Tag Archives: Conference

Call for Volunteers – Conference Proposal Reviewers

Posted on by

MATSOL is seeking volunteers to help review conference proposal submissions. Apply by November 9, 2026.

Proposal reviewers play an important role in ensuring that presentations at the MATSOL Conference reflect the best practices in the field and needs of the MATSOL audience. We look for reviewers with expertise in all audiences and presentation topic areas so that all proposals receive fair peer reviews.

In alignment with our mission to promote equity and excellence for English learners, MATSOL encourages the participation of BIPOC reviewers to ensure the inclusion of their perspectives and make visible MATSOL’s commitment to racial justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Who can apply?

You may apply to review proposals if:

  • You are a MATSOL member in good standing;
  • You have internet access and can use online proposal management system;
  • You are able to review proposals between November 20 – December 9, 2026.

Note: You may review proposals if you have also submitted a proposal to present.

Learn More

2027 MATSOL Conference – Proposals due November 9

Posted on by

Present at the 2027 MATSOL Conference, the largest gathering of English Learner and Multilingual Learner educators in Massachusetts.

MATSOL encourages engaging, interactive presentations that make the theory to practice connection. Successful proposals include practical classroom activities informed by current research and pedagogy, demonstrations of successful instructional practices, examinations of current issues in education, and research that informs educators in the Massachusetts context. Presentations should engage the audience through hands-on or interactive activities when possible.

In alignment with our mission to promote equity and excellence for multilingual learners, MATSOL encourages submission of proposals that demonstrate an asset-based approach to the education of multilingual learners and show a strong commitment to racial justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. To reflect this goal, there is a section in the proposal to explain how the presentation will address racial justice and/or culturally responsive teaching.

MATSOL is continuing to offer a hybrid conference format: All presentations will be made in-person and selected presentations will be live-streamed for virtual viewing.

Important Dates

Call for Proposals Due: November 9, 2026
Notification of Acceptance: December 10, 2026
Presenter RSVP Deadline: December 23, 2026
Presenter Early Registration: February 12, 2027
2027 MATSOL Conference: Tues – Thurs, May 25-27, 2027

Learn More

Save-the-Date! 2027 MATSOL Conference

Posted on by

Mark your calendars for the 2027 MATSOL Conference!

Tuesday-Thursday, May 25-27, 2027
Plus Virtual Track
Renaissance Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
Framingham, MA

The MATSOL Conference is the largest gathering of English Learner and Multilingual Learner educators in Massachusetts. It convenes classroom teachers, school leaders, instructional coaches, and higher education faculty to share expertise and best practices, in support of MATSOL’s mission to promote equity and excellence in the education of multilingual learners.

Stay tuned for more information!

Call for Proposals opens in September 2026
Registration opens in January 2027

LEARN MORE

The conference offers high-quality professional learning, practical strategies for supporting multilingual learners, excellent networking opportunities, and access to current research and best practices in the field.

~ Conference Attendee

Help Wanted: Livestream In-Person Conference Host

Posted on by

Temporary, part-time contract position. Must be able to work on-site in Framingham, MA  on May 28-30, 2025 from 7:30AM – 4:00 PM (EDT)

MATSOL is looking for an upbeat professional to support presenters on our digital conference platform during the 2025 MATSOL Virtual Conference, which brings together educators of Multilingual Learners of English from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to share expertise and best practices. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to learn more about TESOL and ML education!

Overview:

Serve as Zoom host for virtual live streamed sessions at the in-person MATSOL Conference. 

  • Use Zoom Meeting Pro integrated within the Whova conference platform (app and web) to livestream the in-person conference. 
  • MATSOL will provide a laptop computer and Zoom account for hosts to use during the conference. 
  • The livestream team will also include a videographer to film the livestream, and a MATSOL volunteer to assist in the presentation room. 

Responsibilities:

  • Host and manage attendees in large Zoom meetings (up to 500 virtual attendees) and ensure presentations and livestream go smoothly.
  • Act as the primary support person for presenters assigned to you during the conference week.
  • Set up Zoom Meeting and the Whova features before sessions start.
  • Do a tech check with presenters 15 minutes before each session. 
  • Start and stop recording the session.
  • Monitor chat and Q&A and relay questions to the presenter. Assist presenters as needed by sharing links, launching polls, etc.
  • Create breakout rooms (if applicable).
  • Remain professional and upbeat throughout the presentation.
  • Troubleshoot any problems during a presentation.
  • Work with the volunteer assistant and A/V team to help make it the best experience for both the in-person and virtual audience.
  • Remain in communication with the MATSOL team throughout the conference. 

Requirements:

  • Ability to work on-site from 7:30am to 4:00pm in Framingham, MA for all three days of the in-person conference (May 28-30, 2025).
  • Experience facilitating large group meetings and presentations with the ZOOM Pro meeting platform, including using breakout rooms, chat, Q&A, polls, YouTube live feed, etc. 
  • Experience with a virtual conference platform like Whova.
  • Personal device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) with WiFi capability, and can run/download the Whova web/app.
  • Proficient with computers and technology and able to learn new systems quickly.
  • Proficient with Google Slides and PowerPoint.
  • Professional, upbeat demeanor with good communication and problem-solving skills.

Time commitment: 

  • Week of April 28, 2025: Independently review and complete training materials and participate in two live online training sessions (M/W 10-11AM)
  • Week of May 5, 2025: Attend the online livestream presenter orientation to introduce yourselves, answer some questions.
  • Wednesday-Friday, May 28-30, 2025: Host up to five conference sessions per day between 7:30am to 4pm, with scheduled breaks.

Location: Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center, Framingham MA

Stipend: $700.00 for training and 3 days hosting.
Lunch is provided. Free parking at the hotel. 

Interested? Send your resume to apply@matsol.org
“2025 livestream host” should be in your email subject line.

View the job description in Google Docs

Students Have Strengths. We Build on Them!

Posted on by

muliticultural students strengthAt the 2019 MATSOL Conference, you will find multiple workshops to help you use student strengths, building on their own funds of knowledge. You will learn strategies for recognizing and celebrating student identity and culture and explore social-emotional learning; trauma-informed practice; impact of poverty on learning; and creating physically and emotionally safe environments.

Here are some (just some!) of the workshops you can choose to participate in:

  1. Incorporating Story Books into Culturally Responsive ESL Teaching
  2. A Culturally Responsive Classroom Looks Like…
  3. There is no L without SEL: Social-Emotional Learning in ESL
  4. Practical Use of Translanguaging and Multiliteracies in the Classroom
  5. Empowering ELs by Turning the Tables: Students Teaching Teachers
  6. Telling Our Stories in Pictures and Words: Creating Identity Texts
  7. Walking in the Footsteps of Asian Students and Their Families
  8. The Dos and Don’ts of Family Engagement in Early Childhood
  9. Break (dancing) through cultural and communicative barriers
  10. To Teach Them, You Must Know Them – Brockton to Cape Verde
  11. Enacting Social Justice Principles in K-12 ESL Instruction
  12. Engaging Haitian Students and their Families

There is a lot to look forward to at the 2019 MATSOL Conference. See you there!

Rapping the Quadratic Formula

Posted on by

Jake Scott

Jake Scott

Jake Scott remembers a time when he had an immigrant student who was exceptionally good at math. Jake sent the student to a higher-level math class, but he soon heard the student was not doing well.

The student came back and told him, “There’s nobody who looks like me in that class, and I feel like I don’t belong.”

“I realized,” Jake told MATSOL, “that if I was going to send minority students to learn in that class, I had to be willing to raise my hand and go teach it.”

We will hear Jake, a decorated educator, wrestling coach, Math rapper, and author, give the keynote address “Empowering the Next Generation of ELLs,” on the closing day of the 2019 MATSOL conference, Friday, May 31.

Jake reminds us that the demographics of this country are changing. Educators need to prepare ourselves to show the emotional sensitivity, the flexibility, the welcoming tone, and the celebration of success that an increasing number of ELL students is going to require from us.

Jake is looking forward to being inspired by you and your work. (And if you want to hear what a Math rap on the quadratic formula sounds like, just click here!)

Re-Imagining Migration: Educating a World on the Move

Posted on by

Who are the migrants in your classroom? Could one of them be you?

Adam Strom

Adam Strom

At the MATSOL conference,  hear Adam Strom’s keynote address: “Re-Imagining Migration: Educating Youth for a World on the Move,” on Thursday, May 30.

Adam Strom wants us to think about migration as what unites us. It’s not only the story of the 26% of school-aged children in the U.S. who are immigrants or the children of immigrants.

Migration is how many African Americans came to Massachusetts from the South. It’s how many of our grandparents got here.

It may be how you got here, too.

At root, Adam says, migration is a “good news” story. It’s vital to democracy to teach the immigrant experience, from Irish immigrants during the potato famine to Chinese immigration on the West Coast. We also want to hear from today’s migrant families about the challenges they face and how they are overcoming them.

Come hear from Adam Strom how we can provide ELL students with the social emotional supports and the learning experiences that will build their potential for leadership.

You Can Lead the Way, After the LOOK Act

Posted on by

For the past fifteen years, school districts in Massachusetts have operated under restrictions that inhibited bilingual education, despite growing evidence that native language instruction supports English language development and academic achievement for English Learners.

With the LOOK Act on the books, we are entering a new era in EL education. What possibilities does this open up for educating EL students in their native language? And what can we learn from the experience before and after Question 2 restricted bilingual education in Massachusetts?

At the MATSOL conference, we will all find out!

Maria Estela Brisk

Maria Estela Brisk

Keynoter Maria Estela Brisk will speak on “Learning from the Past, Moving to the Future: The LOOK Act – An Opportunity for Quality Education,” on the first day of the conference, Wednesday, May 29.

“I’ve worked with MATSOL a long time, and many members are my students,” she says. “In all those years without bilingual education, MATSOL members have been amazing advocates. You have kept the flame alive.”

In the new environment since the LOOK Act passed, Professor Brisk believes, ESL teachers can lead the way—and ELL students will benefit.

Pre-Conference Institutes Sold Out!

Posted on by

MATSOL members, you are a dedicated bunch. Not only have you registered for the 2019 Conference in record numbers, but you’ve signed up for two Pre-Conference Institutes on Tuesday, May 28, to become even better teachers.

Here’s what you can look forward to.

Teaching and Learning Content-Based Literacies: 
Systemic Functional Linguistics in Action

Presented by Meg Gebhard, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Meg Gebhard

This interactive session will help you explore how language works in different ways to construct content-specific meanings in the types of texts or “genres” your students are routinely required to read, write, and discuss.

The morning session will guide participants in analyzing personal and literary narratives using multicultural children’s literature. The afternoon session will focus on scientific explanations and arguments using authentic texts written by middle schoolers.

Co-Teaching for English Learners: Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection

presented by Andrea Honigsfeld, Ed.D. and Maria G. Dove, Ed.D.

Andrea Honigsfeld

Andrea Honigsfeld

Maria Dove

Maria Dove

Are you an ESOL teacher who works with content-area teachers (or vice versa)? Do you want to improve your co-planning, co-instruction, co-assessment, and reflection processes—all for the benefit of your EL students?

In this pre-conference institute, these four key components will be illustrated using authentic video clips of both novice and experienced co-teaching teams. The presenters will guide you as you develop short-term and long-term plans to support the language, literacy, and content skills of ELs in your integrated classroom.

LOOKing Forward to a New Era

Posted on by
In 2019, it’s a whole new world for teachers of English Learners in Massachusetts.

LOOK ActWith your support, the LOOK Act passed in 2017. This groundbreaking law:

  • Restored bilingual program options for ELLs
  • Established a new dual language endorsement for teachers
  • Created ELL Parent Advisory Councils
  • Established a State Seal of Biliteracy to reward high school graduates who are proficient in a language in addition to English.

What new opportunities has the LOOK Act opened up for educators? What can we do now to help our ELL students as a result of the new law?

To find out, register for the MATSOL 2019 Conference. Our theme is “LOOKing Forward to a New Era.” We will hear from keynote speakers, and attend workshops and poster sessions, designed to make sure we are all ready to do the most we can for our students under the new law.

Register now so that we can enter this new world together.

Helen Solórzano
Executive Director
MATSOL 

P.S. If you have already submitted your registration, we look forward to seeing you in May!