Episode Summary 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. It seems like we have taught as much as we could. The students have absorbed as much as they could. We all…
5 End of the Year Hacks to Finish the School Year With Sanity Read More »
Episode Summary 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,
The Two Most Important Soft Skills for Teachers of English Learners Read More »
Episode Summary 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
Rewriting the Script of Negative Self-Talk for Teachers Read More »
Episode Summary 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
No Plan? No Problem! 5 Activities for those “I can’t even” days Read More »
Episode Summary In episode 107, my guest Zach Camenker, and I explore the challenges and joys of teaching ELs in regular education classrooms. 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
The Heart and Art of Teaching ELs in Regular Education Classrooms with Zach Camenker Read More »
Episode Summary 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
Common SEL Challenges ELs Face in the Classroom Read More »