Dispelling misconceptions about English Learners

Due to the pandemic, and how it affected learning these past several months, there are many students who are going to need additional support and resources this school year. In particular, those conversations seem to center around English Learners.

A recent article published in Education Week pointed out that just because English Learners may need more support this fall, doesn’t mean that they are behind other students.

This podcast examines the assumptions the general population often has when it comes to our English Learners and how to dispel those assumptions.

Guests:
Suzanne Toohey, Oakland Schools Supervisor of Instruction and Pedagogy
Christy Osborne, Oakland Schools English as a Second Language (ESL) Consultant
Hadeel Azzo, K-12 English Language Development (ELD) Consultant with the West Bloomfield School District
Rob Beltz, English Language Development (ELD) Instructor and Trauma-Informed Practitioner, Novi Community School District

Resources:
Oakland Schools ESL/Bilingual
Oakland Schools' Community Resources
Oakland Schools' Professional Learning Opportunities for Educators of English Learners
United States Office of English Language Acquisition ELL Toolkit
US Department of Justice/Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter
Oakland County Youth Assistance

Host: Oakland Schools' Communications Specialist Sarah Davis
Producer: Oakland Schools' Media Production and Distance Learning Manager Mark Hansen