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ITBE SIG Chairs

ITBE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (SIGS) CHAIRS

Illinois TESOL-BE's Board also consists of Officers and Elected and Appointed Board Members.
For more information on each Board position, view Illinois TESOL-BE's Constitution and Bylaws webpages.

ADULT EDUCATION

Marcia Luptak 

Adult Education SIG Co-Chair
Contact: adultsig@itbe.org
Marcia Luptak started teaching ESL at Southern Illinois University in 1993 as a linguistics graduate student there. In 1996, she began teaching adult education ESL at Elgin Community College (ECC), where she taught ESL classes until 2014. In 2014, she became the Senior Director of the ESL program and became the Associate Dean of Adult Education in 2017. She holds an M.S. Ed. in Adult, Continuing, and Literacy Education
from National Louis University in Chicago. She has been actively involved in ESL and adult education
throughout her career. She has presented at local, state, and national conferences since 1992.  She served on the IACEA Board from 2016-2018. She also participated on the ICCB ESL Strategic Plan subcommittee in 2018 and the Advisory Board from 2019-2021. Marcia is an active member of TESOL and has been a member of ITBE since 1999.

 

Joseph Hester 

Adult Education SIG Co-Chair 
Contact: adultsig@itbe.org

Joseph Hester is a Full-Time Tenured Adult Education ESL Instructor at the College of Lake County. He completed his MA in Linguistics / TESOL at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2005 under the supervision of Elliot Judd. In addition to teaching ESL, he has served ESL programs in a variety of roles including as a manager of ESL faculty, assessment, tutoring, and resources. He is dedicated to serving and assisting in the development of ESL students, instructors, and the TESOL profession. In his free time, he loves spending time with his family, exercising, and reading.



 









HIGHER EDUCATION

Emily Casaletto

Higher Education SIG Co-Chair
Contact: highsig@itbe.org

Emily Casaletto graduated from the MA in TESOL program at Northeastern Illinois University. Additionally, her interests are educational policy, testing ELLs and educating language learners with diverse learning needs.

 


SECONDARY EDUCATION

Lila Birchfield

Secondary Education SIG Co-Chair
Contact: secondarysig@itbe.org
Lila Birchfield earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Spanish/Secondary Education
from Millikin University in 1977. She began her teaching career at St. Viator High School in
Arlington Heights. While at St. Viator, she became the ESL tutor for the religious sisters who
worked for the Clerics of St. Viator. That experience sparked her interest in teaching ESL which
led her to earn a Master of Arts in Linguistics with an endorsement in ESL from Northeastern
Illinois University in 1984. In the same year, she began teaching at Glenbard North High School
where she taught world languages and ESL classes, eventually being appointed the ESL
Coordinator. After her retirement from Glenbard North in 2010, she continued to work with
high school students. In the summers of 2011 and 2012, she traveled to Nowy Sacz, Poland to
teach in the Young Talents Summer School, a project sponsored by the European Union through
National Louis University and its sister university Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu. Additionally, she has
taught teacher certification classes in Curriculum and Instruction at National Louis University
and a reading course to international students at Roosevelt University. As an independent
tutor, she provides academic support for struggling students and enrichment activities for
talented students. She has been teaching English Language Acquisition classes at Harper College
since 2004 and has served as the Secondary Interest Group Chair for ITBE since 2010.

 
 

Vacant




 



 











ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Vacant

Elementary Education SIG Chair
Contact: elemsig@itbe.org