Faculty News and Research: Kaiser, Lee-Johnson, Song, Stiles
March 04, 2021
Recent professional news and achievements for Webster University School of Education faculty members include:
Song Featured in WIDA, Discusses ELL Teaching
HeeGyoung Song, an adjunct faculty member in the TESL program, was the featured educator in the
January issue of WIDA's newsletter. Dr. Song has taught for Webster in Kansas City,
online, and for the current NPD grant.
“Every day I see and experience the challenges that arise from real differences in language, class, race and ethnicity, exceptionality, and cultures for students and teachers," Song said.
“Understanding and respecting their culture and different aspects of nonverbal communication allows me to better communicate and interact with parents of ELLs and the ELLs themselves,” HeeGyoung said. “Right now, even in my Zoom room, my students and I use lots of hand gestures and verbal and written expressions to communicate how much we care for each other.”
Read the full profile of Song in WIDA here.
Kaiser Published in Journal of ASIA TEFL
DJ Kaiser, associate dean and director of the Teaching English as a Second Language program,
was recently published in the Journal of Asia TEFL in a report titled “Setting Up
Shop in Uzbekistan: TESL programs in New Markets.” The publication discusses the process
and lessons learned in launching Webster’s TESL program in Uzbekistan in 2018. The
publication is available online at journal.asiatefl.org.
Kaiser also recently received a proof of a new English language textbook that will be required of some 160,000 secondary school students in Uruguay starting in 2021. The new #LivingUruguay1 includes a reading passage and photos by Kaiser on "Paysandú’s Old Cemetery” in Unit Seven, “My Town,” based on a visit he took during his Fulbright research in 2016.
Lee-Johnson to Guest Edit Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, director of Webster University's Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program and co-director
of its $2.7 million U.S. Department of Education grant, has been invited to be a guest
editor for a peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. The journal
is published both online and in-print by John Benjamins in the Netherlands.
The special issue is entitled, "Preparing Teachers for Addressing the Sociocultural Issues with Asian Pacific Immigrants and Refugees." The articles included in the special issue focused on foregrounding the voices and experiences of immigrants and refugees in education.
Stiles Article on Human Rights Fellows
Debbie Stiles published the article, "Why a Psychologist Might Want to Become a Human Rights Fellow,"
in the January 2021 issue of the Global Network of Psychologists for Human Rights
(GNPHR) Bulletin. The Bulletin is the official news outlet of the GNPHR, and is posted
once a month with news about human rights issues, activities and events around the
world.
Sheetal Shah of Webster Leiden also contributed her ideas and Lindsey Kingston, director of Webster's Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, also helped with the article.
In the piece, Stiles describes the role of Webster's Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, and how she and Shah, as psychologists, incorporate the mission of protecting human rights in their professional practices.
Read the article by Stiles here. The entire January GNPHR bulletin can be viewed here.
Stiles is drector of the Intercultural Research Center, professor of Applied Educational Psychology and School Psychology, and a fellow in the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies.