Wednesday, September 28, 2011

To Chat or To Tweet, That is the Question

I have a wonderful friend whom I met when we were both teaching ESL classes. I was in the elementary building, she was at the high school. We would meet with the rest of the ESL team monthly to share ideas, concerns, plans and just to have a time we could build as a team.
My friend is a smart lady, always on top of things, she has never given up on helping other teachers grow in their professional knowledge. One of her latest emails to me had the purpose of trying to encourage me to become more involved in PLN chats. Below is part of what she just sent me. It looks great and maybe it will entice me to join a chat group even if it is on a Monday night at 6:00. Isn't that when normal people eat supper? Oh well, who said teachers are normal? Most of us aren't even home by then.

lectograph: The Inclusion Six: A Framework for Teachers of ELLs: updated mindmap and support documents #ellchat http://t.co/8ESqHkVh
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/lectograph/statuses/118503105800323073
Sent via TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com

You'll also want to check out the accompanying resource http://www.elltoolbox.com/inclusion.html with the support documents for his framework.  Fabulous stuff!

Also, there is a Facebook page for #ELLCHAT.  It's http://www.facebook.com/pages/ELLCHAT/105656129477631.  
 
Hope this helps you get hooked! :)

I don't know if I'm hooked or not but I'm going to give it a try. 







Friday, September 23, 2011

911 or Not

A few days, or should I say nights, ago my husband woke me up from a deep sleep. His words to me should have been alarming, "I'm having a heart attack!" My question to him was "Where does it hurt?" "My back, between my shoulder blades!" Without a second thought I replied, " You're just having a gall bladder attack." With that I rolled over and went back to sleep. It wasn't until I was halfway through my 5:00 morning shower that I remembered this conversation, not knowing if it had been real or a dream. I finished showering, wondering if my husband was ok, but first I was going to shave my legs. Good Grief! He could have been dead! But no, there he was, snoring away. I woke him up and asked him if he had been in pain and if he'd woke me up in the middle of the night. Well, yes he had and he wasn't too happy that I had given him no attention or help.

Now, I'm not sharing this because I'm especially proud of the fact that I didn't get worried and call 911 in the middle of the night or that I didn't even jump out of the shower when I remembered the conversation. I'm sharing this because of how similar it is to when many teachers or administrators hear that an ESL student is having trouble. Too often the issues are ignored, thinking that the fact the student is a second language learner is reason enough to let things pass, it doesn't warrant the attention needed to take care of their academic needs until they have enough English to do the work. Or on the other hand, there's times that special education placement is the first step in trying to help students in trouble without assessing the whole child, the whole situation.

A wonderful book that takes a serious look at ELLs at each level of language acquisition is "Differentiation of Instruction and Assessment for ELLs" by Shelley Fairbairn and Stephaney Jones-Vo, Caslon Publishing. It is worth the money! The book comes with a full size poster that is full of strategies and other useful information, a must for classroom teachers who are serious about meeting the needs of all students.

As for my husband, it was a gall bladder attack, according to Dr. Pat. Has he been to a real doctor to check it out? No. My only words of caution to him is that he'd better not wake me up again unless it's a real heart attack and then he'd better make darn sure I know he's serious.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Happy Birthday, My Dear Friend!

Today is my dear friend Judi's birthday. I don't know how old she is but she's young at heart and strong in mind and body. She and I started our grad work together along with our other wonderful friend, Julie. We were three teachers who knew we needed to learn more about the children in our care. We set out just wanting to take "a class" but ended up with our masters degrees after 2 years of studying, crying, laughing, late nighters (we were too old for all nighters), many prayers, heated discussions, endless classes, dreaded research and that awful final 4 hour exam. But nothing is better than accomplishing a goal, doing it with friends makes it even sweeter.

All three of us were seasoned teachers, we had taught in about every capacity possible over our accuamalated years in the teaching profession. Judi was perhaps the most experienced with a second language as her Spanish is very good and her students benefited from that. She could reassure them in their native tongue that things would be better, that they would survive all the newness around them.  I always envied that skill. Use of a student's L1 is very beneficial. It creates a welcoming atmosphere,  a sense of belonging and safety. L1 use helps to clarify directions and concepts, providing meaning to an academic task. It opens a direct line to the parents, no need for an interpreter or translator.

In searching for new and useful tools, I have ran across several sites that use L1 to teach L2. Thought I would share them with you in honor of my dear bilingual friend who is getting better with age.

Happy Birthday, Judi. Maybe one of these days we'll get to celebrate together again.

Rosetta Stone http://www.rosettastone.com/
Verbling http://verbling.com/
Brain Scape Business Spanish(an Apple I-phone free app) http://www.brain-scape.com/market/foreign_languages/spanish
Word Dynamo-http:///dynamo.dictionary.com

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Ah, Fall

As I watched two deer munching away at what is left of the hayfield in front of my house, I had to stop and enjoy the beauty of the beginning of fall. The promise of cooler weather, the splendor of the trees changing into their winter clothes, and the feeling that the whole world is changing only makes me realize how blessed I am while others struggle to meet each day.  Many have traveled to our great country to find safety, security, peace, and education: a new life for their families.  As educators we hold the keys to great success or the power to close doors on dreams. I challenge each of you to unlock those doors, prepare yourself to meet each child in your care with the new ideas for future success.

Several people  have come up with cute and useful 10 Most... or My Favorite.... lists. I have some of those too. 10 Most Successful Ways to Cheat on My Diet and 100 Excuses Not to Clean My House. But one list that you may like to check out is my list of websites that provide useful information for ESL and classroom teachers. So here it is, I hope you find it worth your time.


Websites
http://www.colorincolorado.org/ a bilingual site for families and educators

www.wordsift.com find pictures, videos and other helpful information for about any word

www.listserv@unc.edu-Natural Resources listserv

www.icanreadsongs.org-Non-profit organization ICANREAD, Inc-beginning readers K-1

www.esl.guide@about.com Kenneth Beare gives tips on ESL instruction

songs@kiddles.com songs with sheet music, words, and audio online

www.enchantedlearning.com picture dictionary

schoolsmovingup_notices@wested.org Schools Moving Up, West Ed.-Free Webinars

www.childrenslibrary.org books in many different languages

www.WiZIQ.com English Courses, Tests and Classes

www.eslcafe.com Dave’s ESL CafĂ©, all things ESL: jobs, stuff for teachers, stuff for students, stuff for everyone. Great site.

www.readinglessons.com A free program that uses step-by-step activities to teach reading.
 
www.literacycenter.net The Early Childhood Network 

Monday, September 12, 2011

It's Monday, Hip Hip Hurray! (kidding, really)

A Monday morning provides great opportunity to set the mood for the rest of the week. This week should be full of great opportunities and adventures, cause this morning has sure been one thing after another and it's only 11:00.

For those of you who are not familiar with TESOL I'd like to invite you to take a look at their website, http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp. They always have great articles and information, even job posts for places all over the globe. Becoming a member isn't that expensive and has benefits.


Another great site to visit is http://www.wordsift.com/ If you need pictures, videos, or web ideas, this is the place to look. Just type in the word you need support for and all sorts of information pops up. Where was this when I had students? Speaking of students, I wouldn't let them do the searching without supervision, like all sites there's info that certain ages just don't need to see.

Hope everyone has a great week, one filled with positive twists and turns to make life interesting, we shouldn't get too comfortable in our routines. Happy teaching.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The World of Twitter

I recently became a Tweeter through the encouragement of a friend. But let me warn you, Twitter is not for the weak of heart. It's hard work trying to stay up with so many tweets about so many awesome topics.  In the ESL world, we have a master tweeter, Larry Ferlazzo.
Larry Ferlazzo

Larry Ferlazzo

@Larryferlazzo Sacramento, CA
Inner-city High School teacher -- ESL & Mainstream
I encourage to check out his blog and follow him on Twitter, he has great lists of helpful information for ESL teachers.
My favorite list is "The Best Tweets of 2011".