during the 24th annual Second Language Educator’s Conference from 8:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in Old Main, Room 209.

This year’s theme is “Foreign Language and English as a Second Language: Getting to the Common Core of Communication.”

Hosted by the College’s Modern Languages Department and sponsored by International Programs and the SUNY Cortland Auxiliary Services Corporation, the conference offers a half day of workshops and a forum for discussing issues and exchanging ideas for area teachers, teachers-in-training and college faculty. The annual event is open to students as well as to all area foreign language teachers, teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), and English as a second language (ESL) colleagues.

The conference is free of charge. Registration by Thursday, Sept. 25, is required and can be done at the Modern Languages Department website at cortland.edu/modern-languages.

For registration information, contact Cheryl Rosati in the Modern Languages Department at 607-753-4303. For more information about the event, contact conference coordinators Patricia Martinez de la Vega Mansilla, lecturer in Spanish, or Paulo Quaglio, associate professor in TESOL and applied linguistics.

Marcin offers a positive interpretation of the implementation of the new education standards.

Marisol Marcin

“Teachers are being told that we need to implement Common Core, a miraculous cure to the ‘aches’ and ‘pains’ of education,” she said. “I truly believe that most of this Common Core is in reality common sense and that good teachers — the kind that take time to plan, reflect and do professional development to keep up to date — already do it.”

Marcin will discuss what Common Core is and how it happens in the English as a Second Language (ESL) and Language Other than English (LOTE) classrooms. 

“We also will get psyched about the great opportunities we have available to help our students and our own possibilities to grow professionally,” she said.

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Marcin completed a bachelor’s degree in modern languages and teaching at Universidad Pedagogica Nacional in Colombia. She later earned a master’s degree in integrating technology in the classroom at Walden University. Currently, Marcin is pursuing a doctorate in translation studies at Binghamton University. She has completed SUNY Cortland courses related to teaching methods, special education and TESOL and is learning Mandarin. 

Marcin has presented workshops on technology in education, multiple intelligences and strategies for LOTE classrooms at regional conferences and the annual New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers conference. She moved to the U.S. in 2002, living in Alaska and South Carolina before joining the Sidney District in 2004.

The workshops scheduled for the 2014 Second Language Educators Conference include:

•                “American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language’s 5Cs vs. the Common Core”

•                “‘What Are You Asking Me?’: Helping English Language Learners Find Success Through Understanding the Language of the Common Core”

•                “Writing as a Bridge to Oral Communication: Approximating Speech”

•                “What are You Doing for Your High Reactive Students?”

•                “The Common Core Standards for Reading and Writing and the Academic Literacy Skills Test:  What Should Future ESL Teachers Know and be Able to Do?”

•                “Making the Walls in Your Classroom Disappear”

•                “Pair and Group Activities in the LOTE Classroom: Some Guiding Principles and Sharing of Ideas”

•                “Tried and True, Hip and New: Technology and Projects for Language Educators”

•                “Deaf Students as ESL Learners”