Learn more about the 2024-2025 Ignite Professional Learning Community (PLC) facilitators and topics below.
PLC Facilitators
YE "JANE" HE
Professor, TESOL | UNC Greensboro
Dr. Ye He has served as the TESOL program coordinator at UNC Greensboro since 2006. UNC Greensboro offers various teacher preparation programs and professional development workshops to prepare preservice teachers and support inservice teachers working with English learners, dual language learners, and their families. Currently, she serves as the Co-Principal Investigator for Project Ignite, a five-year National Professional Development project supporting teacher preparation.
Ricardo A. Bernal De la Ossa
Ph.D. student | Project IGNITE Graduate Assistant | Teacher Education and Development, School of Education | UNC Greensboro
As a 32-year professional in the field of education, Ricardo has worked in multicultural/multilingual settings in both public and private sectors, internationally and locally. He received his M.Ed. in Teacher Education-TESOL from UNCG in 2016, and holds an M.A. in International Education, English concentration, and a B.A. in Language Teaching Education – double major in English and French. Since 2005, he has been working with Guilford County Schools as an ELD teacher, instructional leader, teacher mentor, community liaison, interpreter, and advocate, formerly in middle school and currently with GCS early/middle colleges. An avid reader, swimmer, and traveler, Ricardo enjoys learning about countries, peoples, languages, and cultures, and is extremely passionate about working with and serving our local immigrant community.
Doris Kroiss
Postdoctoral Fellow, TESOL | UNC Greensboro
Doris is a postdoctoral fellow with a focus on researching effective innovations and strategies for supporting and empowering multilingual students, families, and educators. She holds a doctoral degree with a concentration in TESOL/Mathematics Education and a minor in Educational Research Methodology. As a former English language learner, she is passionate about empowering multilingual teachers, students, and families to advocate for culturally and linguistically responsive practices in their educational experiences. Doris has taught multilingual learners in the U.S. and abroad and is particularly interested in the intersection of mathematics and language learning for new-arrival refugee and immigrant (NARI) youth.
Diana Castaño
DLI Instructional Coach | Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
Across her 23 years in education, Diana had the pleasure of being a teacher in many settings! She had the privilege of serving in a variety of educational roles—from a traditional, bilingual, and immersion classroom teacher to a reading specialist across all elementary grades. Her journey also led her to positions as a preschool director, instructional facilitator, and now, a district-level dual language instructional coach. Diana received her undergraduate degree from Kean University (N.J.) and master’s degree from Appalachian State University. She believes that being fully bilingual is a necessary 21st century skill and is passionate about advocating for her teachers, students, and community! She firmly believes that every single child has the right to high-quality public education that will allow them access to a successful future of their own choice. She also believes that it is the educator’s role to facilitate learning experiences that allow every student to see the choices in their future. Diana loves everything about education and is inspired daily by the many amazing teachers, teacher assistants, & staff she serves who do all they can in support of students. When not at work or in class, Diana enjoys spending time with her three amazing kids and three fur babies. Time with her family & friends helps her to remain grounded. She enjoys being outdoors, photography, & discovering new and exciting places!
Maria Nancy Cloete
ML Teacher, Carver Heights Elementary and Carver Elementary | Wayne County Public Schools
Maria has been teaching English as a Second Language for over 20 years. She first came to the U.S.A. as a Fulbright exchange teacher in Baltimore County, Maryland, went back to her native Colombia, and returned to N.C. a couple of years later. Ever since she came this second time, she has been in Goldsboro, N.C. She is an alumna of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota and a master degree in Linguistics to Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Universidad Distrital. Maria graduated from ECU with a Master of English with concentration in Multicultural Literature. She has taught high school and middle school for 18 years and elementary school for two. She loves teaching no matter what population it is. She loves learning new things and to challenge herself with new projects. Her end goal is to help students develop their language skills to be successful in the new environment where they are at now.
Claudia M. Jiménez
Director of (ESL) and Dual Immersion Programs (DL/I) | Iredell-Statesville Schools
Claudia is a lifelong language learner and is always happy to share her expertise to support the school community, families, and students at any capacity. Her professional experience involves working with language learners from K to adults. She holds a Post-Master’s Degree in School Administration, a Master in TESOL, a Bachelors in Modern Languages (English and French) and a Certificate in Dual Language Immersion for Administrators. As a district level director, she is dedicated to fostering cultural awareness, language acquisition, and academic excellence for all students. Claudia is an advocate for multilingual learners, families, and communities. She consults with different district leaders about ways to improve, grow, and support our programs.
Evgenia "Jenny" Kolesnikov
ML Teacher, Reedy Creek Elementary | Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Jenny considers herself an accomplished instructional coach with a diverse background in education. With a Master’s in Education specializing in Teaching English as a Second Language from Russia and over a decade of teaching experience in Israel and U.S.A., she is deeply committed to fostering inclusive classrooms. Currently serving as an ESL teacher at Reedy Creek Elementary in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, she actively collaborates with classroom teachers, implements scaffolded approaches, and conducts language proficiency assessments. As an Apple educational coach and Google Certified Educator, she continuously strives for innovation and adaptability in her approach to education. Her commitment to empowering diverse learners and fostering engagement extends beyond the classroom, driving her dedication to supporting multilingual families and promoting writing engagement across all student populations.
Walter Moore
Multilingual Learner Program Specialist, Secondary | Rockingham County Schools
This is Walter’s fifth year as an ESL/ELD teacher, after several years teaching language internationally and in independent school settings. He fully believes that the classroom is where he is able to be an agent of positive change, and that guiding students towards mastery of language and literacy is one of our highest priorities as educators. We must know our students in order to reach them, and that entails evidence-backed strategies for gauging what they bring to the classroom – perhaps the first of which is to get to know their families and peers. Two experiences that transformed Walter were helping Spanish-speaking adult students obtain their GED, and working as a bilingual TA in a semi-rural elementary school.
Alis Mulero
Principal, Easton Elementary School | Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education approved Alis as the new principal of Easton Elementary School January 3, 2024. Most recently, she served as a Dual-Language Immersion Magnet Specialist in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools supporting ten DLI programs K-12 schools and 6 Immersion Languages. Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Prior to that, she was an assistant principal in WS/FCS at North Forsyth and Glenn High Schools from 2021-2022. She was a Dean of Students, DLI Coordinator, and 4th grade teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools from 2017-2021. She was a teacher in Polk County Florida Public Schools from 2014-2016. She was an Elementary Teacher in Haines City, Florida from 2010-2014. Alis earned a Masters of School Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Bilingual Elementary Education from Universidad Del Turabo in Orlando, Florida.
Marcela Puerta
MA TESOL, Greensboro College; ESL teacher, Hurley Elementary | Rowan-Salisbury Schools
Marcela is from Medellin, Colombia. She comes from a modest community, and is the first teacher in her family. She has taught English as a foreign language in her country for more than 10 years. Marcela has taught vulnerable populations, especially in early years of education, in different cities and towns in Colombia. She was Rowan-Salisbury School System Teacher of the Year 23-24. She has a Master of Arts in TESOL from Greensboro College and is an English as a second language teacher at Hurley Elementary. Her school is Title I, this means that many of our students have different academic, economical, and socio-emotional backgrounds and needs. She has worked hard to involve Spanish speaking families in the community and make them feel active members of the school and important agents of their students’ academic success. Marcela has created a Spanish Welcome Center in her school’s front office to provide parents all the resources and information they need when they are new in the community. She has implemented mindfulness strategies creating a calming learning environment for her students, and has offered field trips to all her Multilingual students. These outings have given her students real-world learning experiences that increase language comprehension. Finally, she wants to mention that she has provided colleagues and other teachers outside her school dynamic support and teaching essential skills that advocate the learning needs of students and the involvement of multilingual families.
Betsy Román
DLI Instructional Coach, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
Betsy is entering her 24th year in teaching. She graduated from Kean University in Union, New Jersey with a B.A. in Elementary Education with a Bilingual option. She also holds an ESL teacher certification and completed UNCG’s EnACTed program for the Dual Language add on. She began her career as a self-contained Bilingual middle school teacher. Once in North Carolina, she taught in a Spanish Immersion elementary program for several years. Betsy later became a K-5 ESL teacher, and currently is one of the Bilingual Program’s Instructional Coach for the district. As a product of Bilingual Education, she believes in the program and is passionate in advocating for her students, teachers, and community. She loves learning and growing professionally and personally. When not working, she enjoys time with family and friends and listening to and dancing to all genres of music. Also, she enjoys learning about all countries and their cultures.
Laurie Tucker
ML Teacher, Heritage High School | Wake County Public Schools
Laurie has been an ESL (ESOL, ELL, ML) teacher for 24 years. She earned my B.A. in English and her M.Ed. in Secondary Education with an add-on license in ESL certification from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She was fortunate to be trained by Virginia Collier, Lorraine Valdez Pierce, and other amazing ESL professors there. She has taught all levels, from Kindergarten to adults. For the past 14 years, Laurie has taught ESL classes at Heritage High School in Wake County Public Schools. This year, she was fortunate to be selected as her school’s teacher of the year. She is proud of this honor. She loves working with multilingual learners, helping them grow and be successful in their lives.
Deborah Wilkes
ESL Coordinator | Cumberland County Schools
Deborah is currently the ESL Program Coordinator for Cumberland County Schools in North Carolina. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foreign Languages with International Studies from South Bank University in London, England, and a post-baccalaureate certification in teaching English as a foreign language from the University of Valencia, Spain. She completed her Masters degree in Education with ESL at Meredith College, N.C. and is a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language. She has lived and worked in the U.S.A. since 1999, during which time she has taught ESL in public schools K-12, has been an ESL Instructional Coach and Lead Teacher in several school districts, and has developed professional training programs and workshops for educators throughout the United States. In North Carolina, she has worked extensively with the NC Department of Public Instruction to develop EL-related programs, curriculum, and policies. She has been actively involved in ESL teacher training and EL literacy development programs with the University of NC at Wilmington, University of NC-Chapel Hill, and Duke University. Deborah has been extremely fortunate to have completed instructional and consultant assignments in England, Spain, Mexico, Bolivia and China and she is currently serving as the LEA Committee Co-Chair of the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators (NAELPA) and the former Vice-President of the NC Partners of the Americas.
