Changing Lives -- Building Futures
Project Learn to Read of San Antonio (PLR) Board of Directors:
A former ESL adult education and college/university instructor, Alex Baez is a founding member of The Texas Professional Development Group, providing professional development for adult education programs in Texas and internationally. She is a National Institute for Literacy trainer for the Equipped for the Future content standards project, and the Bridges to Practice Awareness and Dissemination Project for Adults with Learning Disabilities. Alex’s background includes work in advertising and public relations; managing special projects and fundraising programs for UNICEF, United Nations, New York; and designing and presenting professional development modules for the ESOL Project, Texas A & M University—Kingsville.
Alex holds a master of arts degree in second language acquisition from the Bicultural-Bilingual Studies Division of the University of Texas at San Antonio. A graduate of Trinity University (B.A., Journalism, Broadcasting, and Film), she is also a board member of TexTESOL III (a Central Texas affiliate of international TESOL—Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), and is a past president, and state conference chairperson for that organization. Alex currently consults for McGraw-Hill ESL publications, and is hard at work on several independent publishing projects.
Robert E. Blake, Vice President
Bob was the son of an army officer and moved to Texas when I was 15. He graduated from Thomas Jeffereson High School in 1954 and Texas A&M in 1958. Bob was a distinguished military graduate of A&M and accepted a commission in the regular army. He served 24 years as a field artillery officer, retiring in 1982 at the rank of lieutanent colonel. During his military service he served tours on Germany, Vietnam and Panama. Bob was designated a Foreign Area Specialist (FAO) by the army in Latin America following graduation from the DOD Language School (Spanish) and Louisiana State University, where he received an MA in Latin American Studies in 1969. One of his last tours of duty was on the Department of Army Staff in the Pentagon, as Military Intelligence Officer, Latin America.
Following army retirement Bob attended USC's adjunct campus in Arlington, VA, and earned a certificate in computer programming. He then worked for a number of firms in the software industry, both in the Washington DC area and in Southern California, as a documentation specialist until he retired completely in 2001.
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Theodore S. (Ted) Turner, Member
Coming soon!
Carol Speigl, Executive Director
Carol Speigl has over 20 years experience teaching adults English as Second Language (ESL) and working with adults who have learning problems in reading, writing, and spelling. She has over 19 years experience as a trainer of basic literacy tutors and ESL tutors and adult literacy program management. Carol has taught ESL, basic literacy skills, and G.E.D. to the visually impaired, and ESL, citizenship, and G.E.D. to adults in the North East Adult Education Program. She has participated in the Texas LEARNS' 90-hour Learning Disabilities Initiative and Certification Initiative, Bridges to Practice Trainer for the National Institute for Literacy in Washington D.C., BEST Plus test question generation at the Center for Applied Linguistics, and has presented professional development training to adult education teachers at Texas A&M ESOL Project. Carol is co-foudner of The Texas Professional Development Group where she develops and presents professional development modules at the state and national level in learning disabilities, ESL instructional strategies, EL civics, multi-level classroom instruction, SCANS, and project-based learning.
