Whether newly arrived or U.S. born, English learners (ELs) must leap over the many hurdles they encounter along the road to becoming English proficient and academically successful. Take into account, for example, that some of our youngest learners and those with interrupted formal schooling also
How many of us have listened to a speaker or read a book and marveled at the descriptive power and richness of the words used? We have our favorite speakers, reporters, or authors who move us through how they write. Nations, peoples, political change
Literacy is freedom’s gatekeeper. We know that the more literate an individual, the more capable he is of reaching his educational and career aspirations. After all, a major measure of effective schooling is the literacy attainment of its graduates. But the impact of literacy reaches
Three in four U.S. classrooms have at least one student who is an English Learner (EL). Even in schools with EL specialists, ELs spend the majority of their instructional day with core teachers. EL excellence with rigorous content learning requires EVERY teacher be an effective
Every school district across the country is acutely aware that English learner populations are growing rapidly. Often when I hear educators talk about needs of English learners, they have a tendency to focus on newcomer immigrant students. Yes, their language needs are important, but we
It has been 20 years since I completed my doctoral research on educational equity in public schools. During one of my initial classroom observations, I shadowed a group of English learners in a kindergarten classroom. The students had just completed an engaging circle time discussing
Assessing English Language Learners, 2nd edition by Margo Gottlieb Ten years ago, the first edition of Margo Gottlieb’s Assessing English Language Learners changed the dialogue about how educators envision educational equity for students. Since then, the ELL and dual language student populations have grown exponentially, and so has
We all know the many benefits of using graphic organizers. These literacy-building tools provide visual images of information, organize concepts and sub-concepts, and focus student attention on key ideas and terms. Graphic organizers serve as a guide before and during student reading and listening. They
This post was originally published on ZacarianConsulting.com and TESOL The film Spare Parts was released a few months ago. It’s based on the true story (and book) about 4 undocumented Latino high school students who formed a robotics team that beat MIT engineering students in a contest. Their personal stories