http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16441271

Bilingual educators conference opens today
By Ramon Bracamontes \ El Paso Times
Posted: 10/27/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

More than 2,000 bilingual educators from throughout the state will be in El Paso over the next three days to talk about what works and what doesn't in bilingual education classrooms.

The annual Texas Association for Bilingual Education conference begins today with several group meetings. The full conference will begin at 8:15 a.m. Thursday at the Abraham Chavez Theatre. The conference's first speaker will be University of Texas at El Paso President Diana Natalicio.

More than 1,300 people have already registered for the conference, and an additional 800 are expected to register today and Thursday, event organizers said.

Jose Hernandez, Texas Association for Bilingual Education executive director, said the conference will look back at 40 years of bilingual education.

"We need to see what works and use that to make our teachers the best bilingual teachers in the world," he said. "We will look at the best practices and see where we go from here."

Bilingual education, and how best to teach it at every public school, has become a major issue in Texas because of the changing demographics, conference officials said. Texas demographers estimate that 13.4 million Hispanics will reside in the state by 2025, up from 9.1 million in 2009.

A good portion of those new residents will not be native English speakers, so getting them entrenched in English and able to succeed in school will be a challenge.

"According to research, dual-language programs are the most successful in making a positive difference in student achievement," said Josefina V. Tinajero, a conference co-chairwoman and dean of the College of Education at UTEP.

Tinajero, a noted international expert on bilingual and dual-language education, is among the many featured conference speakers.

Other speakers include El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia, Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Michael Zolkoski and Soccoro Independent School District Superintendent Xavier De La Torre. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, will speak Friday.

Most of the events will take place at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center and the Camino Real Hotel.

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SUPREME waste of Taxpayers $$$. The Bilingual program does not work and never will!