Conference 2019

Alison Schofield, Master of Teaching BEd, BA Psych
Educator | Author | Bilingual Specialist | Literacy Specialist | Disability Specialist

Alison began her career as a disability specialist and behavioural therapist before becoming a special education teacher. She grew up in Northern Ontario, Canada and taught in the multicultural cities of Calgary and Toronto before moving to the UAE. She has worked with indigenous children and multicultural communities. Alison later worked as a teacher and Learning Support Coordinator within international schools in Abu Dhabi and Dubai where she began extensive work and research with bilingual and multilingual learners. After running educational consultancy, IngeniousEd, for 9 years in Dubai, she then co-founded the Centre for Educators of BMLs (a social enterprise) in the UK with Francesca. Alison loves writing, exploring new learning approaches and discovering other cultures.

Keynote: Making a Bigger Impact with our Bilingual & Multilingual Learners
In many schools around the world, bilingual and multilingual learners (BMLs, EAL, ELLs) are educated in English-medium schools and classrooms. In fact, these learners are the fastest-growing student group in the world today.

Jennifer Chang-Wathall is an independent educational consultant, author and part time instructor for the University of Hong Kong.

With over 25 years’ experience in the education field, Jennifer has worked in several international schools including South Island School, Hong Kong and The United Nations International School, New York and Island School, Hong Kong.

In the international arena she has presented numerous keynote addresses and workshops about concept-based mathematics and concept-based curriculum and instruction to K-12 educators. Jennifer holds a degree in Pure and Applied Mathematics from the University of Sydney and completed post graduate studies at the University of Hong Kong. Based on her Masters of Arts in Educational Technology she also facilitates concept-based mathematics online courses, gives talks about innovative uses of digital instructional media and how to effectively integrate a 1:1 program into the classroom.

As a qualified International Baccalaureate workshop leader ("Mathematical Studies, Mathematics Standard and Higher Level, Concepts and Inquiry in the Diploma Program and Approaches to Teaching and Learning") Jennifer has delivered numerous workshops in the Asia Pacific region. Her role as a field representative for the IB Asia Pacific serves as part of the quality assurance framework. She has been invited to give several talks at the IB Asia Pacific and IB Americas annual conferences.