Paula Markus

Paula Markus is an educator and specialist in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Language Development (ELD), with extensive experience supporting multilingual learners in Canadian schools. She served for many years as ESL/ELD Program Coordinator for the Toronto District School Board, working with a diverse population that includes approximately 40,000 English language learners. Markus holds an MA in TESOL from Georgetown University and began her career as a secondary school ESL teacher.

Markus is a co-author of Powerful Practices for Supporting English Learners: Elevating Diverse Assets and Identities (Corwin, 2021), written with Fern Westernoff and Stephaney Jones-Vo, a research-based guide for PreK–12 educators in the U.S. and Canada on leveraging students’ linguistic and cultural assets. She also teaches as a sessional lecturer in the Master of Teaching program at OISE/University of Toronto, preparing pre-service teachers to support English learners.