4 Tips for Preparing a Winning Conference Proposal

Almost as soon as we pass TESOL 2022, it is already time to prepare for TESOL 2023! Perhaps you are thinking about putting in a proposal but you are a bit unsure about how to best organize it, or you may think you don’t have enough content to contribute. You might have tried in the past to submit a proposal for a conference and were not accepted, or you have never given it a try.

In any case, preparing a conference proposal is a great professional development activity as it causes you to stop, look at your body of work, delve deeper into those specialized areas of practice you enjoy sharing, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. Whether for TESOL International Association (deadline is June 1!), a local or regional TESOL affiliate, or other education conference you are interested in, the same general rules apply when preparing a conference proposal that is more likely to be accepted.

“trophy 1 | the both and | shorts and longs | julie rybarczyk” by shorts and longs is marked with CC BY 2.0.

Tip #1: Make sure you understand what you will need to prepare.

Open the proposal submission form and create a separate document with all the sections you will need to complete. You don’t want to be working inside the application portal itself for drafting and writing! You can just copy and paste in your text later when you are ready to go. This also helps you get feedback and collaborate before it’s time to submit. For TESOL 2023, there is a downloadable word document already prepared for you with the sections and instructions! As Joe McVeigh notes in his 2012 TESOL blog on this topic, spend time reviewing the different requirements of the sections to complete, especially what readers are looking to see in the Abstract versus the Session Description. In terms of audience for these sections, it is helpful to think of:

• other conference-goers when writing the abstract. (What will draw someone to your session?)
• proposal readers when writing the session description. (How can you make the flow of the session ultra clear to a tired reader of proposals?)

It is helpful in both cases to reduce jargon, eliminate acronyms, and imagine you are explaining the session to someone in your family outside of the profession. The reader should be readily able to access:

• the what (content of your session)
• the why (rationale for this session’s importance) and
• the how (the way the session will be delivered—be mindful of virtual vs. in-person criteria).

Tip #2: Decide what you want to focus on in your presentation.

Are you sharing a topic that will have broad appeal but also give attendees something new or concrete to walk away with? If the topic is way too specific to your institution, other conference attendees may not be drawn to this session—and that is something your proposal readers will have a good sense of. Examine past conference programs to get a better sense of how the abstracts are written, the themes of interest, and what seems to be valued in terms of content by the conference organizers.

This is a great time to highlight something you have been working on for some time, or even an area you want to learn more about. You do not have to feel you are the ultimate “expert” on a subject to present on it! On the contrary, presenting can be a great way to draw attendees who have expertise on your topic to your session and learn from them as well. As long as you can structure a rich conversation, have your distinctive way of pulling together materials and resources, can share your perspective and insights, and leave the audience with further avenues to explore, you are qualified to offer a session!

TESOL offers a few types of presentation foci: practice/pedagogy oriented, research oriented, conceptually oriented, and policy oriented. These areas can be a great starting point for planning your session. Which appeals to you the most?

• For the practice/pedagogy focus, you will want to have experience in the particular method or approach so you can share concrete examples.
• For the research focus, this can be formal research or classroom-based action research that you have conducted.
• For the conceptually oriented session, you can bring in theories, ideas, and possibilities that you have already reflected on and want to engage others in discussion around.
• For a policy-oriented session, you would make connections between a larger or local policy that has impacted your work.

Go back to look at the conference program for the type of presentation you are planning to see how the abstracts conform with the attendee expectations for that particular type of session. It should be clear to your proposal readers that you have selected the appropriate style of presentation for your topic.

Tip #3: Follow the rhetorical structure of successful proposals.

No matter the type of session you wish to propose, there are some general rhetorical moves that appear consistent across proposals that are helpful to study and imitate. In Sherry Blok’s 2016 TESOL blog post, she speaks with Carolyn Payant about her study deconstructing the genre of the successful proposal. In Payant and Hardy’s (2016) analysis, they point to 10 elements that were present in accepted proposals:

1. Territory: You open by establishing the situational context of the activity.
2. Reporting previous research: You make reference to previous work, situating the current activity.
3. Gap: In relation to theoretical or empirical territory, you show there is a lack of knowledge in the field; serves to motivate the study.
4. Goal: You state the aim and/or objective of the activity.
5. Means 1: You specify the methodology, procedures, plans of action, and tasks of the project.
6. Means 2: You specify the presentation’s procedure as to what is to be accomplished in a specified amount of time.
7. Outcomes: You present findings or achievements resulting from the study.
8. Benefits: You explain and connect outcomes (intended/projected) to real world applications.
9. Importance: You claim the urgent need for the proposed activity.
10. Competence: You state your credibility.

Keep in mind your word limits and hit all the points—you do not want to spend, for example, too much time giving lots of background information when your readers will have that awareness already. Share your passion and excitement through strong word choices throughout.

Tip #4: Enlist support for the proposal writing process.

Just like any public-facing writing—whether that is writing for a newsletter, a memo for colleagues, or a blog like this—having someone knowledgeable to edit your work is essential when drafting a conference proposal. As proposal readers have hundreds of submissions to read through and evaluate, they will naturally need to skim and scan yours. Make sure that what you are crafting aligns with provided rubrics and checklists so that your reader will have an easy time seeing that you are meeting the demands of their conference proposal submission process. Who would you normally turn to when checking your language, formatting, and overall style for other professional writing tasks? Most people wind up doing their proposals at the last minute and leave neither time to solicit feedback nor opportunity to incorporate it. This time, try any of the following to see how it improves your proposal’s quality:

• Ask a current or former professor for one of their accepted proposals or to review yours. (Believe me, we are rarely asked for input on conference proposals and would be delighted to support you!)
• Consult a program supervisor, coach, or director for feedback. (This is a great way to get them involved and supportive of your professional development!)
• Collaborate with a colleague or student. (Writing a proposal can be a comentoring experience and a way to share the workload!)

Whatever you do, don’t give up! The same proposal can usually be tweaked to be reused for a different conference venue, and you will soon find yourself accepted to multiple conferences! Especially in this age of virtual conferencing, there are more opportunities than ever before to share your work and build knowledge in our global English language teaching community!

In the comments, share any tips you have for winning conference proposals!!

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/4-tips-for-preparing-a-winning-conference-proposal/

Using Language Portraits to Explore Students’ Identities

Lily was born and raised in New Zealand and described herself as a Kiwi with Chinese heritage whose dominant language was English. She was proud of her Chinese background but did not use Mandarin for purposes beyond everyday conversation with her family. Her grandparents, based in China, described Lily as a “foreigner” because her proficiency in Mandarin and her understanding of Chinese culture did not meet their expectations. However, at school, Lily’s teacher regarded her as Chinese and as an English learner because she spoke a language other than English at home.

Lily’s example illustrates the complex nature of identities and how conflicts occur between our self-attributed and other-ascribed identities.

Of course, language is just one aspect of our identities, but even within that one aspect, we may have multiple identities. In Lily’s case, she is at times an English speaker, and at times a Mandarin speaker. Our identities are not static, but continue to evolve based on the context, who we interact with, and our relationship with them.

Our Relationship to Language

Through our interaction with others, we negotiate and co-construct our identities. This means that identity is not something we are, but that it is something we do. Identity is a performative process where we portray ourselves in certain ways in certain contexts, and we shift to different identities as the context changes. Language plays an essential role in identity negotiation. According to Norton, language is not just a linguistic system, but a social practice; Weedon says it is the place where our sense of self is constructed. As we acquire language, we assume relationships between ourselves, the language, and the community of its speakers.

Block claims that we have three types of relationships with language:

• Language expertise. Expertise refers to proficiency in a language that is welcomed by other language users. Sometimes we might not see ourselves as experts, but are perceived by others as experts in the language.
• Language affiliation. Affiliation relates to the individual’s affective attitude toward a language which is used as a result of feelings attached to a particular form of communication.
• Language inheritance. Inheritance is connected with one’s background, such as the family or community setting that uses a particular language.

Expertise, affiliation, and inheritance of a language are not interdependent. The fact of being born to a place does not go hand in hand with one’s expertise in a language or positive affiliation, as we see from Lily’s example, above. She positively affiliated with both her language communities but was not always seen as belonging to those communities by those who claimed membership in them. Lily inherited Mandarin from her family but was not seen to have expertise in it. This is sadly far too often the case for many immigrant children.

Language can be both a source of unity and division. When we decide the boundaries of language communities, we are essentially deciding who belongs within the boundary and who will be left outside. Randolph, Selvi, and Yazan explain that some language speakers are excluded by privileging so-called “native speakers” over others or privileging standardized varieties over others (Rudolph, et al., 2020).

So, as educators, how can we explore and embrace our learners’ language identities? I propose one arts-based activity to try: getting learners to create language portraits. I used language portraits in a study with young children aged between 5 and 10 years in English-medium schools in the Maldives. This is an activity that could be used with learners of all ages and language levels.

Using Language Portraits in Class

Provide each student with a sheet of paper with an outline of a person and a selection of colouring pencils and crayons. Ask them to first list how many languages they speak, and then what those languages are. For each language they identify, then have them select a colour. Students then use their selected colours to colour in the outline and create a portrait of their language self. They decide for themselves how they want to colour these in, and if they want to add any writing to the portrait, they may do this as well. When their portraits are completed, they then explain what the colours represent and why they chose to create the portraits in that particular way.

Even with young learners, this activity reveals a lot about students’ language affiliations and linguistic selves, whether these are real or imagined. Here are three examples from my study, along with the students’ remarks:

I got 85 marks for my English test and 85 marks also in my Dhivehi test last term. So I can say I know two languages very well. –Milo, Grade 5

My language is Dhivehi. I use it for most things. That’s why I have coloured mostly Dhivehi. But when I am in school, I have to think and write in English. So I have coloured part of my head red and one hand also red. –Iba, Grade 3

I have coloured English black because I don’t like black. I don’t like English. It makes me feel stupid. I don’t like learning English. It makes me feel bad. I have used blue for Dhivehi. That is my language and I like the colour blue. –Zaid, Grade 2

As you can see from the examples, language portraits can highlight different relations students have with language and language communities. Some of these may be positive and some may be negative. As teachers, we can use these portraits to then extend the conversation and further explore how we can embrace their identities, and help to make them find better connections with their languages.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/using-language-portraits-to-explore-students-identities/

Roots and Culture: Celebrating Haitian Heritage Month

May marks the 24th year that Haitian heritage month has been celebrated in the United States. Having started in Boston, Massachusetts USA, this month of celebration has been picked up by other U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Miami, and New York. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Haitian Creole is the sixth most common language spoken by K–12 multilingual learners (MLLs). Among those MLLs who identify as Black, Haitian Creole is the second most common language.

As part of affirming students’ home languages and cultures, learning about their cultures year round is important—but especially during certain times dedicated to elevating specific heritages.

Celebrating Haitian Culture and Communities

In learning communities with large populations of Haitian students, celebrations may include parades, performances, storytelling, and other forms of artistic expression. For example, at the Mattahunt, an elementary school in Boston, Haitian heritage is especially important because the school is home to the nation’s first Haitian/Creole early learning dual language program, the Toussaint L’Ouverture Academy. Students celebrate Haitian Heritage Month through various activities, including family and community events. Learning about language and culture is embedded into the curriculum that students engage with regularly. One of the teachers, Ms. Mathieu, coauthored a book about Joumou, a Haitian soup that students made and enjoyed earlier this school year.

In Palm Beach County, Florida, the district is scheduled to open its first Haitian Creole dual language program in the fall of 2022. With a growing Haitian/Creole population, programs like this are beneficial to students’ learning experience and identity development. In Broward County, Florida, a Haitain Heritage Month Resource Guide was created to help educators teach Haitian history and culture.

Heritage Months and Language Learning

Incorporating heritage months as part of English language teaching can help to demonstrate creativity and relevance. They provide a way to incorporate new language and cultivate cultural pride and appreciation. In February 2020, TESOL began hosting heritage month webinars, also referred to as recognition webinars. These webinars are a way to bring members together with a shared interest. Learning about heritage months also serves as a tangible action step toward fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and access initiatives.

For all educators and students—but especially those who are of Haitian descent—understanding, appreciating, and affirming Haitian language and culture is important for  personal and academic development. The aforementioned Haitian/Creole/English dual language programs are examples of what is possible when learning communities have a collective interest and action-based approach to multilingualism; that alone is worth celebrating.

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How do you plan to observe Haitian Heritage Month with your students—or other heritage months? Please share in the comments, below.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/roots-and-culture-celebrating-haitian-heritage-month/

How to Improve Reading Comprehension? Team With a Theme

“We don’t read that much at school. Mostly we do our work,” observed Selena, a third grade multilingual learner (MLL). I knew the “work” she was referring to involved reading, but obviously she didn’t think it was real reading. I had asked about her reading experiences in school, and was dismayed to hear her frank answer. Still, I wasn’t surprised. I had seen a lot of students like Selena doing “work” in classrooms like this:

Example #1

The focus of the reading lesson in this second-grade classroom was sequencing, and from the teacher’s point of view it was a unifying theme. The two worksheets the students were completing, however, were about two very different topics—how to make an animal mask and how to make a compost pile. To top it off, the lesson began with the teacher reading aloud a story about how beavers make dams. All three reading selections involved sequencing, but on different subjects with completely different content vocabulary.

Example #2

The topic of the day’s reading lesson was fluency. In small groups, students were reading a readers’ theater script, a folk tale about Johnny Appleseed. Eventually, I realized the teacher had assigned a random page from the script for the students to read. When I pointed out to the teacher the students would better understand the excerpt if they had read the script from the beginning, she said there wasn’t time. “We’re just practicing fluency.”

Content-free reading instruction like this drove me crazy. It also confused me until I finally realized it was intended to be that way. In Example #1, the point wasn’t for students to learn about beavers; it was to learn sequencing. In Example #2, the point wasn’t to learn about Johnny Appleseed; it was to practice fluency. Reading the entire story was irrelevant. Selena was right. This was “work”—but it wasn’t really reading.

Too often, reading instruction as described in these examples focuses on skill building to the detriment of building knowledge about a topic. This makes it difficult for MLLs to master vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension. Thematic teaching allows students to concentrate on learning the concept without learning so much new vocabulary. Trying to do both makes learning—and learning to read—far more difficult than it needs to be for MLLs.

We teachers forget the end point of reading is to learn things. That should be the point of the reading students do in school too. An old saying tells us students learn to read in the early grades and then start reading to learn in third grade. I beg to differ; students can learn things at all ages. It’s just that the effects of content-free reading instruction become more obvious in third grade once students can decode words—but still have comprehension problems. Thematic instruction can help.

Thematic teaching should be easier to do with older students. At the very least, when students walk into a high school chemistry class, for example, they’re reasonably sure they’ll be reading about chemistry. That helps. Still, there’s room for improvement at the secondary level and in higher education, too. One of the most spot-on comments I ever received about this was from someone who was observing several different classes in the university intensive English program where I was teaching. After visiting my writing class, she asked why the different skill classes in our program weren’t thematically coordinated. She wondered why students were writing about one topic in writing class, reading about another topic in reading class, and giving presentations about yet another topic in speaking class. It seemed like her suggestion required too much cooperation and coordination to implement, and I didn’t have the administrative influence to make it happen, anyway. Knowing what I do now about the power of thematic instruction, however, I realize how insightful my visitor’s comment was. She was right.

I’m not suggesting teachers do themes as they’re often done with young children, where, for example, everything is related to butterflies during butterfly theme week, down to the craft activity and the snacks. That’s a bit forced. Still, lessons should be thematic enough so students realize they’re learning about something. Once, my assistant principal dropped by my middle school ESL class and casually asked the students, “What are you studying?” The students didn’t say “main idea” or “page 72.” Instead, they answered “immigration.” That’s a sure sign of thematic teaching. Ask your students the same question, and you’ll find out whether you’re teaching thematically too. Here are some examples of changes you can make now to improve your students’ reading comprehension through thematic teaching.

In the Classroom	How to Make It Better
After reading an article on insects, students will answer comprehension questions.	Have the students read another, related article on insects before answering questions. Students can compare and contrast the two articles.
You plan to read aloud a chapter book to your students—one chapter each day.	Is the book related to a theme the students are studying in a content area? It should be.
Your students are writing about a family member.	Have your students read a model story about a family member before starting to write.
Your students are reading a novel together as a class.	Read another, related nonfiction selection. In fact, fiction/nonfiction pairings are good to use everywhere.
In science, students are studying about hurricanes.	Do a picture book read-aloud to accompany the unit.
Your class is studying a particular genre, such as biographies.	Assign several different biographies to compare and contrast.

How have you tied themes into your reading instruction? Please share in the comments, below.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/how-to-improve-reading-comprehension-team-with-a-theme/

June Month-long ESL Curriculum Bundle

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Now you have all your lessons for a month at your fingertips. Organized by language level makes planning a snap. Teach ESL, ELD, English grammar, and vocabulary with rigor and ease by using this comprehensive time-saving resource. Integrate the language skills of oral language, reading, writing, speaking, and listening!

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from Fun To Teach – Grammar, Language, Math, ESL/ELD, Spanish, Reading, Writing, Centers and more! https://esleld.blogspot.com/2022/04/JuneESLBundle.html

Easy Online Comics for ELT

Over the last decade or so, comics and graphic novels have moved from what many considered disengaged distractions to great ways to encourage literacy in the classroom. In fact, there are teachers out there using comics as the core of their curricula, keeping students invested in their learning through storytelling all year long. But this is no secret to language teachers. As long as we’ve been able to give students a pencil and fold a piece of paper into six (or four, or eight) panels, we’ve encouraged our students to make up stories, build dialogue, and practice more English.

Still, many students hesitate to engage with drawing because they believe that they’re not artistic. While we can encourage them to show that some of the most popular comics out there, like XKCD or Strange Planet, are simply drawn, we can also use online services like Canva or Adobe Express to copy and paste some fast and easy comics together without much preparation.

Creating a Basic Comic

We’ll use Canva as an example because it’s free for teachers and students.

When you log in and type “Comic Strip” into the search bar, Canva will provide users with a large selection of suggested templates (276 at the time of publication) that you can use to start your students making their own comics.

Search for “Comic Strip”

To start, I recommend choosing something simple. In the gif here, you can see a simple three-panel comic. It provides a sample comic, a blank template, and a few icons, faces, and speech bubbles to work with. When you open the template, it will bring multiple pages for you to pick and choose artifacts from.

A basic scaffolding like this can make it easy for students at any level to feel comfortable. For those who may not feel as comfortable with technology, or for those who are just starting to build their language skills, a great way to get going is just to double click the text on the sample page and change the words to their own ideas. As students get a little more comfortable, they may choose to change the face on the sun, play around with colors, or even add more panels into their comic.

Example of how I remixed the comic template here. This took me only a few minutes, and most of that was because I was having fun playing with the colors of the sky.

Design platforms like Canva are very intuitive, so even without a background in art or design, teachers and students will find it easy (and fun!) to play around with. As learners play with it more, they will feel emboldened to change, shapes, and sizes at the same time as they work on fine-tuning their English to communicate their message.

Tips and Tricks

If you’re looking at the easy options here and starting to think, “Hey, maybe I can do this with my students,” you absolutely can! Here are a few tips to help get you started:

Practice First

Give yourself an hour or two to play around with Canva first. You don’t need to be a pro to introduce it to your students, but recognizing a few of the more common functions, like rotating images, cropping, and changing colors are things your students will probably ask you about. There are lots of tutorials to help you out. (Bonus: Share the same link with your students to save yourself time!)

Start Simple

As I mentioned, choose a starting template that doesn’t overwhelm. Templates that have too many characters, long dialogues, or detailed art may intimidate learners before they get started. One or two characters on a plain background is a great way for students to dip their toes in. It won’t take long until they want to expand on their own.

Pair Work

One of my favorite meta-level teaching tricks is to pair students together as they learn a new technology. If possible, pair someone who is a little more techy with someone who is a little less so. The techy student should be in charge of teaching their classmate, but keep the mouse firmly in the hand of the less techy student. This allows both students to practice clear communication in English without really being aware of what they’re doing.

Humor Your Students

Comics and jokes go hand-in-hand, but we know that not all jokes make it successfully across the language bridge. Instead of discouraging a student because a joke falls flat, consider running lessons around humor. While we all know that explaining humor can take the fun out of the joke, there are other ways to enjoy comedy, including getting a better understanding of what makes people from different parts of the world laugh.

Get Published!

A remix of a comic book cover template. Bonus: use filters on photos to add a “drawn” look to your pictures

No matter how deep we dig into the digital age, there’s still nothing like seeing your creation on the printed page. When you’re done with your lesson or unit, print out the comics that your students made. You can put them all together in a foldable booklet, and you can even ask your students to sign their work. I’ve included a sample cover that you can remix to your own needs, should you decide you’re going full-speed ahead.

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Have you tried making comics with your students? What platforms did you use? There’s a huge world of choices out there, and even more ways to make comics work in the classroom. I hope you’ll share your own approaches with us in the comments below!

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/easy-online-comics-for-elt/

How to Teach Number Prefixes

Hello friends,

Helping English Language Learners with Math is so very important. We all know that ELLs struggle greatly with Math and that they consistently score lower than native speakers on Math state tests. Teaching Math Prefixes is one of the keys that will help unlock Math vocabulary. Let’s take a look at one way to teach your ELLs about the meaning of number prefixes.

Prefixes and Math

A prefix is defined as a word, letter, or number that comes before another word. This “before” word, or prefix, changes the original meaning in some format.  For example, if you use the prefix centi- before the word meter then you create a centimeter or one-hundredth of a meter. But without the prefix, a meter is a much larger measurement. Math has its own set of prefixes that are important to the operation.  We need to understand how to teach number prefixes to our ESL students in a way that they can connect with so they can understand that number prefixes tell us how many of something, like the meter.

The Beginning

Knowing where to start when teaching any kind of vocabulary is one of the most challenging pieces for teachers. This is even more true when teaching ESL students and especially true when dealing with math vocabulary. So knowing how to teach number prefixes can feel overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be if we break it down into pieces. I like to start with a word tree. 

Word Trees

Yep, using word trees is one of the best ways to teach number prefixes. We use them all the time with new vocabulary in English class and math should be no different. For this tree, you will want to have the prefixes in one section, some base words in the middle, and then the new words in the last section. Because there are multiple prefixes that can be used with each base word you can have lots of options.

Flashcards for the Middle

Sometimes knowing how to teach number prefixes is going back to the basics, which for me means flashcards. This is what I consider the middle section of my lessons on number prefixes. Students can spread them out and match them up in many different methods. Sometimes I will use flashcards with the whole group. When I do this I will hold the card up and each student will choose a matching card to hold up. I also like to use flashcards for independent practice. The key to this step of the lesson is repetition.

Playing Games for Review

Playing games is one of my favorite ways to review any skill that we are working on. This is no different when I am teaching number prefixes. I have done the work for you in my Math Games. There are several different practice games for number prefixes, just let your students play! The games serve as a great review of everything we just learned with our word tree and flashcards. It is the best end cap for my lesson.

Teaching Number Prefixes

There is no wrong way to teach prefixes. Any exposure that you give your students to the “before” words is excellent exposure. I hope that some of these ideas will help get you started though so that your students can expand their math vocabulary and start to feel confident in their math classes.

Grab your Prefix Pack now!

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from Fun To Teach – Grammar, Language, Math, ESL/ELD, Spanish, Reading, Writing, Centers and more! https://esleld.blogspot.com/2022/04/teaching ELLs number prefixes.html

7 Resources From the #MLLCHAT Community

I have long been an active member of a Twitter community that supports teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs). If you check the #MLLCHAT hashtag on Twitter (formerly #ELLCHAT), you will find many educators who write books, articles, and blogs on the topic of educating MLLs. This month, I share a sampling of blogs and articles that have been written by participants of the #MLLCHAT community.  Next month, I will review some of the books our Twitter community has written over the last year.

1. Co-Teaching in Reading and Writing Classrooms

According to Valentina Gonzalez of Seidlitz Education, coteaching has the benefits of lowering student-teacher ratio and time for increased interaction with individual students. MLLs in the reading and writing classroom greatly benefit from the presence of an additional teacher. Valentina presents ideas on how to best utilize two teachers in a reading or writing classroom. She also rates different coteaching models on how they adapt to different literacy components. I suggest that readers pay close attention to the chart at the end of the blog.

2. The Substitute Teacher Shortage: Impacts on ELLs and ELL Educators

Colorín Colorado launched a survey in November of 2021. They asked Diane Staehr Fenner  to review the data and write a summary. Diane discusses the impact of teacher and substitute teacher shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has greatly affected MLLs. These students are missing instruction because their teachers have been sent to substitute in general education classrooms. Many teachers of MLLs report that they have not been able to provide consistent services to their students.  Diane’s review includes examples of what individual educators have done to alleviate the situation and ideas from school districts that have worked on this issue through systems-wide approaches.

3. What Are the Legal Requirements Related to ELL Education

Debbie Zacarian wrote this article for Colorín Colorado in 2021 and updated it this year.  It has become even more relevant as we are experiencing shortages of classroom, subject-area, and substitute teachers as well as ESL educators during this past school year. Debbie answers question that reflect this current reality, including

• Do the regulations require language education programming for English learners?
• Is it okay to cancel or postpone our English language education programming when schools experience teacher shortages?
• What are some common civil rights issues in MLL education that districts should be aware of?

Teachers of MLLs should all be familiar with the issues discussed in this article.

4. Fast 5 Game Changers Empower DLLs With Conversations!

Karen Nemeth has a series of Fast 5 Game Changers on her website, Language Castle, on a variety of topics. In the article “Empowering Dual Language Learners,” she champions less teacher talk and more talk from young children. Karen includes explicit strategies for teachers and parents on young dual language learners who want to empower students to hold two-way conversations. I also recommend that you look over the other Fast 5 Game Changers on her website.

5. Three Research Findings Every Educator Should Know

Dr. Jane Echevarria writes a blog on her own website, janeechevarria.com. In this blog, she talks about the importance of knowing which teaching practices are research driven. The three findings mentioned include knowing the difference between conversational and academic language, understanding the assets MLLs bring to school, and how learning to read as an English speaker and as an MLL are similar in that MLLs need to learn the same foundational skills as their peers.

6. Eight Best Practices for Teaching in Dual Language and Other Bilingual Programs

Gail Cornwall’s article for the School Library Journal begins with a short history of bilingual education in the United States and then provides eight strategies for school librarians who are working with MLLs. These strategies include using welcoming signs and posters that reflect the culture of students from diverse backgrounds, rejecting myths about second language acquisition, scaffolding lessons and book selection, and making use of community resources. I think this is a great article to pass on to your school librarian.

7. Three Reads to Support Math Understanding

According a blog by Cindy Garcia, the difficulty that multilingual learners have with understanding problems in mathematics are related to reading. Three Reads is an effective strategy that supports students’ understanding because it provides a purpose for reading. During the first read, MLLs read the problem to understand the context. The second read is to help MLLs understand the question that is being asked in the math problem. The third read is to help students determine which information is relevant to solving the problem.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this sampling and found something useful. Please share your thoughts in the comments below, or pass along any other MLL reading you’ve found beneficial to your teaching.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/7-resources-from-the-mllchat-community/

Scaffolding PD in Uzbekistan: From Theory to Classroom Practice

This post is part of a series on Scaffolding PD in Uzbekistan as part of the English Speaking Nation Secondary Teacher Training (ESN) Program. You can read an overview of the program here. The goal of the ESN program is to bring communicative classroom methods to 15,000 English teachers in Uzbekistan. In hopes of achieving this goal, the TESOL Core Certificate Program^TM (TCCP) was given by foreign language professionals to selected English teachers. Having outreach and education programming is only half of the task; in addition, the methods must be applicable to Uzbekistan classrooms.

After the completion of the TCCP courses, teachers were required to participate in a 20-hour practicum, supervised by English language coaches, putting the theory from the coursework into action. To support the transition of best practices to the classroom, English language coaches scaffolded the teaching practicum with the Uzbek teachers through classroom observations, modeling of teaching, and reflective feedback. Following, we highlight some of the unique challenges—and some solutions—encountered while coaching the practicum.
Navigating the Culture Gap

For a successful practicum, proper cross-cultural understanding and integration between the trainers and Uzbek teachers was a must. As the Uzbek teachers transitioned into more communicative, learner-centered practices in their classrooms, certain cultural differences and expectations needed to be navigated:

• Feedback Process: There were feedback sessions after each classroom observation involving multiple teachers in attendance in addition to the coach. This was due to the requirement that teachers view at least 10 hours of their peers’ classes. Scaffolding the feedback process using the PQP (Praise, Question, Polish) was helpful, as the structure allowed teachers to voice areas of strength and places to improve. Without PQP, peer teachers in certain regions in Uzbekistan, like the Fergana Valley, would often only offer praise as a nod to the local focus on congeniality; in other regions, teachers could be overly harsh with each other. PQP provided a scaffold and a process that allowed teachers to do constructive and encouraging peer observation; teachers can continue to use this process after the coaches leave.
• Mistake-Safe Environment: As part of the aforementioned collectivistic society, Uzbek teachers generally accept the endorsed authority and status associated with higher professional rankings. This creates an orderly course and classroom environment; however, as TCCP promotes interactive learning, coaches encouraged teachers to act as facilitators only, creating an environment in which teachers felt comfortable to make mistakes. Teachers were encouraged to create a similar environment in their own classrooms. Coaches actively advocated for teachers to allow students to speak freely without interruption for error correction when focusing on communication and meaning. Different types of feedback (formative vs. summative) were modeled to reduce the affective filter.
• Accounting for Gender Role Expectations: Uzbekistan is a low gender egalitarian society, overall. Men are supposed to be assertive, while women—modest. In these societies, few women find themselves in positions of authority. However, due to the cultural influence of the Soviet Union, women in Uzbekistan are comparably assertive in some manners: This is particularly true in the sphere of education. Despite this, there are still strong gender role expectations. For example, during the TCCP and subsequently in the practicum, classroom activities requiring less physical contact were promoted.

Moving From Theory to Practice: When Methodology Comes to Life

As theories and best practices from TCCP were transitioned into the classroom by the teachers, coaches encountered some common challenges. Coaching provided an important scaffold for contextualizing new learning.

• Meeting Lesson Objectives: Many teachers loved all the games and activities TCCP promoted and how they engaged students, but this sometimes went overboard. Some lessons observed during the practicum were only energizers and ultimately did not serve in meeting the objectives. Through coaching, a recalibrated approach to lesson planning was often required, balancing content delivery with fun, ensuring meeting of the lesson objectives. Through scaffolding, it was assured that each activity had an educational purpose in the lesson.
• Gradual Release of Responsibility: Teachers found it difficult to adjust to a gradual release of responsibility. Being always in control as a teacher is an expectation in the Uzbek classroom. If pair work did not go perfectly, the teacher might turn the activity into “call and response” or interrupt students and finish their sentences. Through coaching, further conversations about wait time and allowing activities to be “messy” helped. During the practicum, teachers were encouraged to keep trying the new methods, knowing that change takes time and is gradual. Coaches gave ongoing feedback and led teacher reflection to support the process.

Teachers were pleased that, after implementing some of the methodology learned in the TCCP, English became a favorite class!

Teacher development courses are condensed sources of information that can exist in a vacuum. Scaffolding practicum through coaching, observations, and feedback sessions helped focus on individualizing TCCP content for specific school settings. Teachers felt supported and were encouraged by the newfound enthusiasm from their students, fellow teachers, and administrators. Teachers also reported falling in love with their own jobs all over again.

Supporting Cascading Professional Development

Following the practicum completion, teachers prepared to share their learning with their peers. You can read more about how cascading professional development was scaffolded in the next blog post, coming soon.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/scaffolding-pd-in-uzbekistan-from-theory-to-classroom-practice/

$1.00 Hashtag Sale – Fun to Teach

Good Monday morning everyone!  

Have you heard about the hashtag sale that is going on right now on TpT?  

I have joined up with many other teachers

to bring you a big selection of resources for only $1 each!

I am offering you 2 “home run” products marked down to $1, but there are lots more too!

Academic Language and Phrasal Verb Games

English Newcomer Unit #3

Don’t wait, go take a look at these $1.00 resources and fill up your toolbox right now!

This sale is only MONDAY & TUESDAY!

Happy Teaching!
from Fun To Teach – Grammar, Language, Math, ESL/ELD, Spanish, Reading, Writing, Centers and more! https://esleld.blogspot.com/2022/04/100-hashtag-sale-fun-to-teach.html