SUPPORTING ENGLISH LEARNERS IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST LANGUAGE

"I really enjoyed Laura's training. It was thorough, backed by data, but also had good real world examples that help me understand what various English learners go through. I have worked with the immigrant community for 10 years now and still learned a lot for her training: from the educational laws that talk about translation to various programs that already exist to meet the needs of these communities. Laura's teaching style is well paced, clear and anecdotal, which I like." - Adriana Salcedo, School Social Worker, Washington DC

"Laura Gardner has provided four workshop presentations for our undergraduate and graduate education students.  Her presentations were wonderful! She engaged the students and provided them with valuable information. She is very knowledgeable, motivated and motivating, and an excellent speaker." -Dr. Silvana Watson, Ph.D. Old Dominion University

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"Laura's online class on immigrant family engagement was so interesting, enjoyable, and immediately relevant to my current work. I completed the course with a ton of valuable resources to share with fellow teachers, staff, and families! Thank you SO much!!!" - Educator from Delaware

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"I highly recommend Laura as a trainer and resource for supporting teams who would like to learn more about developing partnerships with immigrant and refugee families. Laura’s professional development training for our statewide network of family engagement professionals on Building Partnerships with Immigrant and Refugee Families was excellent. She is extremely well-versed and passionate about this topic, and she took the time to tailor her presentation to our state with important statistics, national resources, and local contacts. The supplemental materials and pre-training videos/articles she provided allowed those at the training to have important, informed discussions about working with immigrant and refugee families in their region. We all walked away with ideas for how to strengthen practices within our organizations." - Dr. Barbara Boone, Coordinator of the Ohio Family and Community Engagement Network, The Ohio State University

"Thank you!  This was an amazing training.  I have loved the conversations and experiences!  I have grown personally and professionally. I will now be more culturally aware teacher.  I will integrate things that make my immigrant students feel more 'at home.'" - Educator in Maryland

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"NOT ALL TRAINERS ARE EQUAL.  There is such a thing as a “trainer of trainers”,   and I can unequivocally say that Laura Gardner has gained my respect for such a title.  A true sign of a trainer is to lead and a true quality of leadership is to be able to serve. Laura has tirelessly worked with the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) by providing her expertise to help me and my team to organize and hold two successful EL roundtable sessions, one with EL practitioners and our most recent one with EL parents. Her advice and insight into the needs and challenges confronting our EL community has assisted our office to plan and successfully deliver two of the most productive roundtable sessions that our office has ever held. Laura is a leader who demonstrates her leadership skills while serving others." - Samuel Lopez, Ph.D. Senior Education Program Specialist, OELA Special Initiatives Lead, U.S. Department of Education

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"I have a Master's in TESL and learned a few things from Laura's online course on immigrant family engagement! Particularly on the differences between interpretation and translation, and how important family engagement is. I am hoping to implement some of these best practices at my school!"

- Educator from Massachusetts