With over 20 years of experience, Tamara Burson has witnessed the importance of guiding and training educators of second language learners, particularly Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in secondary schools. Her goals have always been to encourage, instruct, and provide innovative, relevant, and practical ideas for these educators who face the daily challenges of teaching EBs.

Mrs. Burson has a master’s degree in ESL Education from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin and a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education and English from Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

Her education and extensive teaching experience in secondary schools have equipped Mrs. Burson with a unique set of tools to train teachers. She taught middle and high school English courses in two states with a large population of EBs, California and Texas. She also has years of experience teaching different levels of ESL students, from newcomers to long-term EBs. Mrs. Burson has served as department chair, instructional specialist, literacy and content coach, and compliance specialist.

Mrs. Burson’s passion to support teachers of EBs make her a frequent and enthusiastic presenter at state and national conferences, such as NABE, TABE, Title III Symposium, and TexTESOL Regional Conference. In her presentations, she shared her wealth of knowledge to the teachers who typically establish a long-term professional relationship with Mrs. Burson.

Mrs. Burson has assisted districts with the implementation of the Content-Based Instruction (CBI) Approach in secondary schools. Through consulting with districts, she provides support in several areas including, CBI, scaffolding English delivery, newcomers, long-term EBs, academic language development for EBs, writing, and reading in the content areas.

Tamara Burson is one of the senior consultants for Dr. Yacovodonato Educational Consulting LLC supporting teachers of EBs in secondary schools.