Kristin Lems

Title:

Professor, ESL/Bilingual Education
Co-Director, ESL STEM Success Grant
(U.S. Dpt. of Ed, Office of English Language Acquisition)

Programs/Classes Taught:

ESL and Bilingual Education, all classes
Methods of Arts Education
English to Speakers of Other Languages
Reading in the Content Areas

Areas of Expertise:

teaching and learning English as a new language, applied linguistics, methods and materials for teaching ESL, reading in a new language, orthography, oracy, reading instructional practices, reading fluency instruction, adult ESL, using the arts to learn languages

Biography:

Kristin Lems is an active scholar and leader within the National College of Education. Most recently, she was awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award in EFL/Applied Linguistics, to work with English teachers at National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbataar, the capitol. She spent 20 days there in October, 2013.

Lems co-directs a 5 year training grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition. The ESL STEM Success Grant, awarded $1,764,177, runs from 2011-2016 and provides expertise in teaching the STEM subjects to English language learners through work with 5 partners. Lems previously directed another Department of Education grant at National Louis (2004-2009), Building Community for English Language Acquisition, which partnered to provide ESL teaching expertise to DuPage County School Districts 4, 45, and 88.

In addition to Dr. Lems' grant directorships, she has co-authored or co-edited 5 books related to reading fluency, reading, and English language learners (Guilford, Scholastic), and published articles in The Reading Teacher, Writing Systems Research, English Teaching Forum, Booklinks, and ERIC Digests.
Alone and with colleagues, Lems has offered half and full day institutes, workshops, and symposia at international conferences for professional organizations including the International Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, American Association of Applied Linguistics, American Education Research Association, National Association for Bilingual Education, and others. She has been invited to offer professional development in northern Illinois on various topics relating to English language learners.

Lems was a Fulbright Scholar in Algeria, and is currently an English Language Specialist with the U.S. State Department. In that capacity, she worked with teachers of English in 2012 in Chile.

Education:

Ed.D., Reading and Language, National Louis University
M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
M.A. in West Asian Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
A.B. in English/creative writing, secondary teaching certificate, University of Michigan