NJTESOL/NJBE Scholarships and Awards for your students and you!

In the spirit of honoring and supporting academic aspirations of our students and members, NJTESOL/NJBE is pleased to announce the following scholarship and award opportunities. The 2025 Spring Conference and the President’s Awards Ceremony in which we honor the scholarship recipients will be held 6:00 pm, May 21, 2025 at the Hyatt in New Brunswick.

Encourage your students to apply now!

• Fourth Grade English Writing Challenge – two English learners who have been in the U.S. 3 years or less – Award: an iPad
• Eighth Grade English Writing Challenge – two English learners who have been in the U.S. 3 years or less – Award: a touch screen laptop
• $3,000 Raquel Sinai Newcomer Scholarship – two students in ESL and/or bilingual classes in grade 12 who have been in the U.S. two years or less
• $3,000 Pedro J. Rodriguez scholarship – two ESL/bilingual high school seniors who plan to study in a New Jersey college
• $3,000 Seal of Biliteracy Scholarship – Two high school seniors who are current or former ESL/bilingual students who received the NJ Seal of Biliteracy in 2023 or will receive it in 2024.
• Praxedes León Parent Award for $500 are given to the parents of the Seal of Biliteracy Scholarship winners
• $3,000 Higher Education scholarship – Two ESL/bilingual students enrolled part-time or full-time in a NJ college – presently taking ESL courses
• $2,500 Dr. Jessie Reppy Memorial Scholarship – for a graduate student enrolled in an accredited master’s degree program with a major or specialization in teaching English to speakers of other languages
• $2,500 Bilingual Educator Scholarship – for a graduate student enrolled in an accredited program with a major or specialization in bilingual/bicultural education

(Application deadline – March 15th)

• $1000 grant from Judie Haynes – for an educator who teaches English learners under difficult conditions. The grant money may be used to purchase materials or provide services. (Application deadline – March 15th)
• Barbara Tedesco Award – for an ESL/Bilingual educator and another educator (not an ESL/Bilingual educator) with whom they have a collaborative partnership in the same district. Each will receive a one day free registration to the NJTESOL/NJBE Conference for either the year of the award or the following year’s conference. (Application deadline – Feb. 15th)

Here are the Criteria and Applications

Read an award winner’s essay below!

Announcements

Share your successes with other members by writing an article for the annual Voices Journal! Topics include

• Current issues
• Classroom explorations
• Program descriptions/exemplary scheduling
• Alternative perspectives

Here are the guidelines.
Submissions are due January 15th for publication in early March.

Somerset – Hunterdon Chapter Meeting: January 15, 2025 from 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Maggie Churchill will be joining us to talk about the WIDA Standards framework. The session will be in a discussion/Q&A format. Please come with questions for Maggie! Register on Eventbrite.

The Countering Anti-Black Racism (CABR) Committee invites all members of NJTESOL/NJBE to attend our Meeting on Wednesday, January 15, from 7:00-8:30 pm. We will meet on the 3rd Wednesday of every month through June.
This month we will continue unpacking anti-Blackness in Latinidad including the implications for Hispanic Heritage Month and what this means for our actionable work on this committee, in this organization, as educators, and as advocates. Sign up at Eventbrite.

The Advocacy Committee meets on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 5:00. Join us on Jan 16th for discussions on issues that impact Multilingual Learners and their families in New Jersey. Register using the Google form to get a Zoom link.

Passaic County Chapter Meeting: January 23, 2025, from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Melanie DeDios will present on Canva for Educators. Register on Eventbrite.

The Parent Expo Committee will be holding its fifth Virtual Parent Expo on Saturday, January 25, 2025, from 9:30 – 12:00. There will be presentations for multilingual parents and families; please encourage your students’ families to attend. More information and registration is on Eventbrite.

The Professional Development Committee – Join us virtually for our third PLC meeting February 3rd at 5:00pm. In this session we will discuss how to teach foundational reading skills through structured literacy for multilingual learners in English including assessment and how to create lessons that are diagnostic and culturally responsive by leveraging the L1. We will look at the parts of a structured literacy lesson plan including developing accuracy and automaticity in letter/sound correspondence at the word, phrase, sentence, and text levels. Free lesson planning resources and lesson materials will be shared. You can register here.

Bergen County Chapter Meeting: February 5, 2025 from 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
The meeting will feature NJTESOL/NJBE’s WIDA rep, Maggie Churchill. She will present on how to implement the 2020 WIDA Standards into an ESL Curriculum. Registration link

Registration for the 2025 Spring Conference is open!
Theme – Intersectionality: Shaping Experiences and Creating Opportunities
Two components to choose from:
In-Person Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
May 20, 21 & 22 (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) OR
Virtual Library Conference: Access from May 27 through August 21
Take advantage of discounted early registration through January 31, 2025
or regular registration through April 25, 2025. See more information here.

Nominate the member of the month!
NJTESOL/NJBE is proud to recognize members in your world who go above and beyond, please consider nominating them for Member of the Month. The form is easy to fill out and the nominees are always grateful for the recognition of their hard work. Here is the link for the Member of the Month Nomination Form.