Louise El Yaafouri is a Recent Arriver & Cultural Competency Consultant working with refugee and immigrant serving organizations in the US and abroad. She is author of The Newcomer Student (2016), The Newcomer Fieldbook (2017), and an upcoming publication with ASCD around the theme of culturally-sensitive trauma. She has also written for various print and curriculum publications, including ASCD’s EL Magazine, Edutopia, Europe in Discourse, I’m Your Neighbor Books, EduSkills and Chalkbeat National.
 

Louise works closely with schools to develop asset-based and action-oriented EL programming, with a focus on diversity and trauma-informed practices that support the socio-academic success of Newcomer ELLs and their families. She also serves a range of organizations around workplace inclusion, bias training, adult programming, and curriculum writing.

As a Newcomer educator, Louise was awarded as Rodel Exemplary Educator, “Distinguished” teacher (Denver Public Schools), Mile High Teacher and Professional Fulbright Educator to Tanzania, where she founded a school that continues to graduate students each year. Currently, she holds board positions at the United Nations Association Denver and New America Schools and maintains vital partnerships with local and international refugee-serving entities. In 2018, Louise served as a Global Mentor to teachers in Kenya’s Kakuma and Dedaab refugee camps, in partnership with Columbia University.

 

Louise is based out of Denver, Colorado; Saida, Lebanon; and Morogoro, Tanzania. She can be found at louise@diversifi-ED.com and on Twitter @ElYaafouriELD.