In Person Workshops

A Content Teacher's Guide to English Learner Success

Time Frame:  3 days preferred, customization available, optional 3 grad credits 

Audience:  K-12 content teachers and their ESL colleagues, up to 50 participants

Our English learners/multilingual students spend most of their day with their content area teachers. It is crucial that all teachers feel confident and comfortable in providing instruction that is engaging and accessible to a wide range of English proficiency levels. This workshop takes teachers step by step through gaining a better understanding of language development and how specific strategies and practices can make a massive difference in creating a feeling of success for the teacher and the students.

Objective 1:  Define and explain the importance of academic language.

Objective 2:  Explain English proficiency assessments, what the test scores and levels mean, and why that information matters.

Objective 3:  Describe a classroom and school environment that encourages language and content learning intertwined throughout the day.

Objective 4: Explore specific planning and teaching practices that make content accessible to all students and allow students to be more actively engaged in learning.

Objective 5:  Analyze content through a language focus and determine how to provide content instruction while simultaneously developing language skills.

Instruction for Newcomer Students

Time Frame:  1 day, customization available, optional 1 grad credit
Audience:  K-12 content teachers and their ESL colleagues, up to 50 participants

Newcomer students have unique needs when adjusting to the country, school system, culture, lifestyles, and language. They also come from a wide range of academic backgrounds and English proficiencies. It can be overwhelming for teachers to know where to begin with making content accessible and setting reasonable expectations. With the right guidance, all teachers can help newcomer students shine, and the challenges fade away.

Objective 1:  Gain insight into who are newcomer students are and what they bring.

Objective 2:  Understand English proficiency levels and why they are important in the classroom.

Objective 3:  Examine best practices for welcoming new families.

Objective 4:  Develop an understanding of trauma and trauma-informed practices.

Objective 5: Explore various instructional strategies to make content more accessible for all English proficiency levels.

Active Learning for Early Literacy

Time Frame:  1 day, customization available, optional 1 grad credit
Audience:  K-12 content teachers and their ESL colleagues, up to 50 participants

Students of all ages come to us with early literacy needs. While our students participate in district reading/language arts curriculum, many need additional support to close the gap. With more active and interactive strategies, you will be amazed at how your multilingual students begin building literacy skills faster than ever, regardless of their age. Integrate meaning-making, literacy, and language in every content area.

Objective 1:  Consider the connection between oral language and literacy.

Objective 2:  Explore strategies for engaging students in literacy and developing their confidence.

Objective 3: Create lessons that simultaneously develop language, literacy, and content language.

The Language of Math

Time Frame: 1 day, customization available, optional 1 grad credit
Audience:  K-12 content teachers and their ESL colleagues, up to 50 per session

No one is a native speaker of math! Many say math is universal, but our current standards require much more than computation. Students must also be able to communicate their thoughts and processes and analyze their thinking and the thinking of others. How do we guide multilingual students in acquiring both math knowledge and communication skills?

Objective 1:  Explore English proficiency levels and the language acquisition process.

Objective 2:  Consider the academic language skills needed for math success.

Objective 3:  Discover language supports that make math lessons more accessible.

Objective 4:  Practice interaction strategies that get students thinking and talking about math.

Other hot topics available for

in person learning

• co-teaching
• writing development
• oral language and literacy
• long-term (experienced) English learners
• newcomers/SLIFE
• family & community engagement
• differentiation of content, process, and product
• creating differentiated assessments
• adding scaffolds and supports to content area curriculum
• collaborative literacy
• project based learning for multilingual learners
• social emotional/trauma/mental health
• exploring community cultures
• dual identified students
• ESL teacher certification