Tuning in: Supporting the Voices & Identities of Young Dual Language Learners

University Settlement Presents:
"Tuning In: Supporting the Voices & Identities of
Young Dual Language Learners"

Friday, June 8, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street, New York City

Fee: $60
Click here to register in advance!
If you would like to pay on-site, Click here to download the registration form and email it to bonnie@universitysettlement.org.

Breakfast & Lunch Served

Join us for networking as we learn about different ways to support the
emotional life of young dual language learners.
Suitable for professionals working in education, social services, early childhood,
mental health & medical settings.

Speakers:

Wen-Jui Han, MSW, Ph.D.: Unique Benefits and Challenges for Identity
Dr. Wen-Jui Han is a professor at the New York University Silver School of Social Work. She has a broad background and extensive experience in social policy analysis, with specific training and expertise in the area of child care, parental employment, and child well-being. A former FCD Young Scholar, she has conducted path-breaking research on the development of children of immigrants, with particular attention to issues involve language and country of origin. She has also conducted influential research examining how parental work schedules (e.g., working at evenings, nights, or rotating shifts) affect child well-being, and extensively researched the role of early child care on children's development and the role of school environment on children's educational trajectories.

Gigliana Meltzi, Ph.D.: Lessons Learned from Generations of Latino Dual Language Learners
Dr. Gigliana Melzi, an Associate Professor of Applied Psychology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, is a native Spanish speaker and Latino scholar. Dr. Melzi earned her doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Boston University in 1998. Her work has focused on the early literacy and language development of Spanish-speaking Latino children living in the United States and in their countries of origin. Using qualitative methodologies, Dr. Melzi has investigated the daily literacy activities of immigrant parents and their impact on children's school performance. She has also conducted studies on various discourse and linguistic features of Spanish-speaking mother-child dyads from immigrant and non-immigrant Latin American families across various socio-economic groups. Dr. Melzi's work has been funded by the National Institute of Health's and by the Administration for Children and Families to develop a culturally relevant, multidimensional measure of family engagement for Spanish- and English-speaking Latino families and investigate how family engagement is related to children's social-emotional and language abilities.

Emily Bostwick, B.A.
Emily Bostwick is a first-year doctoral student at the Department of Applied Psychology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She received her BA in psychology from the Bucknell University in 2010. Emily's research focuses on the development of dual language learning children from Latino backgrounds.

Wendy Jones, M.Ed., MSW: Promising Practices in Cultural Competence from a National Perspective
Wendy Jones is a research instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC.  She has served as faculty in the Georgetown University Center Child and Human Development . She has degrees and certificates in early childhood education, elementary education, bilingual education, ESOL, special education, and social work, and over 26 years of experience. Ms. Jones has assisted national, state, territorial, and local programs to design policies, structures and practices to support the strengths, preferences and needs of culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse families and children.   Ms. Jones co-developed curricula, entitled, "Cultural and Linguistic Competence Institute for Early Educator's". Ms. Jones co-authored a chapter on culture and parental expectations for child development, focusing on the language development and early learning in the Zero to Three publication entitled, "Learning to Read the World: Language and Literacy in the First Three Years." Currently Ms. Jones provides the cultural lens for the work of the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, a Head Start Bureau funded program.

Multidisciplinary Panel:

Eva Wong, MA: Butterflies
Eva Wong is an early childhood clinician whose educational background includes a B.M. in Actuarial Science and an M.A. in mental health counseling. She has advocated for and worked with the Chinese community in Manhattan and Queens for the past five years through her involvement and leadership in various non-profit organizations. At University Settlement's Butterflies Program, Eva provides individual, dyadic and group play therapy to children ages 0-5 and their caregivers as well as workshops for parents and staff in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.  She recently co-facilitated a bereavement group for children ages 3-5.

Susana Linker, SLP-CCC: Early Intervention
Susana Wan Linker is a Speech Pathologist who has been practicing primarily in the Lower East Side and Chinatown areas for the past 15 years, where she grew up attending local schools. She attended Stuyvesant High School and received her B.A. in sociology at New York University and her M.S. degree in speech and language pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is fluent in Mandarin and in Cantonese and evaluates and provides speech therapy to children aged 1-5 years old.

Annie Chui, MA: Early Head Start