Cal Jordan Powers
WEAVER • WONDERER • WORDSMITH
Educator • Researcher • Leader • Advocate • Organizer
Teaching Portfolio
Cal first started tutoring and teaching in 2011, having taught English, French, and Spanish in person as well as remotely both through Zoom and virtual reality, guiding learners across six continents from kindergarteners to entrepreneurs to retirees. In leadership roles, Cal has developed online World Language Education (WLE) curricula, chaired a professional development conference for language educators and applied linguistics researchers, and served in both editorial and authorial capacity for several publications related to the WLE profession.
Cal’s Education Work
Through Professionall
Founder of
Professionall, Public Benefit Corporation
2020–Present • Remote
As a public benefit corporation, the specific purpose of Professionall is to advocate for the wellbeing of all educators in the world, to reduce teacher burnout and attrition, and to inspire and nourish the future generations of educational leaders. Through this work, Cal has worked with WLE professionals to advocate for language education and has published research on the WLE profession and its challenges.
Social Professional Learning
The ultimate goal for Professionall is to build a social learning management platform for professional development. While the platform is being developed, Cal is publishing research on the education profession, teacher professional development, and teacher wellbeing.
Professional Development Advising
Professionall takes a different approach to professional development, offering one-on-one advising for educators seeking to make the next step in their careers as well as offering PD planning and faculty advising for schools and departments, leading action research, or compiling case studies.
Entertainingly Educational Content
To make professional development entertaining and accessible in diverse formats, Professionall shares educational content on social media, on our blog, through videos, and with comics. Segments from the Pathways Podcast and other current events are shared on themed days to create bite-size learning opportunities for educators.
Cal hosts the Pathways Podcast, an interview podcast that explores fascinating career paths from all sectors of the education profession to better understand what makes a quality educator. We navigate each stage of our guest’s career to explore their motivations, experiences, and beliefs throughout their professional pathways to encourage and prepare other educators.
Exploring the Profession Through Podcasts
2021–Present • Remote
Alongside Dr. Kathleen Bailey, Cal has been working on an independent mixed-methods research project designed to fill a research gap on leadership in world language education. The project surveyed over 300 educators across the U.S. using an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with 60 of the respondents. As Research Manager, Cal strategized the survey tools and methods, organized and coded data using complex statistical analysis, developed bespoke analytical tools, and designed graphic models to visualize data. As Lead Author, Cal is continuing to spearhead the preparation of proposals and manuscripts, overseeing copy editing processes to meet detailed guidelines, and corresponding with authors and editors to meet deadlines and achieve successful dissemination of papers and presentations from the LWLE data.
Lead Author & Research Manager
The Leadership in World Language Education (LWLE) Project
LWLE Project Publications
“Ouroboros of Professional Challenges in WLE”
2025 • SLTE
Published in a special edition of the Second Language Teacher Education Journal, this report explores the professional challenges experienced by 60 teacher leaders in world language education. The interviewees provided rich accounts of these challenges, detailing how they were interlinked, complex, related, cumulative, and ouroboric in nature.
Within a textbook on language teacher leadership, this chapter defines a framework through which we can analyze the careers of leaders working in World Language Education (WLE), analyzing their experiences and beliefs throughout their careers. The framework introduced in this chapter presents a career as a pathway with six characteristics.
Presented at the University of New Mexico’s Mentoring Institute Conference, this report synthesizes our respondents’ remarks on mentorship, identifying seven shared sentiments on mentorship. The findings showed that almost 40% of our leaders reported a scarcity of and an urgent need for leadership mentoring opportunities.
“Leaders’ Unsolicited Sentiments on Mentorship”
2024 • Mentoring Institute
“Diverse Pathways into Leadership in WLE”
2023 • Springer International
Cal’s Education Work
Before Professionall
at Immerse, Virtual Reality Language Learning
Exploring Educational Technology
Virtual Reality Teacher of
English as a Second Language
2023–2025 • Remote
Creating Administrative Innovations
As the first-hire in the English program, Cal supported the launch of the program by assisting in developing curricula, project managing program administrative systems, and innovations to support administration, such as a scheduling tool and an automated bug reporting system.
While teaching at Immerse, Cal nurtured adult learners of English from dozens of countries across six continents to develop communicative proficiency for purposes including professional development, immigration, socialization, and public transactions. Cal led classes and community events using a virtual reality headset or computer application to join virtual spaces that immersive students in natural environments to contextualize learning while mimicking real-life competencies.
Cal advocated for teachers at Immerse by creating supplemental resources to improve curricula and student engagement as well as organizing lunch chats for teachers to decompress, encouraging social interaction in a virtual workplace, then relayed teacher concerns.
Advocating for Teacher Wellbeing
at Teacher’s Discovery
Curriculum Manager & Creative Director
2021–2022 • Remote
As Curriculum Developer, Cal produced two online Spanish textbooks of comprehensible-input stories to foster communicative proficiency for K-5th grade novice learners. To accomplish this, Cal built and managed a global team to develop a portfolio of captivating and authentic Spanish curricular materials and multimedia content that embrace the methods of comprehensible input language education. In this role, Cal ensured the needs and interests of the target audience were achieved, while making further efforts to innovate the company’s catalogue, to manage the cultural authenticity and inclusivity of resources, and ultimately to produce creatively rich and engaging curricula.
Curricula Management & Comprehensible Input
As Creative Director, Cal synthesized every aspect of these textbooks by weaving together learning objectives with artistry to capture the attention of a younger audience. After guiding the creation of story scripts, Cal produced descriptive storyboard sketches directing the composition of original illustrations to convey plot points, meet curricular needs, and represent diverse and authentic characters, providing feedback throughout the process. Cal also spearheaded the creation of each textbook’s cover, story and interview videos, native-speaker audio files, commercial announcement, coloring pages, and other forms of media. Throughout Cal’s artistic direction, the content at Voces was elevated to be more engaging and entertaining for learners.
As Curriculum Manager, Cal built a team of educators to develop authentic Spanish curricular materials and portfolios of captivating multimedia content that embrace the methods of comprehensible input language education. Cal created custom administrative tools and trackers to simultaneously manage and budget for these complex curricular projects to ensure they meet both company standards but also ACTFL and state-specific alignments. While at Voces, Cal architected innovations to improve educational content, project tracking, and program management. Along with content for students, Cal prepared the guiding materials for educators, such as the Scope and Sequence, Pacing Guide, and Can-Do Statements for each unit.
Artistic Direction & Storyboarding
DEI Audit & Advocacy Work
Cal pioneered innovation in the company’s DEI efforts, architecting a DEI Audit of the company’s catalogue of content to identify and replace problematic stereotypes with authentic diversity, integrated DEI and social emotional learning into the curricula, and trained other curriculum managers with custom resources to audit each language program’s textbooks. Through this work, Cal was able to feature engaging stories that subtly teach learners about diverse peoples and cultures. For example, Cal created a story about young school children using math to build an entrance ramp to the school for a young wheelchair user in their class, or the story of Marcel el Murciélago, a bat who––like real bats––is colorblind, but finds magical glasses that let him see color. Story themes include being prepared for class, sharing with others, asking for help, making friends, curiosity of other cultures, responsibility with pets, expressing emotions, following directions, and being a good sport.
Global Team & Authenticity Management
To ensure the textbooks aligned with comprehensible input methods and age-appropriate curricula, Cal collaborated with Erica Peplinski-Burge, a renowned Elementary Spanish CI educator, to create entertaining and educational content. Aside from the illustrators, Cal built a diverse and international team to compile the necessary elements of the textbooks, recruiting, training, and supervising freelance voice-over artists, educators, and native Spanish speakers, providing feedback and motivating the team to reach the company’s goals and tight deadlines. Cal collaborated with company partners to generate supplemental video series that both integrated the elementary curricula, but also mimicked the Voces style. Conducted in Spanish, Cal designed and led a new interview series with seven native-speaking children from Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela across the age range of the target audience of the textbooks, answering questions related to each unit.
Researcher & Presenter
“Understanding Teacher Burnout During a Global Pandemic”
2022 • IGI Global
This presentation shows teachers how to create a geolocated game like a scavenger hunt that asks French learners to explore their cities to discover prominent French figures and their stories. It offers a platform for educators to generate creative and customizable geolocated activities that are personalized to students’ proficiency levels while exposing students to authentic materials written by and for French people.
Researcher & Author
This study analyzed the coping strategies of 165 WLE educators to reduce the symptoms of teacher burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter also offers insights into the unique impacts on the WLE profession. These data indicate that teacher burnout should be a priority concern for both WLE teachers and administrators alike to prevent any further damage to our education systems.
“Midnight in Monterey: A Geolocated Game For Adventurous French Learners”
2020 • ACTFL
French Teaching Assistant & Tutor
2019-2021 • MIIS
Cal worked in the French department remotely teaching graduate courses through Zoom and Canvas on global francophone cultures, co-constructing graduate-level course curricula for courses on Contemporary Quebec and Global Relations in the MENA Region. As the department tutor, Cal met one-on-one with students to develop proficiency, practice communicability, and refine professional language goals.
Private French Tutor
2020-2023 • Remote
While studying at MIIS, Cal worked privately as a virtual tutor to adult learners of French, meeting with diverse learners from university students to global travelers to curious retirees, providing tailored learning and advising. Cal worked 1-on-1 with clients to identify language goals, practice communicability, and develop proficiency for purposes including travel, socialization, and professional development.
Graduate School Work
Graduate Research Assistant
to the TFL/TESOL Department Chair
2019–2021 • MIIS, Remote
Cal worked under Dr. Kathi Bailey, the Department Chair & Academic and Career Advisor for the WLE Programs, assisting with tasks related to departmental functions, faculty management, students interactions, and research responsibilities. In this role, Cal organized a series of Alumni Advice Panels, wrote and broadcast weekly bulletins of current events, and published the department’s annual report on students, alumni, and faculty.
Editorial Assistant
& Project Manager
2020–2021 • MIIS, Routledge, TIRF, Bloomsbury
While working as Graduate Research Assistant at MIIS, Cal served as Editorial Assistant on two research volumes published with TIRF and Routledge explored critical and emerging research topics in WLE such as teaching in under-resourced contexts and working with internationally diverse students. Cal also worked on a teacher education textbook published with Bloomsbury that prepares educators for the planning and teaching of activities that promote the development of speaking and listening skills at all levels of target language proficiency, for teachers of any modern language.
“Teaching Listening and Speaking in Second and Foreign Language Contexts"
2020 • Bloomsbury
This book guides language teachers in planning and teaching activities that promote the development of speaking and listening skills at all levels of target language proficiency, for teachers of any modern language. Each chapter provides focusing questions. The systematic chapter structure scaffolds the readers' understanding of the concepts explored, which include communication strategies, interactive and non-interactive listening, speaking anxiety, accentedness and intelligibility, and much more. Through its companion website this book provides access to resources that enable readers to continue their own professional development as teachers of listening and speaking in second and foreign language contexts. Cal completed the indexing, key word compilation, and final proofreading for this volume of research. Cal also helped pilot the first graduate course taught at MIIS using this volume.
WLE Program Ambassador
2020-2021 • MIIS Admissions
Cal campaigned for prospective and newly admitted graduate students of the WLE programs at Preview Day presentations and via email and phone to provide clarification to questions about the programs, sharing the student perspective at MIIS, life in Monterey, and discussing professional growth opportunities, organizing virtual social events to foster community building between returning and incoming students.
French Tutor & Guide
2020 • MIIS SILP
For MIIS’s Summer Intensive Language Program (SILP), Cal prepared course activities and materials, developing a creative program of engaging cultural and social activities to rapidly explore French language and cultures around the world. Despite Cal’s preparation of curricular materials and activities, the program was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theme of the symposium to Language Education in 2020: Tackling Racial Inequities in WLE. The opening day keynote was given by Dr. Uju Anya, a leading researcher in critical race pedagogy in language education, who explained the critical role of WLE educators in reframing our students’ views on culture and race. Many of the symposium sessions provided educators simple and clear frameworks for understanding complex issues like systemic racism and sexism, while others offered strategies to alter our curricula to integrate these anti-racist themes.
Cal’s Responsibilities as Chair
While serving as Co-Chair, Cal had the responsibilities of building the organizing team, writing and disseminated the Call for Proposals, spearheading the proposal rating and inter-rater agreement processes, finding and negotiating contracts with keynote speakers, meeting with the Faculty Advisor and seeking feedback from program faculty, drafting team meeting agendas, setting up the registration processes and pricing, planning and leading the technical dress rehearsal, compiling resources and recordings to build the website, and more.
While studying at MIIS, Cal volunteered as Co-Chair for SOWLE 2020, the Symposium on World Language Education, a virtual student-led professional development conference for educators working in WLE.
Theme: Tackling Racial Inequities in WLE
Co-Chair of the Virtual Conference
2020 Symposium on World Language Education
2020 • Remote
Cal studied theories and practices of world language education in courses such as Principles and Practices of Language Teaching, Language Assessment & Analysis, Second Language Acquisition, Mobile-Assisted Language Learning, Pedagogical Grammar, and Teaching of Speaking & Listening. At the end of the program, Cal completed a Practicum Capstone, working in the French department teaching graduate courses on francophone cultures around the world alongside Dr. Abdelkader Berrahmoun, Dr. Jason Martel, & Dr. Michel Gueldry.
Teaching Graduate French Courses
Graduate School Coursework
Studying the Teaching of the French Language
Building Community in the Classroom
Experience Teaching Abroad
Through the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF), Cal worked in Laon, France, a historic site, teaching at both a high school (Lycée Pierre Méchain) and a middle school (Collège Charlemagne), coaching groups of novice learners of English ages 10-18 with technology-enhanced activities to improve language production, speaking skills, and cultural awareness. Cal developed and administered technology-enhanced activities and games to improve language production, speaking skills, and cultural awareness, advising teachers in creating similar innovations. Cal initiated the Assistant Transition Handbook to facilitate onboarding for successors.
English Language Teaching Assistant
2018–2019 • Laon, France
Undergraduate Experience
Bachelor of Arts
French & Spanish Languages & Cultures
Cal took two-years worth of Japanese courses, moving from Elementary through Intermediate classes gaining knowledge in Japanese language and culture. After choosing to complete a Spanish minor, Cal completed an advanced-paced summer program, passing two-years-worth of Spanish classes over two weeks which allowed Cal to focus on advanced courses the following semesters in Advanced Spanish Grammar, Pronunciation, Composition, and Idioms.
After studying French in High School for four years, Cal went to UNT to majoring in French Language and Cultures allowed Cal to take advanced courses in French Grammar, Phonology & Pronunciation, Conversation, Advanced French Poetry, and Advanced French Composition. Cal explored global Francophone cultures further in courses like the Francophone World and the Role of Food in France.
Japanese & Spanish
French Language & Cultures
University of North Texas
2015–2018 • Denton, TX
French Tutor
After years of studying French and studying Francophone cultures while living abroad, Cal returned to the University of North Texas to work as a tutor for the French Studies Department, aiding other college students in beginner and intermediate French courses to develop their grasp on grammar, vocabulary, and culture related to their course work while putting this newly developed expertise into practice.
Composition
Many of the courses Cal took had a focus on literature, composition, and the arts, such as Honors English Composition I & II, Advanced Poetry in French, Advanced French Composition, Advanced Spanish Composition, and Honors Art Appreciation. Cal learned the ins and outs of the composition planning, copyediting, and proofing processes as well as advanced studies in diverse writing styles and languages. This experience allowed Cal to turn passion into profession.
While studying in Tours, Cal reached a deeper understanding of French language and cultures by taking courses in French literature, grammar, society, and current media. One of the most impactful courses was on linguistics, in which Cal explored the origins and evolution of language. While studying, Cal volunteered as a teacher in the university’s tandem language learning program, where students tutored each other in their respective languages and cultures, beginning Cal’s love for teaching global languages and cultures.
Semester Abroad
Studying French Language & Culture Abroad
Université de Tours, François Rabelais
2017–2018 • Tours, France
As a member of the Honors College at UNT and seeking to make the most of faculty expertise to prepare for graduate school, Cal volunteered to complete an honors thesis. While mentoring with Dr. Lawrence Williams, Cal researched the beliefs and attitudes of university students toward the value of using language learning apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone as support to their in-class learning. This thesis project began Cal’s love for survey-driven research to voice the opinions of a community for their own benefit.
Honors Thesis
Researcher & Author
“The Use of Apps in Foreign Language Education”
2017–2018 • UNT
English-French Translator
& File System Auditor
2016 • Intel Security
At Intel, Cal audited the Headquarters’ database of sales training materials during a transition to a new file management software, transferring files, identifying duplicates, and implementing an efficient and bespoke organization structure for the new file system. To prepare for an upcoming expansion of the Sales Department in France, Cal translated these sales materials and presentations from English into French to globalize the trainings.
French Club Officer
& Global Traveler
2011–2015 • Texas–France
In high school, Cal studied French language and cultures for four years, moving from beginner through advanced courses without ever dropping below an A+ grade average. Cal explored this passion for learning French by joining the French Club before becoming its Treasurer then President, organizing learning opportunities for fellow francophiles. After graduating, Cal visited France to continue this lifelong journey of learning.
Cal’s Portfolios
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