Teaching Strategies
- Curriculum, Language Objectives, Lesson Ideas, Reading, Reading Strategies, Speaking Activities, Teaching Strategies, Writing Strategies
Close Reading with Language Learners
Would you like to download a copy of this episode’s transcript? Simply click here for the download. Welcome educators! My wish is that you are having a fantastic school year. Before we dive into our topic this week I have a reflection question for you. I want to encourage you to pause and take a moment to think about and answer the question: How has your lesson planning been going the first half of the school year? Jot down your thoughts and really reflect on the first semester. There are many of you out there that have heard the buzz word close reading. I am here to tell you that…
- Building Relationships, Classroom Strategies, Lesson Ideas, Speaking Activities, Teaching Strategies
Get Your Students Talking During Virtual Learning
Would you like to download a copy of this episode’s transcript? Simply click here for the download. Hey Educators! It’s time to reflect! This year I want to switch it up and start asking you a weekly reflection question. After reading the question, take a moment to think and jot down your answer. I know some of you are listening to this on the go or possibly reading this in passing. I would still like you to take five minutes and reflect. This can have a huge impact on your teaching. Here is our weekly reflection question: Are my Language Learners achieving their speaking goals? Whether you are teaching virtually…
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Investing in Yourself with Focused Professional Development
Welcome all-star teachers! As we jump into today’s topic, I would like you to reflect on your wins for the week. Every week I want to highlight a teacher’s win. A win can be big or small. I want you to celebrate your wins, and we want to celebrate with you! If you have a win you want to share email me at millie@myadventuresinesl.com. I can remember back to my first few years of teaching, browsing through Teacher Pay Teacher and other worksheet membership websites looking for activities to solve my ever growing dilemma of what to teach my ELLs. I spent over $200 and I still did not have…
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Preparing for the New School Year in the Midst of Uncertainty
Welcome all-star teachers! As we jump into today’s topic, I would like you to reflect on your wins for the week. Every week I want to highlight a teacher’s win. A win can be big or small. I want you to celebrate your wins, and we want to celebrate with you! If you have a win you want to share email me at millie@myadventuresinesl.com. Many of us have no clue how the upcoming school year will look for us. This can leave educators with the feeling of uneasiness because they don’t know how they can prepare for the school year. I know are going to want to have a solid…
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Using Your Reflections to Prepare for the New Year
Every week I want to highlight a teacher’s win. This week I want to take a moment and say thank you to all the ESL teachers who are advocating and standing up to racism.The events that are happening against black people in this country, have made me take a deeper look into my teaching practices. I believe reflection is the key to growth as a teacher and that is what I am planning to do. Many times we rush into the new year without taking the time to reflect on how we can adjust our instruction. During my first year of teaching, my teacher mentor always encouraged me to reflect.…
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Supporting ELLs During School Closures
Welcome educators! Right now we are in the midst of a global pandemic. It appears overnight we are expected to pick up and teach our ELLs online. The problem many of us face is that our ELLs have limited access to technology and the internet. Thursday before our Spring Break our principal got on the intercom and announced we won’t be back until March 31st. I knew in my spirit that it was going to be longer so I rushed and started thinking of options. During this time, I had to console my students and show them how to log on to our low tech options. This is how I plan to…
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Teaching Reading Skills through Read Alouds
Hey everyone! Welcome to My Adventures in ESL! Have you ever done a read aloud in your class and felt the boredom ooze from your students? I honestly wondered what is the benefit of me doing a read aloud when my students are bored out of their minds. Couldn’t I be using this time to teach my ELLs some important reading skills? I would often do read alouds and my students just weren’t into them like I hoped. I knew that there were tons of benefits of students hearing a fluent reader reading a text with expression. It just seemed at the moment that my students weren’t connecting to my…
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Setting up your ESL class for the new school year
My first year of teaching I had a lot of random items all over my room. Posters in my room were not hung, and the who area was in a disarray. I tried “decorating” my room, but I was told by veteran teacher in what’s the point of doing that when you have more important things to be doing. However that view took a drastic turn when my teacher mentor came in and explained to me why the thinking and statement of that teacher was incorrect. My mentor teacher explained that students see the classroom as a safe space. If a teacher has a disorganized classroom and items have no…
