A native speaker of Russian, Svetlana Abramova received her Ph.D. in Russian Language and Methodology from the Moscow State Pedagogical University. She is an experienced language instructor, who has been teaching Russian to heritage and L2 learners of Russian. Her teaching practice and research interests are specifically oriented to learner-centered pedagogical techniques, such as student research-based projects in Russian language, which were the main subject of her Ph.D. dissertation and a monograph. In 2011, she attended STARTALK Teacher Program at the University of Washington and applied her teaching experience in the STARTALK Student Program lessons related to STEM. In the summers of 2012-16, 2018-19 and 2021, Dr. Abramova was the Lead Instructor for the UW STARTALK Student Program, where she successfully taught STEM lessons and facilitated a Linguistics Project. She is an affiliate instructor at the UW Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and teaches Advanced level Russian through STEM courses and is involved in world languages curriculum development and teacher training in public and community schools. In 2018 she became an ACTFL certified OPI tester. Dr. Abramova successfully led the Global Competence online after-school program for Russian heritage high school students (Washington state OSPI grant) in the 2020-21 academic year.

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Angélica Amezcua is an Assistant Professor, Spanish and Director of the Spanish Heritage Language Program at the University of Washington. Angélica is also a researcher, an educator of Spanish Heritage Language, and a linguistics activist who works in and outside the classroom towards reclaiming and promoting the use of Spanish in a society with low ethnolinguistics vitality. In her current research, she examines how university Spanish heritage language courses can play an important role in promoting the use of Spanish in the United States, counteracting the devaluation of minority languages, and contributing to narrow the Latinx student achievement gap.

Angélica Amezcua es profesora asistente de español y la directora del Programa de Español de Herencia en la Universidad de Washington. Angélica es también investigadora, educadora y activista que trabaja para reclamar y promover el uso del español en una sociedad con una vitalidad etnolingüística baja. En su investigación actual, examina como los cursos de español como lengua de herencia pueden desempeñar un papel importante en la promoción del uso del español en los Estados Unidos, así como ayudar a contrarrestar la devaluación de las lenguas minoritarias y contribuir a reducir la brecha académica dentro los estudiantes Latinx.

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Dr. Michele Anciaux Aoki is an International Education and World Languages Advocate, who recently retired as International Education Administrator for Seattle Public Schools, where she was responsible for developing and supporting the ten international schools in the district and their K-12 Dual Language Immersion programs in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, as well as supporting all World Language teachers throughout the district. From 2008 to 2014, Michele served as World Languages and International Education Program Supervisor at the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). While there she worked with the State Board of Education and Washington State School Directors Association to develop and implement a model policy and procedure for Competency-Based Credits to award high school credits to students with demonstrated language proficiency. She was instrumental in introducing the Seal of Biliteracy in Washington State. Since 2011, Michele has partnered with the University of Washington on their Russian and Portuguese STARTALK Teacher and Student Programs. Michele has a Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics and taught Russian language and English as a Second Language at the University of Washington for a number of years and as a Fulbright lecturer in Romania. She has received three leadership awards from the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT) and the Pacific NW Council for Languages (PNCFL), and the Consul General Award from the Consul General of Japan, and continues to volunteer as an advocate for languages.

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Paul has been the Director of the Language Learning Center since 1988, and is an Affiliate Faculty in the UW Linguistics Department. Before coming to the UW, he worked for the Federal Government, WICAT, and Boeing. He is active in developing digital media for language learning. He has also worked with Microsoft, Apple, Department of Defense, Interagency Language Roundtable, and other agencies to develop digital language learning materials. He has been Principal Investigator on many federal grants, including STARTALK, GenCyber, and Cyber Security. His wide range of interests is reflected in his membership in several professional organizations, including being a long-time member of the International Association for Language Learning Technologies (IALLT) since the MIT IALLT Conference and founding member of the Computer-Assisted Learning & Instruction Consortium (CALICO).

Dr. Fernández Dobao is an Associate Professor in the Spanish and Portuguese Studies Department and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics. She is the Director of the UW Spanish Language Program, a core faculty member of the Graduate Certificate in Second and Foreign Language Teaching, and a member of the Committee on Multilingual Teaching, Research, and Learning.

Dr. Fernández Dobao’s area of specialization is applied linguistics with a focus on second language acquisition, heritage language learning, and foreign language pedagogy. In her research, she explores language learning processes in the classroom. She is currently working on a project that analyzes interaction, scaffolding, and the co-construction of language knowledge between second and heritage language learners in mixed classes. She is also collaborating in a study on the acquisition of the minority language by children in a Spanish/English dual immersion setting.

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Prof. Herschensohn’s publications span the areas of generative syntax, second language acquisition theory, and applied linguistics, especially in the Romance languages (synchronic and diachronic). The main areas of specialization are theoretical syntax and nonnative language learning, linked in her current research dealing with language processing and age effects. She is interested in how monolinguals and bilinguals (child and adult learners) understand and produce the grammatical aspects of speech such as agreement, displacement and coreference.

Her recent articles explore the role of Universal Grammar and the nature of morphology learning in second language acquisition, through an examination of adult and child L2 French and Spanish learners. These articles expand the idea that second language acquisition may draw on aspects of UG, and that L2A is accomplished through the progressive mastery of morpho-lexical constructions and with the use of a coalition of resources (e.g. UG constraints, cognitive learning strategies). She has collaborated with Cheryl Frenck-Mestre and Nuria Sagarra in studies of French and Spanish gender acquisition and processing by Anglophone learners without gender in their native language. She has also contributed to work by colleague Lee Osterhout using ERPs to study L2 acquisition of French. Ongoing research with colleague Deborah Arteaga examines longitudinal data of three advanced French L2 learners to ascertain development of L2 competence, particularly acquisition of verbal and nominal inflection, verb raising, and object clitics. They have also collaborated on several articles dealing with the diachronic development and synchronic analysis of Old French.

Her 2022 book, Bilingualism, Language Development and Processing across the Lifespan, was published by John Benjamins. She and colleague Ana Fernández-Dobao continue their data collection from 9-11 year old heritage language and second language learners in Seattle Public Schools' Spanish-English Dual Language Immersion program.

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Russ is the assistant director of the Language Learning Center at the University of Washington, in addition to affiliate faculty in the Department of Linguistics. Their PhD dissertation involved a skeptical and critical appraisal of computer assisted language learning technologies for Indigenous language learning, in addition to exploring practical models for small-scale, community controlled, Indigenous linguistic data archives. Some of the organizations and committees that they serve on include the World Language Advisory Committee (and less-commonly taught language subcommittee) for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for Washington State, as well as the boards for the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT), and the International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT).

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Dr. Sun-Mi Kim has over 14 years of experience in the areas of analysis, strategic development, media production, nonprofit organizations, intercultural communication, linguistics, editing, and instructional Design. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Sino-Korean Linguistics (Phonology) from University of Washington. She is the primary curriculum developer for the 2023 UW Korean GenCyber program.

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Alexey Kuznetsov graduated from the Moscow Pedagogical State University with an honors degree in Language and Culture Education and earned an endorsement to teach Russian from the prestigious Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in Moscow, Russia. Alexey is certificated in Washington State to teach Russian, English Language Proficiency, English Language Arts, and Social Studies. Currently, he works as an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher in Renton Senior High School, where he also holds the position of the ELL department chair. Alexey taught courses for high school students in Russian through Robotics and Russian Science Fiction in the University of Washington Startalk summer program. He is also a co-lead teacher in the online after-school program for Russian heritage learners funded by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), where he prepares the students for the Global Seal of Biliteracy. Alexey has been a special topic teaching aide for the UW STARTALK program 2018, 2019 and 2021.

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Ileana Marin is the President and Co-founder of the American Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) Project. She teaches interdisciplinary courses at the University of Washington in Seattle and at the Center of Excellence in Image Studies at the University of Bucharest. Her long-standing academic career on both sides of the ocean has given her the opportunity to establish contacts between Romanian and American scholars, artists, and institutions. She, thus, initiated the first UW Exploration Seminar to Romania, and to Eastern Europe, and opened the fund for Romanian Studies, hoping that Romanian language will be taught regularly in Seattle. With a BA in Romanian and a PhD. in Comparative Literature from the University of Bucharest (2000), and one in Textual Studies from the UW (2011), Ileana is a strong believer in the power of education and bilingualism. In ARCS, she advocates the expansion of the Romanian language programs in the US and for disseminating the most recent Romanian cultural achievements. On her agenda as president, Ileana Marin has two major tasks: board development and recruitment to ensure the successful implementation of ARCS mission through meaningful programs.

Melisa Miralles is a Masters’ student in the Curriculum & Instruction Program at the College of Education and a pre-doctoral Spanish instructor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. She is particularly interested in finding ways to respond to the socio-affective needs of Spanish Heritage (SHL) speakers in the United States. Her current work focuses on healing, transformation, and social justice frameworks in the (SHL) curriculum.

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Veronica Muskheli holds an M.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Texas and a Ph.D. in Slavic Literatures from the University of Washington; she is a state of Washington-certified medical interpreter (Russian/English) and has earned a teaching certificate endorsement from the program STARTALK for teachers at the University of Washington. Veronica is a native speaker of Russian and attended St. Petersburg State University with a major in English before immigrating to the US. Currently, she is a Lecturer in Russian both at the University of Washington in Seattle and at the Central Washington University in Ellensburg, teaching from beginning to advanced students of Russian as a foreign language. Veronica also has extensive experience working with Russian heritage speakers who are high school students: as an in-person and online STARTALK instructor in summers since 2018 and as an online teacher with the Washington State OSPI program in 2020-2021 academic year. In addition, in her university courses, among her students, she regularly has high school students who take classes through the Running Start program. Veronica has been a special topic teaching aide for the UW STARTALK program 2018, 2019 and 2021.

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Amy Pace, CCC-SLP, is an Assistant Professor in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Pace’s research focuses on language acquisition and development in children from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, with emphasis on parent-child interaction and evidence-based methods for assessment and intervention in dual language learners. Dr. Pace is also the chair of CMTRL (Committee on Multilingual Teaching, Research, and Learning).

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Ana María Ruiz is a predoctoral Spanish instructor and second-year Master in Language, Literacy and Culture student at the University of Washington. She is currently teaching Spanish for heritage learners and has completed a capstone project designing materials for that course (SPAN 314). Her current research work is focused on the role language learning experiences play in language teachers’ identities and pedagogical beliefs. Other research interests are critical language theories, social justice, and equity in education. She previously worked as an English instructor in her home country, Colombia, and conducted research in English teaching in public elementary schools.

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Ema Shirk is a multiliteracies specialist and advocate for humanizing multilingual education. She currently serves as a Dual Language Program Supervisor for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) where she supports the development and expansion of sustainable TK-12 dual and heritage language programs. To prepare for that work, she taught and studied in the US, Spain, and the People’s Republic of China. Her career as an educator has spanned charter, private, and public schools where she has supported multilingual scholars in the classroom, at the building level, and from the district office. She completed her undergraduate study at the University of Washington, Seattle, MA in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at San Diego State University, and MEd in Educational Leadership at Seattle University. Ema is most thankful, however, for the teachings of those she has met who have shared stories of their lives, their languages, and their communities.

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Born and raised in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Russia, educated both in Russia (Philological faculty at LGU/SPbGU) and USA (Linguistics, Master’s in Teaching, WWU), Larisa have been working with bilingual children and families for over 25 years. She is multilingual learning specialist at Meridian High School in Bellingham, WA, Russian language instructor at OSPI heritage languages on-line program, lead teacher at the UW Startalk Bellingham 2023 program, interpreter/translator/liaison for Slavic families in Whatcom County.

Biografía: Soy doctora en Estudios Latinoamericanos por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Actualmente estudio un Máster en Hispanic Studies en la University of Washington. He colaborado en diversos proyectos de investigación en el Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, de la UNAM, y también he participado en proyectos editoriales y culturales independientes para fomentar la escritura hecha por mujeres.

Resumen: Presentaré una propuesta de taller de escritura para las clases de Español para Hablantes de Herencia. En dicho taller se rescata la imagen de los tlacuilos (los escribanos de la cultura mexica) como una guía para animar a las y los estudiantes a escribir sobre sus temas de interés incorporando elementos de su dialecto del español. Con esto propongo conciliar el desfase que existe entre los esfuerzos por impulsar la conciencia dialectal y las imposibilidades para incorporarla al registro escrito.

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Eduardo Viana da Silva received his Ph.D. in Luso-Brazilian Literature with an emphasis in Applied Linguistics from University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He holds an interdisciplinary degree in teaching “Certificate in College and University Teaching” from UCSB, a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) graduate certificate from Brigham Young University (BYU) and an M.A. in Luso-Brazilian literature, also from BYU.

Before coming to University of Washington in 2015, Eduardo taught language courses, Luso-Brazilian literature, and topics on Brazilian culture at UCSB, BYU, University of Utah, and the Salt Lake Community College. He also taught English as a Second Language in a private school (ILAC) in Vancouver, Canada, between 2007 and 2010. His main areas of interest are Critical Pedagogy, Applied Linguistics, Luso-Brazilian literature and culture, curriculum development, and Global Citizenship.

Eduardo is currently working on a textbook for Portuguese - Bate-Papo - An Introduction to Portuguese as an Open Educational Resource (OER).

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Stefana Vukadinovich is a PhD student in the department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Washington. She has taught the Russian language and assisted in courses on Slavic linguistics and literature at UW. Her doctoral project focuses on requests in spoken Russian heritage language. She is also interested in gender-neutral language in Russian, Spanish heritage language, and spoken Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian (BCMS). She holds an MA in Mandarin linguistics from the University of Alberta and previously conducted and published research on Mandarin conversation. She has also taught Mandarin and English at the University of Cuenca, Ecuador.

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EunYoung Won is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, WA. Her areas of interest are computer-assisted language teaching and learning, curriculum development, and second language acquisition. Before joining the Asian Languages and Literature program at UW in 2011, she worked as an instructor of Korean at Harvard University, MA, and Columbia University, NY. She has been working on various academic projects relating to Korean language and curriculum development.

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