Episode 155 - How to use AI to Personalize Learning, Boost Engagement and Assess Multilingual Learners (Part 2)

Technology has increasingly become an integral part of teaching, and honestly, I cannot imagine teaching a lesson without it. Of course, I would if I needed to and I would have to adapt, but it just makes things so much faster and easier. From pulling up an image to complement the topic, to checking the correct MLA format, to grabbing precise definitions for the vocabulary words you want your students to learn. And with the advent of AI last year, the technology game has become an even more i...

14 Touko 202417min

When it comes to teaching English learners, some things come naturally for EL teachers, while regular education teachers might be wondering how they can reach their multilingual students. I have several episodes about teaching all ELs, but I wanted to distill this information into even more practical and really actionable advice that all teachers can take whenever they have an English learner in their classroom. In today's episode, I will be talking about 5 non-negotiables for integrating ELs...

30 Huhti 202418min

I don't know about you, but every year around April, I feel like my energy is drained. I can no longer focus, and the feeling of inadequacy begins to creep in. The students have absorbed as much as they could. We all are just counting the days until that summer break when we all can recharge and look at things from a different perspective. But we have to somehow get through those last weeks of school. I want to share some of the end of year hacks that I use to feel like I'm still making a dif...

23 Huhti 202412min

In education, hard skills such as the academic knowledge of the subject and the know-how of teaching in general, the strategies, the methodology, the assessment are the focal point. But today, I wanted to talk about the soft skills that are much more difficult to define and quantify because they are less concrete, but have been proven time and time again just as important as the know-how. These skills involve interpersonal and interpersonal communication, being flexible, cultural awareness, a...

16 Huhti 202412min

Welcome back to another episode of The ESL Teaching Podcast. Today we're tackling an issue that's close to the heart for so many of us educators: the challenge of negative self-talk. As teachers, we navigate not only academic pressures but also the emotional and mental weight of our personal lives. Recognizing our humanity is crucial to maintaining not just our performance in the classroom but our overall well-being. In this episode, we explore practical strategies and self-reflection tools d...

9 Huhti 202421min

Welcome to Episode 108 of The ESL Teaching Podcast! In this episode, I share my go-to activities for those "I can't even" days, when exhaustion and lack of inspiration make lesson planning a struggle. I candidly discuss my own experiences with feeling tired and bored while teaching, and offer practical, low-prep activities to reignite the classroom's energy. From engaging listening and speaking activities like back-to-back drawing and interviewing, to creative writing prompts using social med...

2 Huhti 202418min

My guest Zach Camenker, and I explore the challenges and joys of teaching English learners in a regular classroom. Zach, an English Language Arts teacher, shares his struggle with the repetition of the curriculum and his passion for reading instruction. The importance of adaptability, feedback, and collaboration in setting up a successful classroom environment for diverse learners is stressed. We discuss the need for better preparation for teachers facing ELL students and Zach's personal reas...

26 Maalis 202445min

We talk a lot about instruction of English learners, how we can accommodate our lessons, how we can scaffold, and what to teach them in general. But today, I wanted to bring to light another aspect of working with English learners that is just as important for all teachers to know as the instructional strategies. It is the social emotional aspect that is involved in moving to another country, learning a new language, making a new life, or for those students who have lived here all their life,...

19 Maalis 202421min