We have The 9:30 Call in English.
We have The 9:30 Call en español.
And next week, we are launching The 9:30 Call em português!
The goal of all these multilingual calls is to reach a wider audience, provide accurate information, and make sure that all members of the early childhood community across the Commonwealth are connected to each other and to policymakers, researchers, and other advocates.
Starting on Wednesday, January 28th, The 9:30 Call em português will be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.
The topic of the first call is The Importance of Higher Education for Early Childhood Educators and Access to Portuguese-Language Pathways.
The speaker will be Daiane Antonio. She is an assistant professor of Early Childhood Education at Massachusetts Bay Community College, where she pioneered Massachusetts’ first Early Childhood Education Certificate Program taught entirely in Portuguese. Antonio is also a doctoral student who is earning aPhD in Early Education and Care – Special Education, at UMass Boston. And, she was a panelist at our Early Childhood Summit back in October.
Earlier in her career, Antonio, a multilingual educator, was an inclusion PreK–Kindergarten teacher in Boston Public Schools, and a Developmental Specialist in Early Intervention. Now, she focuses on expanding access to higher education, strengthening workforce development, and advancing culturally and linguistically responsive practices for early childhood educators through a trauma-sensitive lens.
Antonio will discuss a number of topics, including:
- how access to higher education in one’s home language strengthens professional identity and practice
- the impact of Portuguese-language certificate programs on workforce development
- pathways for early childhood educators to advance their education and credentials,
- and her reflections on inclusion, equity, and representation in early childhood preparation programs
The new co-hosts for The 9:30 Call em português are two alumni of SFC’s Advocacy Network for Early Childhood:
- Edna Cabral, Owner & Director of Edna’s Little Garden FCC in Woburn. Cabral is a member of the Massachusetts Association for the Education of Young Children (MAAEYC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the Portuguese American Leadership Council of the U.S. (PALCUS), and
- Ana Teresa Farias, Training Coordinator for the Metro Boston Professional Development Center in the Early Education Leaders Institute at UMass Boston. Farias is also an Adjunct Professor, Urban College of Boston
All 9:30 Calls in Portuguese will be recorded and posted on our YouTube channel.
To learn more or to sign up to be a guest on The 9:30 Call em português, contact Diagneris Garcia, Director of Communications, Strategies for Children, at dgarcia@strategiesforchildren.org
To join these calls, visit our website, click the orange registration button, and complete the form. You will receive an email with the Zoom link. We use the same Zoom link for all 9:30 calls.
Think of the Portuguese speakers in your network, and please share the info with them. We are excited about growing The 9:30 Call community.