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…

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…

Resources for Teaching Citations to ELLs

by Lindsey Jackson Plagiarism is something that language learners often struggle with, especially when they come from countries where taking others’ words or ideas is actually considered a compliment (see McCool, 2009, for a more thorough explanation of culture’s influence on writing). Language learners often voice concern about plagiarism. They may be able to verbally…

App Review: English Central (ECentral)

by Lindsey Jackson ECentral is an app designed to introduce English Language Learners (ELLs) to authentic materials in the L2. The app description boasts over 10,000 available videos for users to watch and learn from, directions given in eight different languages, and a variety of activities learners can do in response to the videos. Positive…

Building Trust with International Students

By Lindsey Jackson Like many teachers, one of my main concerns in the classroom is lowering my students’ affective filters. Reading past and current literature on the topic always further convinces me of my need to make my students feel safe in our English Composition for Non-Native Speakers classroom. Following best practices set forth in…