Teri Lynn Foster
(University of California, Santa Barbara)

Teri Foster has worked in the field of bilingual education for more than 20 years. She has served English language learners in many different capacities starting with her position as a bilingual elementary school teacher. During her years as a teacher she was awarded three district mentorships, one of which was to create Spanish curriculum units. Working with the USC Mini Corps program she helped establish a bilingual educational program in the Moorpark Unified School District. As staff developer and Title VII Resource Teacher, she provided both B-CLAD and CLAD teachers with strategies for implementing Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE), English Language Development (ELD), and cooperative learning.

Over the last six years Teri Foster has held the positions of school principal, university instructor, and Title VII consultant. She is, also, active in professional organizations and has presented at conferences such as the California Association of Bilingual Education (CABE). This year, at the Linguistic Minority Research Institute conference, she will present findings from her dissertation on cooperative learning and partner selection in a dual language classroom.

The dissertation is near completion at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Besides this Doctoral Degree, she holds two Master's Degrees with bilingual emphasis in Elementary Education and School Administration. Further, she has studied Spanish both in the United States and in Mexico. Publications include a book review for the California Reader and she is editor for Bilingual Bylines in the TESOL Matters newsletter.