Learn from your peers with insights into classroom activities, tips for working with ELLs, product reviews, and more.
By Zach Spiering In the culmination of an historic campaign, Donald J. Trump captured the most electoral votes to win the presidency of the United States this past November. Trump’s campaign promises cover a wide array of topics, but few are more polarizing than his statements about immigration. Most notably, Trump proposed building a wall…
by Emily Adams International students participating in Intensive English Programs (IEPs) in the United States often feel isolated not only from university life, but also from American society in general. Much of the students’ time is spent in the ESL classroom with other international students, perhaps in a separate building. In addition, limited English proficiency…
by Zachary Smith Part of being an ELL teacher for a non-credit English course at a community college is providing resources for the migrant population that is being served. It is important for the members of the migrant community to feel well-connected to the local community, and this goes beyond simple necessities such as work,…
by Shaeley Santiago “Why do you put so much emphasis on the students answering in complete sentences?” I was once asked by a practicum student observing my class. As I hesitated to form my answer, I realized the reason was based on what I believe about language learning and my responsibilities as a teacher. These…
by Shaeley Santiago College- and career-ready standards in the K-12 world have raised the bar of expectations for English Language Learners (ELLs) and their teachers. English Language Learners and the New Standards by Heritage, Walqui, and Linquanti (2015) explores ten necessary shifts in instructional practice to provide support for ELLs to learn at accelerated rates.…
By Arla Jones It’s free. It’s fun. And you can dance to it! Lyrics Training is my favorite new website for teaching English. There are so many features to the site that I made a short video to show what it can do (see below). There are music videos from every genre, including pop music,…
by Zachary Smith With the rising numbers of migrant and immigrant families joining our communities, states are increasing funding for community ELL courses. Initially, this is viewed as a positive way to spend state funding. However, there are facts that can make recruiting members of these populations difficult, and once the classes are full, many…
by Ziyun Chen I took my first public speaking class in English four years ago. On the first day, the instructor gave us his requirement – to give presentations without notes in hand. I remember how stressed everyone was with fear and anxiety about forgetting lines. Our instructor expected us to prepare a draft and…
It’s MIDTESOL conference time! This year’s theme, “Innovation and Improvisation” was selected to highlight Kansas City’s role as a “cradle of jazz.” To spotlight how this conference promotes the innovation and improvisation of ideas in the field of English language teaching, we are introducing the #MIDTESOL16jazz hashtag. Please share on social media like Twitter, Instagram,…
by Denise Mussman, Awards Chair This year has been an exciting one when it comes to MIDTESOL awards. As our conference attendance and membership has grown, we have added new awards and expanded others. Here’s an update on the conference-related awards for 2016. Essay Awards Last spring, we had our annual essay contest for K-12…
