Join us for an exciting back-to-school webinar presented by Luis Penton-Herrera and Huseyin Uysal presented by our Advocacy and Teacher Education Interest Sections!
What does advocacy feel like for teachers of English learners? This webinar explores how advocacy extends beyond structures and pedagogy to include the emotional and relational realities of teaching. Grounded in recent scholarship, we center the social dynamics and emotional labor inherent in English language teachers’ advocacy work. Designed for both content-area and English language teachers, this session offers insights into empathy, emotional intelligence, and educator well-being as essential tools for sustainable advocacy.
Huseyin Uysal, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language Education at The Education University of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in ESOL/Bilingual Education from the University of Florida. His scholarship is driven by the values of social justice and grounded in understanding power, identity, and inclusivity in linguistically and culturally diverse schools. He positions himself within the critical and constructivist paradigms by advocating for emergent bilinguals and TESOL professionals. His research interests include fairness, justice and equity in TESOL, English learner reclassification, and plurilingualism at public schools.. His work has appeared in venues such as TESOL Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Linguistics and Education, Peabody Journal of Education, and Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. He is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Education for Multilingualism, and the Associate Editor of Journal of Education, Language, and Ideology. He is the current Chair of the Bilingual-Multilingual Education Interest Section under TESOL International Association.
Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Ph.D. is an award-winning Spanish and English educator and a best-selling author. In 2024, he was selected as the 2024 TESOL Teacher of the Year, awarded by the TESOL International Association and National Geographic Learning. He is a Professor (Profesor uczelni, in Polish) at VIZJA University, Poland and Co-Editor of Tapestry: A Multimedia Journal for Teachers and English Learners. He is a Fulbright and English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State. Previously, he served as the 38th President of Maryland TESOL (2018-2019), and earned the rank of Sergeant while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Two of his professional accolades include the ‘30 Up and Coming Emerging Leaders in TESOL’, awarded by TESOL International Association in 2016, and the J. Estill Alexander Future Leader in Literacy Award, awarded by the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers in 2018 when his dissertation was chosen as ALER’s 2018 Outstanding Dissertation of the Year. His current teaching and research projects are situated at the intersection of identity, emotions, and well-being in language and literacy education, social-emotional learning, autoethnography and storytelling, refugee education, and language weaponization. His books were published by the University of Michigan Press, Routledge, Springer, Brill/Sense, De Gruyter, TESOL Press, Bucharest University Press, and Rowman & Littlefield.
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