Cristy Cuellar-Lezcano

Cristy Cuellar-Lezcano is an educator with over 23 years of experience in bilingual education. Although born and raised in El Paso, TX, she got her Bachelor’s degree in Bilingual Education from The University of Arizona and her Master’s Degree in Linguistics from California State University at Long Beach.

Her work in schools has taken her to Southern California and New York City. Her time in the classroom has been in both public district and public charter schools. She also has experience as a reading specialist during her time at a nonprofit organization in Harlem. She spent 8 years as a founding member of a school in the South Bronx, where she worked closely with its dual language program. As the Dual Language Coordinator and Bilingual Reading Intervention teacher, she was immersed in the different ways to approach reading instruction with emergent bilinguals. She is a strong advocate for using translanguaging as a tool to provide equitable access to emergent bilinguals regardless of which type of language program they are in. Ms. Cuellar-Lezcano truly believes in the multifaceted powers and beauty of multilingualism.