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ENL's Holy Trinities

Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ writes that, “St. Ignatius was the first person in the history of Christian spirituality to perceive the Trinity as God at work—as the God who continues to work, always filling up the universe and actively awakening the divine life in all things for the salvation of humanity.” Well, the Trinity has been at work in ENL this year. We know it to be true because everywhere we turn, we find 3s!

The ENL 3, Jenny, Clare and Katy, continue to be the coordination center at work in Carole Sandner Hall. This past year they have articulated three primary domains for ENL: language acquisition, research-based instructional strategies, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. ENL has also embraced a three-fold mission to support Catholic schools serving linguistically diverse students. We develop teacher-leaders, we offer high-quality professional development, and we share resources helpful to educators in the field.

We also have three great updates to share:

  1. This fall Megan and Enrique Hernandez, Jr., great friends of Catholic schools from Los Angeles, CA, made a generous gift to advance the work of ENL through fellowships. Because of their generosity, ENL teachers will now be called ENL Hernandez Fellows!

  2. Dr. Katy Walter Lichon, member of ENL 2, was officially named director of the ENL Program in November.  Katy’s undergraduate background in marketing and management as well as her doctoral work in second language acquisition make her an ideal leader to see ENL into the future. 

  3. The ENL team is on the road this year.  Embracing requests to offer professional development, ENL presented to teachers in the dioceses of Salt Lake City in November and will soon be visiting Detroit, Peoria, and Joliet. We hope to see familiar faces wherever we go, and let us know if we can add your (arch)diocese to the tour!

As you can see, we have a very trinitarian outlook these days. And so we ask the Holy Trinity to continue to bless our work and help us all be tireless in our mission to ensure English learners thrive in Catholic schools.