Karla J. Smith, Ph.D.

Degrees

• Ph.D., Sociolinguistics and Education, Charles Darwin University, Australia, 2008
• M.A., Education/Specific Learning Disabilities, University of Florida, 1985

Current positions

• Certified Senior Literacy and Education Consultant, SIL International, 2012–
• Multilingual Education Consultant, SIL Asia Area, 2003–

Other professional experience and service

• Multilingual Education (MLE) Consultant, Mentoring and Consulting Development Workshop (MCDW), Bangkok, Thailand, 2011
• MLE Consultant, Playschool and Kindergarten programs, SIL Malaysia Branch, 2011
• MLE Consultant/Trainer, Playschool Teacher Training Workshop, Sabah, Malaysia, 2011
• Evaluator, Dai 5 year Pilot Project, JingHong, Yunnan Province, China, 2011
• Lecturer/Tutor, Multilingual Education (MLE) for Minority Language Contexts, European Training Programme (ETP), Buckinghamshire, England, 2010, 2011
• SIL International Literacy and Education Consultant, 2010–2011
• Lecturer/Tutor, Literacy and Education, M.A. Literacy Development  programme, ETP, Buckinghamshire, England, 2010
• MLE Consultant/Trainer/Organizer, Kindergarten Teacher Training Workshop for 5 language groups, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, 2008
• MLE Consultant/Co-Trainer, Playschool Teacher Training Workshop for 9 language groups, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, 2007
• Consultant/Trainer, Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education in Vietnam, Save the Children U.K. in Vietnam and the Ministry of Education and Training, Government of Vietnam, 2007
• Consultant/Co-Chair, Main Organizing Committee, First Malaysian Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (MIPCE), Sabah, Malaysia, 2007
• Multilingual Education and Literacy Consultant, SIL Malaysia Branch, 1996–2007
• Organizer/Facilitator/Participant, Maori Study Trip for the Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia, New Zealand, 2006
• Consultant, MLE Bridging Workshop, Nasik, India, 2005
• Trainer, Trainers of Trainers, Non-Formal Education, Bangkok, Thailand, 2005
• Course Head/Instructor, Literacy, Asia-SIL, Darwin, Australia, 2002
• Teacher, Specific Learning Disabilities Education, Grades 9–12, Putnam School District, Florida, 1991–1992
• Teacher, Adult Education, Graduate Education Diploma, Pinellas School District, Florida, 1987–1989
• Teacher, Elementary and Middle School, Pinellas School District, Florida, 1984–1987

Professional memberships

• Phi Kappa Phi Honour Society, 1985–
• Society for Caribbean Linguistics

Language proficiencies

• English: ILR 5
• Jamaican Creole
• Malay

Research interests

• Multilingual education
• Training
• Sociolinguistics
• Early childhood and primary education
• Curriculum development