Educator Brooke Tucker has 20 years’ experience as a Spanish, English and ELL teacher. Originally hailing from Colorado where she studied Spanish and English Literature at the University of Denver, she began her teaching journey in the snow country of Japan. There, Brooke taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) for three years. Faced with her dismal failure to master Japanese Kanji, she instead decided to return to the US to pursue her Masters in Teaching Spanish at the Monterey Institute for International Studies (now Middlebury Institute) in California. For the next ten years, she taught high school Spanish language and literacy classes and GED courses for Spanish speakers, as well as Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) for the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Point Lobos Docents. Currently, Brooke teaches English and ELL at the American International School of Johannesburg in South Africa. She and her students from more than 80 countries explore the power of the written and spoken word, as well as the influence that linguistic diversity and power dynamics have on our identities. Brooke is honoured to participate in the ILC as a co-presenter with esteemed and uber-creative Nueva writing teacher, Jennifer Perry.