The ESL Teaching Podcast

Happy New Year, 2023! I quite enjoy having a routine but I am also a huge fan of the energy of new beginnings. And speaking about new beginnings and embracing what works, in today’s episode, I want to share with you something that I have not talked about yet! And that is ESL instructional coaching, educational coaching especially for teachers who work with English learners. I have come to realize...

 In today’s episode, I will share with you 5 ways you can reset your classroom anytime of year. The first one is to revisit classroom expectations. It is okay, when the classroom starts to feel out of control, you can stop and ask yourself and your students questions like these to make sure expectations are present and clear. How do we begin a class. Show me what the students do and what the teach...

With the new year right around the corner, we tend to reflect on the things we accomplished and what we can do to improve on the quality of our lives, both personally and professionally in the next year. So setting goals is especially popular this time of year, and often, as life keeps going, those goals fall by the wayside. It has been proven that the small, consistent habits are what will actual...

In this episode, I do another ESL question and answer session with my dear friend Susan Patterson, aka My MLL Mentor. Our first ESL question was from a teacher who was advised to work with elementary students more than older students in middle and high school. She doesn't feel right about this recommendation and asked us to weigh in.  ESL Question 2 was, “How do you create an inclusive holida...

In this episode, I discuss different December holidays that are celebrated around the world and by many English Learners. Last year I started sharing cultural tidbits with my colleagues about different holidays our students celebrate and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.  All of this started with a staff email about how to know what foods are kosher and Halal approved. This came up origina...

In this episode, I attempt to explain my perspective on the immigrant experience. I have struggled with how to explain this all my life. I share the complex feelings that come up when I visit my  home in Lithuania. It feels impossible to explain my life as an immigrant in the United States to people in Lithuania and it feels impossible to explain life in Lithuania to people in the US. There are so...

In this episode, I talk with Susan Patterson to answer five of the most popular questions I get from my awesome community about multilingual learners. Susan is a district multilingual  ELD teacher on special assignment. She develops professional learning for best practices in multilingual classrooms and supports ELD coaches. She also has her own blog and creates materials for High School Multiling...

In this episode, I talk with Carly Spina about her experience as a teacher and her book Moving Beyond for Multilingual Learners. I have followed Carly for years and have used her resources in my classes, so I know you’ll love them too. Carly shares about her experiences growing up in a linguistically diverse neighborhood in Chicago. She went on to learn Spanish, but is quick to acknowledge that sh...

In this episode, I build upon the tips I shared in episode 39 on how to set up your speaking lesson by sharing several speaking activities my students love. I share all about picture prompts for speaking, projects that will help your students take ownership of their learning, and of course, games! These are also great for mixed proficiency classes. Speaking is so connected with listening and writi...

In this episode, I share what I have learned about how to teach speaking to English Learners. Speaking is part of our students’ everyday lives because they are learning in an English Speaking Environment. Because of this, it is easy to overlook the importance of more structured speaking opportunities. Speaking is also a very personal thing and is intimidating even for native speakers. There are si...

In this episode, I interview my friend and colleague, Hillary Woods. She shares her perspective on the responsive classroom method and teaching with English Learners in mind after 16 years of experience teaching 4th - 8th grade students. Hilary discusses the value of connecting with students and getting to know them whether they are English Learners or not. This process starts at the beginning of...

In episode 37, we continue with the topic of mixed proficiency classrooms. Last week I talked about setting up your mixed proficiency class for success. Today i will discuss some of the activities that have worked well in these types of classes for me. All students need to work on vocabulary development and all four language domains. So, what activities work well for Mixed Proficiency classes? I w...

In this episode, we talk about a very popular topic - setting up a mixed proficiency class. Mixed proficiency or mixed level classes are challenging to take on, so today I will share some of the strategies I use and some that I am planning to implement for the first time.  First, I take a look at what my students need by looking at their WIDA access scores and some some informal data that I gather...

What are ILPs? The letters ILP stand for  Individualized Learner Plan, I like to think of them as  Personalized Learner Profiles and in today’s episode I share what I include in ILPs for my English Learners and how I have adapted them to fit the needs of the teachers and students in my school. The point of these documents is to support communication between a general educator and an ELL specialist...

Affirmations are a great way for anyone to combat negative self talk and our English learners are no exception. The teenagers I work with often struggle with thoughts that their English is not good enough and are hesitant to participate in conversations because of their low confidence. This is why the topic of today’s episode is affirmations to use with our English learners.  Young people feel pre...

Icebreaker activities can help you build rapport and a sense of community in your classroom. However, it is important to know that not all ice breakers are suitable for English Learners. In this episode, I share a few of my tried and true ice breaker activities and things you want to keep in mind before planning your own icebreaker activities.  When planning icebreaker activities for English Learn...

As summer comes to an end, I thought it would be nice to hear an English learners' perspective on what it is like to be a new student in high school. In today's episode, I interview a former student of mine, Maja Pastuszka, about her experience coming to the United States from Poland and what it was like for her to be a new student and English learner simultaneously. She explains some of...

In today’s episode, I share some of the mistakes I made when I was a newer EL teacher. We all make mistakes when we are first starting out, and honestly, I don’t think that is a bad thing. After all, every mistake is an opportunity for growth. Even now, I regularly reflect on how my lesson or unit went and make plans to do it better next time. This is one of my favorite parts of teaching, the fact...

When you are teaching English Learners, making connections with students and families is one of the most important things you can do. When you are teaching English Learners, they need to know that they are seen and valued, that they are in the right place, and that there are people they can trust. In this episode, I share activities I use at the beginning and throughout the year to make sure my st...

I have gotten so many questions about curriculum guides and the resources included in them and I have decided to address those issues in this episode. The resources I found online when I searched for ESL Curriculum Guides lacked the specificity that I wanted. So, I created a newcomer curriculum guide myself. This is a done-for-you newcomer curriculum guide that you can purchase and download with t...

In this episode we discuss the importance of creating a scope and sequence for your EL students and how to get it done over the summer. I have a ton of flexibility in being an ESL teacher. This is great, but it can also be difficult to know that you are on track throughout the year. I have found that a scope and sequence can really help in making sure you have a plan to anchor your instruction and...

In this episode I share 5 things you need to do to get ready for a successful school year. Summer is a time to rest and not think about anything school related. In fact, one of today’s tips is all about rest and relaxation. It is important for a number of reasons! But, there are a few things EL teachers can do over the summer that will make their lives so much easier come fall. Listen to today’s e...

I love books, especially historical fiction, but in this episode I focus on a different type of book, professional development books for EL teachers. There are plenty of great books out there for EL teachers. I have read many of them and have several more on my list to read next. I am excited to share some of them with you in this episode. During the school year, it can be hard to find the time or...

I enjoy taking a break and recharging my batteries over the summer, but I also love to take some time to work on lesson ideas that I don’t have as much time to think about during the school year and take advantage of some professional development.  In this episode, I share my suggestions for quality virtual professional development opportunities that you can participate in this summer. If you are...

I n this episode, I share 6 elements of an effective EL lesson plan that I have learned in my years as a teacher. Planning for English Learners is not the same as planning for other contents because many EL teachers do not have a set curriculum and will need to plan for different proficiency levels and different sized groups of students. I go into the essential components of an EL lesson plans - a...