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Larry Ferlazzo has begun to curate videos that content teachers can watch to learn how to better teach English learners in their classes, available at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2017/07/14/the-best-videos-for-content-teachers-with-ells-in-their-classes-please-suggest-more/

From http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr17/yr17rel52.asp

On Wednesday, July 12, the State Board of Education approved a revolutionary “English Learner Roadmap” to help California’s more than 1,000 local school districts welcome, understand, and educate the diverse population of students who are learning English. The Roadmap is the first new language policy adopted in nearly 20 years, removes outdated barriers to bilingual and multilingual instruction, and will help schools meet updated state and federal education laws and requirements. The English Learner Roadmap will also help California schools comply with the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the state’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), both of which require specific assistance so English Learners can meet the same academic standards as other students.

Read the full press release at http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr17/yr17rel52.asp
For the latest news on the Roadmap, go to http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/rm/

From http://blog.tesol.org/accommodating-four-prek-5-els-learning-styles/

Judie Haynes writes, “Although English learners (ELs) may be literate in their home languages, they might experience many challenges when acquiring English because they are accustomed to learning through a different style. How does an ESL or classroom teacher differentiate instruction for the myriad learning styles of their students? … Here are four learning styles that are the most commonly found in elementary-age ELs, with a few ideas for activities for beginning ELs.”

Read the full blog post at http://blog.tesol.org/accommodating-four-prek-5-els-learning-styles/

From https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/larry-ferlazzo/four-ways-encourage-speaking-ell-classroom

Larry Ferlazzo gives these four tips for encouraging English language learners to speak English:

1) Use the English Central website
2) Practice engaging and fun dialogues
3) Encourage students to practice academic language
4) Use the Three-Two-One speaking activity

Read more about how to implement these suggestions at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/larry-ferlazzo/four-ways-encourage-speaking-ell-classroom

From http://www.anthonyteacher.com/

Anthony Schmidt writes, “Recently, I’ve been using EdPuzzle, a website that allows you to make interactive video quizzes for students. This type of video-watching experience seems to straddle the line between learner and teacher control. The teacher sets the questions/tasks, but learners have control in repeating, using captions, pausing, and so on. Therefore, it seems like a great tool to promote metacognitive listening skill development, as well as whatever skill the teacher sets for the students.

“EdPuzzle also serves as a great formative assessment tool, and the data that it provides can be easily used back in the classroom.”

Read the full blog post for ideas on how to use EdPuzzle and videos in general for formative assessment: http://www.anthonyteacher.com/blog/using-videos-for-formative-assessment

From http://elmundodepepita.blogspot.com/

Novice speakers use a lot of first person in their communication, and teachers need to model how to talk about oneself. Get ideas for using photos of yourself and your family to model talking about yourself for your students to maximize target language use in your classroom: http://elmundodepepita.blogspot.com/2017/07/using-photos-of-yourself-and-family-to.html

From http://www.pblinthetl.com/

In this reflective and informative blog post, project-based learning enthusiast Laura K. Sexton realizes that some of her favorite project from past classes actually lack some of the key elements of projects, such as a product and a real audience. Her blog post illustrates some critical elements of project-based learning and inspires teachers to carve out extra time for true project-based learning.

Read the blog post at http://www.pblinthetl.com/2017/07/thats-not-project.html

From https://www.etprofessional.com

Chia Suan Chong shares suggestions for getting your students to do more critical thinking and higher level thinking in the language classroom in this blog post: https://www.etprofessional.com/critical-thinking-skills-in-the-classroom-socrates-bloom-and-de-bono

From http://www.anthonyteacher.com/

Anthony Schmidt starts this blog post by provocatively describing a conversation with a student in Korea who said that they didn’t learn much during a semester spend studying at a university in the United States. He goes on to summarize and discuss a chapter from R.M. DeKeyser’s 2014 book Language Acquisition in Study Abroad and Formal Instruction Contexts. Read his blog post for the full discussion: http://www.anthonyteacher.com/more/study-abroad-what-is-it-good-for-researchbites