Mary Bazigos is a Palo Alto Adult School credentialed teacher with a Master’s degree in English as a Second Language from San Francisco State University. Her Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley is in Spanish literature. She has been teaching at the Palo Alto Adult School since 2003. As a first generation American with parents who immigrated from Greece, she is well aware of the challenges facing new adult immigrants in adjusting to a new culture, language, and various other social aspects of living in the U.S.

Mary is currently a member of CATESOL (California Association for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). She received a Certificate of Recognition in 2002 from the College of San Mateo after completing 10 years of service there. Mary was a presenter at CATESOL in October 2012. Her presentation was Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Oral Assessment Activities for ESL Students Outside the Classroom (Using the Google Voice feature on the I-Phone).

Her focus with her high beginning students is on all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. She also puts an emphasis on  her learner’s needs outside the classroom. This emphasis is to help students be able to function in basic English as it relates to their everyday lives. She has taught  ESL for more than 15 years at the community college level (at Canada and at the College of San Mateo), and for nine years at the adult school level.

Since September 2013, Mary has been a PLC (Professional Learning Community) Facilitator for PAAS ESL morning program, conferring with, and helping teachers develop classroom assessments for listening and speaking, utilizing our ESL Model Standards. In Spring 2015, she completed the College and Career Readiness Standards Training through CALPRO (California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project) for future implementation into our ESL program.

Areas of Expertise:

Current PLC (Professional Learning Community) Facilitator for PAAS ESL morning program (Sept. 2013- present): Conferring with, and helping teachers develop classroom assessments for listening and speaking utilizing our ESL Model Standards.

Completed the College and Career Readiness Standards Training through CALPRO for future implementation into our ESL program. (March 2015-May 2015)

Professional Background:

CATESOL/ California Association for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

Master’s Degree: San Francisco State University (December 1976)

Honors:

Certificate of Recognition: received at the College of San Mateo after completing 10 years of service. (August 2002)

Presenter at CATESOL October 2012: “Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Oral Assessment Activities for ESL Students Outside the Classroom” (Using the Google Voice feature on the I-Phone)