English Immersion Specialist - EIS LLC

Dr. Christine Palumbo specializes in creating the most current research-based programs for your bilingually emergent students no matter what language they are acquiring.

As an experienced and passionate educator, Christine brings extensive knowledge in building great systems for second language (L2) learners, in designing research based curriculum, and in training teachers to use differentiation strategies that are sensitive to language acquisition. Whether working with an EAL Department, a World Language Department, the mainstream content teachers, or the administration  her focus is always the success of the students. Educating the parent community to become partners in maintaining their child's mother language literacy, because it supports their success in learning English, or any additional language is another integral part of the programs necessary to be created time and time again. This combination of strategies coupled with years of experience designing successful programs is why you should hire Dr. P as your next external consultant.

Career Benchmarks

• Peace Corps Response Volunteer working with Professor James Purpura and National Advisors on the new upcoming 2021 National English Exam. 

Working with teachers on researched best practices in Panama
a place Dr. Palumbo calls a second home.

• Senior Fellow for the ELF Program - Panama City, Panama from 2008 to 2011
• Consultant for the American International School of Bamako - Mali, Africa under Director David Henry
• Consultant for the International School of Panama - Panama City, Panama under Director Linda LaPine
• Consultant and Program Coordinator at the Anglo American School - Moscow, Russia under Director Drew Alexander

Qualified Specialist

Extensive experience in teaching English language learners; training teachers; curriculum implementation and design, and cultural diversity training. I possess excellent organizational and people skills, have a broad range of teaching and training experience, excel in client satisfaction and maintenance, and in building business.My strengths include assessing needs of systems in the field of education and business; in gaining trust and building rapport; problem solving; working in cross-cultural situations, and working under pressure. Highly professional, enthusiastic, and flexible.

Coach and Trainer

USA District coach for teachers using SIOP methodology

• Arizona State University | Tempe, Arizona | Mentor for the Arizona Teacher Preparation Program
• Paradise Valley School District | Phoenix, Arizona | Family Literacy Coach

• Ministerio de Educacion, DGEC, Costa Rica: Trained teachers, provided coaching, designed curriculum and guided programs

• Senior Fellowship training teachers for Access, Panama Bilingue, Universities (Latina, Panama)
• International School of Panama | Panama City, Panama
• Anglo American School | Moscow, Russia
• Fulbright Center | Cairo, Egypt
• Congo American Language Institute | Kinshasa, Congo

Conference Presenter

CEESA Presentation - Istanbul, Turkey

• Presentation entitled "How Best Practices for the ESL Student and the PYP Program Interface."

CEESA Presentation - Prague, Czech Republic

• Presentation entitled "ESL in the Mainstream: How to Implement a Research-Based Immersion Program From Beginning to End."

Program Developer

Developed 'Mother Language' Program for Institutions in:

• Panama City, Panama
• Moscow, Russia | Visit this site for more information.
• United States

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Reasons to Hire an External Consultant

• ​The exact programming to be created is dynamic and makes a powerful impact immediately when the directives of the school work in conjunction with the expertise of the external contractor.
• The internal staff moves forward without any delay in building the program because they are first trained and then supported and guided by a more neutral source - the external consultant.
• The external consultant acts as the good guy, and the bad guy, while remaining consistent behind the scenes as the main provider of direction.
• There is more focus and sense of urgency on specific tasks to be accomplished within a set amount of time without the day to day distractions of a coordinator who is acting internally.
• The external consultant (Dr. Palumbo) will immediately be a known entity to teachers and the parent community and especially when hired multiple times a year.
• Differentiation training will remain consistent over time and will be continuously monitored via an outside view and based on the latest trends and research.
• Parent presentations will provide additional training to complement the program that is being learned by teachers. This provides extra support for the learner and thus better and quicker results.
• Contract is negotiable and can be built into the budget for that academic year.

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Here are some possible ways to schedule E.I.S to work at your institution:

Upon Hiring

• Phone and email contact to establish common goals and vision for the visit.
• Plan differentiation training for the staff.
• Plan Mother Language presentations to educate parents in the latest trends and research to ensure that good practices are occurring at home for optimal dual language acquisition conditions.
• All school presentation to address latest research and build common understanding.
• Begin differentiation methodology with teachers on an individual basis, grade level or content area as applicable. Support staff and specialists will be included.
• Evaluate current language policy making sure it is aligned with best practices for the ESL student and classroom procedures within mainstream and content classrooms.
• Investigate whether there is a valid and reliable tracking system monitoring the effectiveness of the ESL program.
• Give recommendations to the administrative team and propose and carry out a plan of action from this visit.
• Plan follow-up visit if decided upon by administration and E.I.S.

Follow Up Visit

• Back to continue differentiation training across the school and continue to support best practices through additional training and modeling done in the classroom.
• Another parent training promoting best practices in dual language acquisition and continue to monitor how language acquisition is taking place from school to home.
• Mother Tongue program beefed up and supported.
• Train administrative team on what to look for in a differentiated classroom. Check to make sure their observational template includes desired outcomes of the differentiation training that has been done.
• ESL team visited and trained on the template being implemented so that their immersion program with teachers is more targeted. The current program will continue to be evaluated based on the results measured and tracked.
• Individual program planning for each ESL student in the program examined with the ESL staff and mainstream teachers.
• Current teacher training, differentiation strategies, parent education, and the Mother Tongue program will be discussed with administrative team and final directives will be made.
• Monitor the direction recommended on first visit and make sure all items are progressing.
• Set up a reliable way for the external consultant and teachers to communicate on an as needed basis to further enhance and ensure their success.
• Always available by email as a coach to the ESL team and other teachers as needed.