Monthly Archives: June 2016

Personal Stories Inspire Language Learning

28 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by in Lesson Ideas, Student Experiences, Teachers' Page

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Composing a short story about a life-changing event in his family from his mother’s point-of-view,  enabled Christopher Cindrich to fully explore how his father’s death had impacted him, his mother and family members.  He describes the assignment for his Spanish Language and Literature course motivated him to want to use his mother’s native language to tell her story–and learn it himself.

Students are highly motivated to do assignments that allow them to share or explore their personal lives, according to several research studies. (See link below for one such study.)

Vanderbilt college student describing value of writing assignment

So, You Think You Can Teach ESL? | An ESL, education, and teaching blog

22 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in On-Line Publications and Sites, Teacher Education, Teachers' Page

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The creator of the website below, Ketan Hein, is a TESOL-trained educator who has taught in South Korea since 2009.  A quintessential teacher, Mr. Hein’s curriculum vitae lists science, math, social studies, physical education and art courses in addition to the common English language subjects.

He, like me, wants to provide a site where English teachers can learn from each other and share ideas for improving education systems and teaching methods.  His site certainly provides such an opportunity.

Source: So, You Think You Can Teach ESL? | An ESL, education, and teaching blog (click to open)

Awesome Teacher Education Site

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in Creating Inclusive Lessons, Lesson Ideas, On-Line Publications and Sites, Teacher Education, Teachers' Page

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ANCD Think Teach Lead

ASCD is a global community dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading. Comprising 125,000 members—superintendents, principals, teachers, and advocates from more than 138 countries—the ASCD community also includes 54 affiliate organizations.

Our diverse, nonpartisan membership is our greatest strength, projecting a powerful, unified voice to decision makers around the world.

NOTE: Most resources are for member access and registration is not free. The site does offer a free trial membership and some materials for free.

This is one of the best international continuing education sites I’ve seen for English language teachers.  If you agree, please consider sharing this site with your colleagues. 

Source: English Language Learners – Videos, Articles, Resources, Experts

Never-Ending Books on U.S. Culture & History

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in Free and Low-Cost Teacher Resources

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Below is a link to sample lesson plans from a children’s book publisher (12 Story Library) that offers books on topics of interest to all ages.  Adults may be able to borrow these books at their public library, which is where I found my book, entitled “The 12 Most Amazing American Inventions.”   It includes stories under 12 topics, including: from after they’ve finished reading the book itself!  It includes stories under 12 topics,

Aside from being very fun and interesting, these books never truly end!  The publisher offers a website for each story so readers can continue learning about the topic from it and other resource pages.  Below are the topics offered:

Story Titles

Source: Sample Lesson Plans – 12StoryLibrary.com

Link

Best Methods for Teaching Adolescent ELLs

20 Monday Jun 2016

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Best Practices for Adolescent ELLs  by Judith Rance-Roney

Adolescent English language learners present particular challenges for schools. The population of adolescent ELLs is diverse, and their educational needs are affected by differences in immigration status, quality of educational background, native language, cultural distance from U.S. culture, future plans, and economic status. The article offers five practices that can help schools improve educational achievement for these students: acceptance of shared responsibility by school staff; a dual curriculum that promotes language development as well as academic needs; careful consideration of how to integrate immigrants with the general school population; extended learning time; and individual progress records.

Source: Educational Leadership:Supporting English Language Learners:Best Practices for Adolescent ELLs

How to Talk to Non-Native English Speakers

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in Student-Centered Learning

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Below are helpful suggestions from the article referenced below for communicating more effectively with non-native English speakers.

1. Speak slowly, not loudly.

2. Use hand gestures.

3. Don’t use idioms!

4. Feel free to use incorrect English when appropriate.

5. Find different ways to say something.

6. Pronounce letters and phonemes clearly.

Source: Learn English Articles » Blog Archive » How to Talk to Non-Native English Speakers

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Designing a Student-Centered Curriculum for Life-Long Learners

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in Activities for Adults, Activities for Children, On-Line Publications and Sites, Student-Centered Learning

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Additional lessons, activities, and learning resources can be found on my Google Page, entitled “Designing a Student-Centered Curriculum for Life-Long Learners.”  This site organizes information by subject, so you can choose the topic that most interests you. Below are the topics you can choose to learn about:

Designing a Student-Centered Curriculum

Google Site for Students and Teachers

 

 

 

Video

New Strategy for Teaching Reading & Writing Skills

17 Friday Jun 2016

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This series of lessons helps explain why learning to read is often more challenging for people who are naturally good at analyzing problems, developing categories and performing detail-oriented tasks.  They tend to be good at math and science, which requires the above-mentioned skills.  Reading instruction often excludes explanations for the many “exceptions” to spelling and pronunciation rules, which are explained on this site.  The instructor provides excellent materials and resources that fill-in the gaps left by traditional teaching methods that cover only some rather than all English words.

Adult Learner Success

15 Wednesday Jun 2016

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Kate Nonesuch’s “Working in Adult Literacy” site is an invaluable resource for English language and ABE teachers. The “Adult Learner Success” section offers 13 subsections on how to create a safe, engaging learning environment for this population as well as how to teach them math, reading, writing and spelling skills .

Working in Adult Literacy

http://katenonesuch.com/2013/08/06/adult-learner-success/ ‎Factors that Facilitate Adult Learner Success in the NWT starts with a review of earlier findings:

…we understand that:

  • Non-academic outcomes are qualitative, intangible, subjective, personal, and extensive.
  • Learners gain much more from ALBE programs than academic outcomes suggest.

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