Episode 113 - How to Use AI to Help Your Students Access Content Plus My Favorite Tools
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 Maj 202417min
Episode 112 - 5 Non-Negotiables for Integrating ELs in Regular Education Classroom
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 Apr 202418min
Episode 111 - 5 End of the Year Hacks to Finish the School Year With Sanity
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 Apr 202412min
Episode 110 - The Two Most Important Soft Skills for Teachers of English Learners
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 Apr 202412min
Episode 109 - Rewriting the Script of Negative Self-Talk for Teachers
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 Apr 202421min
Episode 108 - No Plan? No Problem! 5 Activities for those "I can't even" days
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 Apr 202418min
Episode 107 - The Heart and Art of Teaching ELs in Regular Education Classrooms with Zach Camenker
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 Mars 202445min
Episode 106 - 6 Most Common SEL Challenges ELs Face in the Classroom
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 Mars 202421min
