Every Student Succeeds Act

by Lindsey Jackson In December 2015, President Obama signed into law an act that replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB). That law was the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which is not only a replacement of NCLB but a continuation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act put into place by President Lyndon B. Johnson…

Blended Learning in a Middle School ESOL Program

By Arla Jones and Kimberley Kreicker, Ph.D. South Middle School in Lawrence, Kansas has a diverse ESOL population comprising approximately 12% of the student body. South has both long-term ELs and relative newcomers, mostly of Spanish, Laotian, and Arabic language backgrounds. We are the two full-time ESOL professionals on staff. With the middle school model,…

Encouraging Social English

by Lindsey Jackson I recently read (and highly recommend) Shapiro, Farrelly, and Tomaš’ (2014) book, Fostering International Student Success in Higher Education, which is filled with invaluable advice for helping language learners assimilate into their new university environment. Though nearly every page ended up tagged with a Post-it note reaction to something I’d read, one…

Winners Announced for MIDTESOL 2016 Best Essay Awards

MIDTESOL is pleased to announce the winners of our annual Best Student Essay contests. Students responded to essay questions related to this year’s conference theme of “Innovation and Improvisation”. The winner of the Best ESL Student Essay is Manou Maeva Boko. She is a student at the University of Missouri’s  Center for English Language Learning.…

TED Talks: Using Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” in the ELL Classroom

by Lindsey Jackson It’s not uncommon nowadays to hear of instructors incorporating TED Talks into their lesson plans. TED Talks present interesting topics for discussion, and they also have subtitles and transcripts available for listeners who may require a little more scaffolding. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story” (2009), has…

Call for Proposals: Missouri National Association for Multicultural Education

Missouri Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education Fall Conference University of Kansas City-Missouri Saturday, October 22, 2016 Conference Theme: Racial and Cultural Justice: Engaging Multicultural Education for All Keynote Speaker: Dr. Linda Christensen, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon Deadline for Electronic Proposal Submission: June 17, 2016 Click here for proposal guidelines and…