Episode Summary One of the themes that keeps coming up in my teaching and that of many other teachers who work with English learners is this: How much work should we give EL newcomers and any EL student? What can we expect from them? I recorded several episodes about the time it takes to acquire…
The Less is More Philosophy When Teaching EL Newcomers Read More »
Episode Summary Midwinter and early spring is the season for state and language proficiency testing, and I am dedicating a couple of episodes to help you prepare your students for them so that they can show off all of the great things they’ve learned so far. Last week, I talked about peculiarities of listening and
Reading and Writing Practice for State and Proficiency Tests Read More »
Part 1 – Listening and Speaking Practice Episode Summary The testing season is upon us. I wanted to talk about a topic that every teacher working with English learners faces each year, preparing ELs for state and language proficiency tests like ACCESS, TELPAS, and others. These tests play a crucial role in measuring student progress
Preparing ELs for State and Language Proficiency Tests Read More »
Episode Summary Have you ever made an assumption about a person before truly getting to know them? As teachers, whether we like it or not, we tend to operate on a lot of assumptions which come from our education, practice, and experience. What I found though is that most of the time, many and any
Breaking Down Assumptions About English Language Learners Read More »
Episode Summary Teaching EL newcomers is by far one of the most popular subjects among all teachers at the beginning of the school year, middle of the school year, end of the school year, all the time. So much so that I have created quite a few episodes on what to teach them and how
Your First Day with Newcomer EL Students Read More »
Episode Summary The holiday season can be hectic both at home and at school. Besides you being tired and over it, the students are tired and over it. And it shows. No matter the age group you teach, it can be an added stressor trying to figure out how to teach and manage everything around
From Holiday Mode to Learning Mode: How to Reset, Refocus and Recharge Read More »