Dr. Mary C. Soto was on the board for the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) from 2018-2021. Her career in education began as a high school ELA/ELD and Theater teacher in California, Mexico, and Texas. She taught in the Bilingual Authorization Teacher Preparation Program at California State University Chico and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University East Bay. She teaches classes for both multiple and single subject candidates on meeting the needs of Emergent Bilingual students. In addition, she teaches secondary ELA Methods.
Dr. Soto’s current research interests focus on ways that teachers can organize their curriculum around thematic units using authentic reading and writing projects to motivate and engage emergent bilinguals. In addition, she has been exploring the use of translanguaging to promote biliteracy as a means of helping emergent bilinguals be successful academically and supporting the maintenance of their native languages.
Each year, she presents for national and international conferences. This year she gave two virtual presentations for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL): Applying Translanguaging in Units of Study and Translanguaging Strategies that Draw on Students’ Cultures.
Recent publications include co-authoring Equitable Access for English Learners: Strategies and Units for Differentiating Your Language Arts Curriculum (Corwin, 2020) and Between Worlds: Access to Second Language Acquisition 4th Edition (Heinemann, 2021).