Friday, May 15, 2026
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Registration
May 15, 7:00am – 8:00am60 minMain Foyer -
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Opening Session
SAAABE Board Lead
May 15, 8:00am – 8:25am25 minBexar (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 400) -
Keynote Session
Keynote SessionDr. Miguel Cardona Lead
May 15, 8:25am – 9:30am65 minBexar (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 400) -
Instrucción estructurada de la LECTOESCRITURA en español
Sponsored by Werling Nexus (Diamond) Sponsored SessionsAlejandra Benitez Lead
May 15, 9:40am – 10:50am70 minMesquite (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
Descubre cómo enseñar la lectoescritura en español de forma explícita, sistemática y efectiva. A través de una secuencia progresiva de habilidades —conciencia fonológica, fonética, fluidez, vocabulario, comprensión y escritura— aprenderás a apoyar a los estudiantes desde las etapas iniciales de alfabetización hasta estudiantes mayores con retos en lectoescritura. Los participantes aprenderán a usar evaluaciones y datos para guiar la instrucción y brindar intervenciones efectivas en aulas bilingües. Saldrás con herramientas prácticas que impulsarán la biliteracidad, la confianza académica y un ambiente inclusivo y motivador para todos tus estudiantes. -
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Beyond the hype: AI Empowers Campeones del Lenguaje to Rise
Technology in Bilingual/ESL ClassroomsElmer Castro Lead
May 15, 9:45am – 10:40am55 minHickory (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 35)Show details
Artificial intelligence is increasingly present in classrooms, yet many bilingual and ESL educators are unsure how to use it in ways that meaningfully support language development and accountability measures such as TELPAS. This session focuses on everyday uses of AI tools (e.g., NotebookLM) to strengthen listening, speaking, reading, and writing in bilingual, dual language, and ESL settings.
Grounded in translanguaging and culturally sustaining practices, the session demonstrates how AI can function as a language scaffold, not a shortcut, supporting academic language growth. Participants will analyze classroom-ready examples that align to TELPAS proficiency descriptors and preserve instructional rigor and assessment integrity.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies for using AI to amplify student voice, increase access to grade-level content, and center lenguaje, cultura, y comunidad as students continue to rise as campeones de lenguaje. -
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Igniting Possibilities for Dyslexia Support in Dual-Language Programs
EBs with Diverse NeedsCeleste Martinez Lead with Karla Mariana Escobar
May 15, 9:45am – 10:40am55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
This presentation draws on the emerging research into multilingual and multimodal means of representation (Cioè‐Peña, 2022; CAST, 2024) for students with dyslexia in Dual Language and Bilingual Education programs (DLBE). Participants will identify specific strategies to implement in their classrooms by engaging with an interactive, composite case study. This composite case study highlights current practices to enable access to the curriculum. Participants will leave with resources on actionable strategies to implement in the classroom. -
AI + ELPS: Streamlining Instructional Planning for EBs
Technology in Bilingual/ESL ClassroomsDelia Reveles Gauna Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 12:05pm70 minHickory (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 35)Show details
This session will demonstrate how to use AI to streamline planning and design instruction that support emergent bilinguals’ language development. By pairing practical AI workflows with explicit ELPS alignment, teachers can produce clear objectives, scaffolded lesson steps, and quick formative checks that elevate instruction and support students’ growth. -
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Empowering Multilingual Learners with Disabilities Through Universal Design
EBs with Diverse NeedsCarlos Perez Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 11:50am55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
Language becomes a tool of empowerment when all students can access rigorous academic content through multiple pathways. This innovative session demonstrates how Universal Design for Learning serves as a powerful framework to integrate evidence-based strategies that unlock academic language for multilingual learners, including English learners with disabilities. Participants will explore the synergy between UDL's three principles and structured instructional approaches: the 7 Steps to Language-Rich Classrooms, QSSSR (Question, Signal/Cue, Sentence Stem, Share, Assess), and Preview-View-Review strategies. Through hands-on practice with a dual language 8th grade US History lesson, educators will experience how sentence stems scaffold academic discourse, how multiple modalities support comprehension for students with reading differences, and how choice in expression honors both linguistic diversity and learning differences. Attendees will leave with a replicable lesson template that transforms any content area into a linguistically and cognitively accessible learning experience. When we design instruction that honors every student's linguistic assets while providing structured and explicit instructional support for academic language development and reading differences, we truly make language a source of power for all learners. -
The Transformative Power of Bilingual and Higher Education
Featured SessionsDr. Jose Luis Zelaya Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 12:05pm70 minMesquite (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
This session provides an interactive and engaging learning experience focused on the transformative power of bilingualism in the lives of newcomer and emergent bilingual students. Participants will explore how bilingualism strengthens cognitive development, academic success, perseverance, and long-term aspirations, while also serving as a foundation for belonging and empowerment in schools. Together, we will examine common challenges educators face when supporting bilingual learners, including limited instructional time, pressures to accelerate English acquisition, and systems that unintentionally devalue students’ home language. Using a strengths-based and research-informed approach, participants will reflect on how to shift classroom practices toward affirming language, culture, and student voice. Educators will leave with practical strategies and tools that can be implemented strategically, including methods to increase academic discourse, elevate multilingual engagement, and create safe learning environments where students’ native language and cultural assets are embraced as essential resources. This session will inspire participants to reimagine English language acquisition as a powerful pathway to leadership, opportunity, and generational success. -
Where Language and Disability Meet: What Districts Must Do Differently
Featured SessionsLizdelia Piñón Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 12:05pm70 minPine (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Where Language and Disability Meet explores how schools can better serve multilingual students with disabilities by rethinking systems that often separate language development from special education. This session challenges deficit-based approaches and highlights how they contribute to misidentification, limited access, and inequitable outcomes for emergent bilingual learners.
Participants will examine how policy, instruction, and collaboration can work together to create more inclusive, asset-based environments that honor students’ linguistic and cultural strengths. The presentation offers practical strategies for equitable identification, bilingual and culturally sustaining instruction, stronger collaboration between multilingual and special education teams, and authentic family partnership.
Grounded in research and real-world district examples, this session empowers educators, leaders, and advocates to move beyond compliance and toward transformative practices. Attendees will leave with concrete tools and a renewed vision for creating classrooms and systems where multilingual students with disabilities are fully included, supported, and positioned to thrive. -
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Awards Ceremony
SAAABE Board Lead
May 15, 1:00pm – 1:45pm45 minBexar (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 400) -
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Voices Unlocked: Creating Digital Escape Rooms for Bilingual Classrooms
Technology in Bilingual/ESL ClassroomsLinda Esmeralda Villareal Lead
May 15, 1:45pm – 2:40pm55 minHickory (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 35)Show details
This interactive session demonstrates how to design escape rooms that combine digital platforms such as Google tools, Flippity, and Genially with hands on paper puzzles placed around the classroom to create engaging content review experiences for bilingual, dual language, and ESL classrooms.
Participants will first experience an escape room from the student perspective. The second portion of the session will guide educators step-by-step through the design process, equipping them with practical tools and templates to immediately implement escape rooms in their own classrooms. Aligned with the theme “Still We Rise: Campeones de lenguaje, la cultura, y la comunidad,” this session demonstrates how collaborative learning empowers students to rise as champions of their languages. -
Still We Rise: Creating Pathways for Bilingual Students in GT
EBs with Diverse NeedsDr. Apolonio Trejo Lead
May 15, 1:45pm – 2:40pm55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
This session explores the underrepresentation of bilingual students in Gifted and Talented (GT) programs and provides practical strategies for equitable identification, culturally responsive assessment, and inclusive instruction in bilingual, dual language, and ESL classrooms. Drawing on current research (Medina, 2025; Trejo, 2021), it highlights systemic barriers and emphasizes the value of students’ home languages, bilingualism, and translanguaging as assets for learning. Participants will leave with actionable tools to create pathways that honor bilingual learners as campeones de lenguaje, la cultura, y la comunidad. -
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Beyond Handwriting: Recognizing Dysgraphia in Emergent Bilingual Students
Technology in Bilingual/ESL ClassroomsJulissa Romero Lead with Lucia Cintron
May 15, 2:55pm – 3:50pm55 minHickory (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 35)Show details
Dysgraphia is far more than messy handwriting, and for emergent bilingual students, it can be even harder to see. This session explores how motor coordination challenges, spelling difficulties, disorganized written expression, and the complexities of second language acquisition can combine to obscure a very real learning difference. This presentation equips educators with the knowledge and tools to identify dysgraphia through a culturally and linguistically informed lens, ensuring that no student's struggles are dismissed as simply part of 'learning the language.' -
EBs, Former EBs, and Non-EBs: Developing Language in Diverse Classrooms
EBs with Diverse NeedsStephen Fleenor Lead
May 15, 2:55pm – 3:50pm55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
The modern general-education classroom is highly heterogeneous, with emergent bilingual (EB) students at different levels of English language proficiency, students with unique socioemotional needs, and students with diverse background knowledge about academic content.
How can we practically meet the language needs of all students in a diverse classroom? This session shows educators practical ways to meet students where they are at, give them a voice, and help to grow their language, self-confidence, and academic performance. Additionally, this session models how to achieve success for all students by making the development of academic language the primary objective of every lesson and challenging all students to engage with thinking and language at the highest levels of Blooms’ taxonomy. In this session, participants will:
• Engage as students in language-rich simulations
• Discuss with peers how second-language acquisition (SLA) strategies and diverse support can help all students realize their potential
• Learn how to give students a voice through open-ended, culturally responsive activities -
Cultivating Bilingual Teacher Leaders in Community
Administrator/ AdvocacyDr. Karina Villa Lead with Dr. Lorena Claeys, Mpa, Ms. Christina King, M.a., Mrs. Renee Tondre-garza, M.a., Lpc Dr. Claudia Garcia-treviño, M.a. Sr. Alejandra Treviño, Fma, M.ed
May 15, 2:55pm – 4:05pm70 minMesquite (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
This session invites participants to rise together as champions of language, culture, and community by exploring the Culturally Efficacious Signature Teacher Residency (CESTR) pathway developed through the Academy for Teacher Excellence Research Center at UT San Antonio. Participants will learn how the pathway creates accessible routes for paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, and community members to become bilingual certified educators through residency-based clinical experiences, mentorship, and culturally sustaining pedagogies.
Presenters will share practical resources and tools that support aspiring bilingual teachers, including TExES preparation strategies, career transition guidance, and mentorship supports that strengthen educator readiness and confidence. The session will also highlight how Grow-Your-Own partnerships between universities, schools, and communities fortify bilingual teacher pipelines while affirming the linguistic and cultural assets emergent bilingual students bring to the classroom.
Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for designing culturally sustaining teacher pathways that empower educators to champion language, culture, and community in their schools. -
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Accelerate Learning with Footsteps2Brilliance & Foster Calm Learning with Friendzy!
Sponsored by Teaching Counts! (Silver) Sponsored SessionsTerri Balderrama Booker Lead
May 15, 2:55pm – 4:05pm70 minPine (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Discover how to accelerate literacy and support emotional wellness for Emergent Bilingual students through engaging, research-based strategies and resources. This session combines innovative bilingual language and literacy tools with practical approaches to help students thrive academically and socially. Learn how to bridge school and home learning with culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate English and Spanish resources that promote Kindergarten readiness and 3rd grade reading proficiency. Explore how the brain responds to stress and how language and culture influence behavior, while gaining strategies from the Regulate–Respond–Relate framework to create calm, focused classrooms. Walk away with ready-to-use bilingual tools—including visual supports, sentence stems, and routines—that empower students, strengthen connections, and eliminate learning gaps. Attendees will receive access to free resources, including a trial opportunity and materials to immediately implement in their classrooms