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In retrospect Sofia Chaparro’s career as an educator and expert in bilingual education was pre-destined.

Sofia is the daughter of bilingual and transnational parents who spent time in El Paso, Texas and in Juárez, Mexico throughout her childhood. Her grandfather was a rural educator in Chihuahua, Mexico. One of her grandmothers and an aunt also attended la Escuela Normal in Mexico – the equivalent of a teaching preparation academy. You could say education is in her genes.

Her experience as a transnational kid fueled her passion for bilingual education. Sofia attended elementary school in Mexico and completed the rest of her schooling in the United States. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in Teaching English Language Learners from Boston College and a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sofia’s first job was as a second-grade teacher in the Boston School District – no surprise given both her parents are educators and the extended family legacy.

Bilingualism was always celebrated in her home. Her parents even had a bumper sticker that said: “Ser bilingüe vale por dos!” (being bilingual counts for two). But she soon discovered not everyone had the same positive experience with languages growing up.

I realized how different the experience of some of my Latinx peers had been, growing up in different parts of the country,” she said. “My passion for bilingualism and for providing each bilingual child an experience that nurtures their cultural and linguistic heritage only became stronger, so I decided to pursue teaching and specifically sought out bilingual schools.

She spent five years teaching in public schools and realized she could do more by training the next generation of teachers and by conducting research to determine best practices for bilingual learners.

Sofia joined CU Denver in 2017 and is an assistant professor of Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education. Today she conducts extensive research on the social and cultural contexts in which bilingual teaching and learning take place in our K-12 schools.

Sofia examines how race and class influence ideologies of language and bilingualism, and how these impact perceptions of students’ language abilities as well as teaching practices. In addition, she studies the effectiveness of two-way immersion bilingual programs in city contexts. And as a professor, she teaches the next generation of teachers to be better prepared to serve students from multilingual backgrounds.

“It is hard to believe that there is still such ignorance and misinformation about the benefits and importance of bilingual education,” Sofia said. “The accountability pressures from federal and state policies often blind administrators to the real goals of education, that go beyond schooling, and that have to do with building the kind of society we want, the kind of schools and communities that our children deserve.”

Sofia and several of her colleagues in the School of Education & Human Development were recently awarded a $3.2 million National Professional Development Grant to execute the ambitious NxtGEN Colorado Bilingüe project. The goal is to double the enrollment of preservice bilingual teacher candidates across three Grow-Your-Own (GYO) programs, designing GYO pathways to the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education Program’s Bilingual Education K-12 endorsement. The grant will also help improve the quality and quantity of clinical experiences in bilingual settings. Keeping bilingual educators is also part of the grant, which is why the team will establish an Identity-Sustaining Community of Practice. Altogether the five-year grant aims to expand the pool of highly qualified bilingual educators for our students and diversifying the teaching workforce.

Webinar Information

CU Denver’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse faculty team is organizing a national, interactive webinar on September 30, from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. MST. It is open to all educators and is titled “Welcoming Newcomer Students in the Classroom: Practical tips for Prioritizing Community and Creating a Culture of Care.”