30. The First and Most Important Step in Teaching English Learners

In this episode, I talk with Carly Spina about her experience as a teacher and her book Moving Beyond for Multilingual Learners. I have followed Carly for years and have used her resources in my classes, so I know you’ll love them too.Carly shares about her experiences growing up in a linguistically diverse neighborhood in Chicago. She went on to learn Spanish, but is quick to acknowledge that she learned a new language out of privilege, not out of necessity to learn. While she has a passion ...

25 Loka 202244min

In this episode, I build upon the tips I shared in episode 39 on how to set up your speaking lesson by sharing several speaking activities my students love. I share all about picture prompts for speaking, projects that will help your students take ownership of their learning, and of course, games! These are also great for mixed proficiency classes. Speaking is so connected with listening and writing. While listening is a receptive skill, which is absolutely necessary in order to navigate scho...

18 Loka 202225min

In this episode, I share what I have learned about how to teach speaking to English Learners. Speaking is part of our students’ everyday lives because they are learning in an English Speaking Environment. Because of this, it is easy to overlook the importance of more structured speaking opportunities. Speaking is also a very personal thing and is intimidating even for native speakers. There are six components of teaching speaking that I like to incorporate into my lessons. Set the rules. Stud...

11 Loka 202219min

In this episode, I interview my friend and colleague, Hillary Woods. She shares her perspective on the responsive classroom method and teaching with English Learners in mind after 16 years of experience teaching 4th - 8th grade students. Hilary discusses the value of connecting with students and getting to know them whether they are English Learners or not. This process starts at the beginning of the school year in her classroom, and continues in various ways throughout the year. Throug...

27 Syys 202237min

In episode 37, we continue with the topic of mixed proficiency classrooms. Last week I talked about setting up your mixed proficiency class for success. Today i will discuss some of the activities that have worked well in these types of classes for me.All students need to work on vocabulary development and all four language domains. So, what activities work well for Mixed Proficiency classes? I will share 3 of my favorites. First is choice boards. Choice boards ask students to answer qu...

20 Syys 202222min

In this episode, we talk about a very popular topic - setting up a mixed proficiency class. Mixed proficiency or mixed level classes are challenging to take on, so today I will share some of the strategies I use and some that I am planning to implement for the first time. First, I take a look at what my students need by looking at their WIDA access scores and some some informal data that I gather using a basic checklist I describe in further detail in the episode. I think about how thos...

13 Syys 202217min

What are ILPs? The letters ILP stand for Individualized Learner Plan, I like to think of them as Personalized Learner Profiles and in today’s episode I share what I include in ILPs for my English Learners and how I have adapted them to fit the needs of the teachers and students in my school. The point of these documents is to support communication between a general educator and an ELL specialist and to create a plan that outlines a success path for our English Learners In special ...

6 Syys 202219min

Affirmations are a great way for anyone to combat negative self talk and our English learners are no exception. The teenagers I work with often struggle with thoughts that their English is not good enough and are hesitant to participate in conversations because of their low confidence. This is why the topic of today’s episode is affirmations to use with our English learners. Young people feel pressure to do well in school and fall into the trap of comparing themselves to others. I like ...

23 Elo 202212min