Principles to practice approach for ELL success
About CAL Solutions – PreK–12 ELL Education
Our team of service providers combines experience in the classroom with expertise in providing professional development and technical assistance that can be customized to meet your needs.
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Betty Ansin Smallwood
Betty Ansin Smallwood currently serves as Manager of CAL Solutions, Pre-K-12 ELL Education, at the Center for Applied Linguistics. She has over 35 years of experience in the education of elementary and secondary ELLs, including 17 years as an ESL teacher and over 17 years as an ELL teacher educator. She has been instrumental in CAL’s specialization of providing direct services to schools, states, and districts for their ELL population in response to individual requests and needs. With a focus on professional development and technical assistance, Dr. Smallwood has designed and directed over 100 projects nationwide, and has been the service provider in many, including multi-year relationships with many clients.Dr. Smallwood has trained hundreds of teachers (and also delivered Training of Trainers) on all the CAL Solutions’ professional development programs about ELLs: Enhancing (for elementary teachers), Enriching (for secondary teachers), Aspire (for paraprofessionals), and What’s Different (about reading for ELLs, K-8). Dr. Smallwood has also evaluated programs and standards for ELLs, developed ESL curriculum, and provided consultation about ESL issues, including newcomer and other ESL program models. In addition, her research interests include how multicultural children’s literature and singable books can be used to develop English language and literacy, especially for ELLs. Dr. Smallwood has published and presented widely in the field of ESL over the past two decades. She earned her Ph.D. in ESL and Bilingual Education at George Mason University. She is also a certified teacher and began her career as a Peace Corps teacher in the Fiji Islands, where all of her students (5th graders) spoke Fijian, while the required language of instruction for all subjects was English!
Dr. Betty Ansin Smallwood
Manager, CAL Solutions, PreK-12 ELL Education
Email Dr. Smallwood
Direct Phone: 202-355-1540
- Lisa M. Tabaku, M.A.T.
Lisa Tabaku currently serves as Associate Manager, Pre-K-12 ELL Services, at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). She provides professional development and technical assistance to schools, districts and states across the country so that English language learners are able to excel linguistically and academically. Her work at CAL has included the development of a framework for aligning state content and English language proficiency standards, a review of state English language proficiency standards, and innumerable trainings on the topic of ELL literacy development.
Holding an M.A.T. in Bilingual Education from Georgetown University, Ms. Tabaku spent over two decades of public service in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Her roles included ESL teacher (elementary and secondary levels), professional developer, grant writer, program coordinator for federal grant projects, curriculum writer, Director of Civil Rights and Multicultural Affairs, and Executive Director of the Office of Bilingual Education.
Ms. Lisa Tabaku
Associate Manager, CAL Solutions, PreK-12 ELL Education
Email Ms. Tabaku
Phone: 202- 355-1510
Watch our website for more updates on the CAL Solutions team.
