4 Ways Teachers Can Support English Learners

Posted on 16 October 2018 by Judie Haynes
Judie Haynes
Judie Haynes

The school year is well under way, and teachers are beginning to get to know their students and to build relationships with them. The teachers that work with English learners (ELs) should know how crucial their classroom practices are to the success of these students. Here are four essential practices that effective teachers of ELs exhibit in their classrooms:

  1. Demonstrate a positive, asset-based relationship with students.
  2. Provide scaffolds to support ELs to acquire new information.
  3. Make use of flexible grouping of students in the classroom.
  4. Model appreciation of diversity in the classroom.

Following, I’ll discuss these four practices in detail. Continue reading →

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ESP Project Leader Profile: Andy Gillett

Posted on 9 October 2018 by Kevin Knight
Kevin Knight
Kevin Knight

Hello, ESPers worldwide!

In this ESP project leader profile, we go to England to meet an expert in ESP, Andy Gillett, who has represented the IATEFL ESP Special Interest Group in events with the TESOL ESP Interest Section, including a month-long online threaded discussion about ESP and a TESOL-IATEFL webinar about how ESP projects can create positive social change. Please see his bio. Continue reading →

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On Campus and Beyond: From Speaking to Writing, Part 2

Posted on 5 October 2018 by Elena Shvidko
Elena Shvidko
Elena Shvidko

In my previous blog (Part 1), I provided a few suggestions on how speaking activities from two units in the ESL speaking class that I taught this summer could be adjusted and implemented in a writing course. My goal was to create materials and activities for a particular unit in relation to the local campus community and to American society in general. I call this approach “On campus and beyond.”

In today’s blog, I’d like to continue by providing suggestions of writing assignments for the other two units of the course: “Health and Well-Being” and “Cultures and Diversity.” Continue reading →

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Online and Hybrid Classroom Education

Posted on 27 September 2018 by Greg Kessler
Greg Kessler
Greg Kessler

The latest book in the TESOL Voices series (insider accounts of classroom life) is Online and Hybrid Classroom Education. As the editor of this book, I am very excited to share information about it with others in the TESOL profession. This book, along with others in the series, provide novel and varied perspectives of teachers and students.

This format provides readers with an inside account of life within an array of online and hybrid learning contexts. The authors in this collection present a diversity of authentic TESOL teaching and learning contexts utilizing online and hybrid instructional approaches. Each chapter is illustrated with a rich description of participant inquiry. The chapters are personal and engaging in a way that should inspire many other TESOL professionals. Continue reading →

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The 6 Principles’ Book Club

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Jennifer Lacroix
Jennifer Lacroix
Jennifer Lacroix

One of the biggest challenges for educators is keeping abreast of current research. Empirical studies can inform and improve our practice, but it can be difficult to find time to decipher and stay up-to-date with the literature.

This past summer, as a way of engaging in a culture of shared responsibility for refreshing our evidence-based practices, a few of my colleagues and I formed a book club. Rather than reading a bunch of primary sources, we instead chose to use The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners by Deborah Short and her TESOL team as a framework for our discussions. Although the authors wrote the book for a K–12 audience, we found the general concepts applicable to our university-based Intensive English Program. Continue reading →

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