Episode 49: 5 Ways to Build Background Knowledge for your ESL Students
In order for students to reach an optimal level of learning, they need to know what we’re talking about and that involves not only language, but background knowledge of the subject area concepts. In today’s episode, I will share 5 ways to build background knowledge for your ESL students. Being immersed in the language is so important, but this can’t be completely effective without background knowledge. A warm up or background building activity is pretty standard in most lessons, but are essen...
10 Jan 202321min
Episode 48 - 8 reasons why ESL instructional coaching is an integral part in teacher success
Happy New Year, 2023! I quite enjoy having a routine but I am also a huge fan of the energy of new beginnings. And speaking about new beginnings and embracing what works, in today’s episode, I want to share with you something that I have not talked about yet! And that is ESL instructional coaching, educational coaching especially for teachers who work with English learners. I have come to realize that frequently as teachers we need someone to talk to, someone to bounce ideas off and realize t...
3 Jan 202316min
Episode 47 - 5 Ways to Reset Your ESL Classroom Management
In today’s episode, I will share with you 5 ways you can reset your classroom anytime of year. The first one is to revisit classroom expectations. It is okay, when the classroom starts to feel out of control, you can stop and ask yourself and your students questions like these to make sure expectations are present and clear. How do we begin a class. Show me what the students do and what the teacher does.When do we talk in class?When do we go to the bathroom?How to we ask for help?What i...
27 Dec 202219min
Episode 46 - How to Set Intentional Goals with your EL Students
With the new year right around the corner, we tend to reflect on the things we accomplished and what we can do to improve on the quality of our lives, both personally and professionally in the next year. So setting goals is especially popular this time of year, and often, as life keeps going, those goals fall by the wayside. It has been proven that the small, consistent habits are what will actually make the biggest difference in your life. So in this episode I wanted to share my thoughts on ...
20 Dec 202221min
Episode 45 - You asked - We answer! December 2022 Q and A
In this episode, I do another ESL question and answer session with my dear friend Susan Patterson, aka My MLL Mentor. Our first ESL question was from a teacher who was advised to work with elementary students more than older students in middle and high school. She doesn't feel right about this recommendation and asked us to weigh in. ESL Question 2 was, “How do you create an inclusive holiday environment for your students?” The choices seem to be to not celebrate any holidays or to cele...
13 Dec 202241min
Episode 44 - How to Teach Your Students (and Colleagues) about December Holidays Around the World
In this episode, I discuss different December holidays that are celebrated around the world and by many English Learners. Last year I started sharing cultural tidbits with my colleagues about different holidays our students celebrate and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. All of this started with a staff email about how to know what foods are kosher and Halal approved. This came up originally because we had a considerable population of Muslim students and my school who were going...
6 Dec 202215min
Episode 43 - Three Books for Perspective Shift and Aha Moments
In this episode, I attempt to explain my perspective on the immigrant experience. I have struggled with how to explain this all my life. I share the complex feelings that come up when I visit my home in Lithuania. It feels impossible to explain my life as an immigrant in the United States to people in Lithuania and it feels impossible to explain life in Lithuania to people in the US. There are so many cultural differences that it is difficult for people to understand. My experience help...
30 Nov 202215min
Episode 42: Q&A with Ieva and Susan Patterson
In this episode, I talk with Susan Patterson to answer five of the most popular questions I get from my awesome community about multilingual learners. Susan is a district multilingual ELD teacher on special assignment. She develops professional learning for best practices in multilingual classrooms and supports ELD coaches. She also has her own blog and creates materials for High School Multilingual teachers. We start by discussing a question about learning materials for multilingual le...
1 Nov 202246min
