ESL Symposium Presentation List (alphabetical by presenter)
Mastering the Magic and Madness of the Multilevel Classroom
Jayme Adelson-Goldstein, Los Angeles Unified School District
10:15-12:00 Thursday, May 31: Room 6
Successful multilevel instruction is part madness, part magic. Come discover, practice, and prepare to apply instructional strategies that address the challenges of the multilevel environment: building class community; linking level objectives; creating whole class presentations; and using same- and mixed-level activities to match learners’ diverse needs.
Picturing Success in the Multilevel Classroom
Jayme Adelson-Goldstein, LA Unified School Distict
3:45-5:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 6
Visuals are an essential tool in ESL instruction and picture dictionaries are a wonderful source of those visuals. Come learn how the same picture dictionary we use to present vocabulary can also provide a wealth of meaningful multilevel communication tasks--helping our learners practice and use the language they’ve learned.
Eliciting Student Stories
Kathleen (Kathie) Baggott, Melissa Richer, Ana Sinclair, Elena Guy, Susan Hoffman; Wake Tech
10:15 Friday, June 1; Room 8B
This session focuses on how to elicit ESL student stories and suggests ways to communicate these stories to the larger community. In this endeavor, students engage the community in language learning and the community hears first-hand accounts of varied immigrant experiences. While this workshop builds on experiences with Adult ESL students, the information can be applied to any ESL classroom.
Effective Assistance for ESL Students: The Students' Perspective
Andrea Belletti, New Hanover Co. Schools
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 9
In original research findings, ESL students are quoted discussing fears and surprises upon starting high school. They comment on personal and professional qualities and instructional practices of good and bad teachers, effective assessment modifications, academic support, and suggestions for ESL program improvement. Linguistic, academic, and social/cultural implications are discussed.
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Making Television in the ESL Classroom
Cindy Bowling, East Garner Middle, Garner, NC
3:45-5:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 7B
Using basic AV equipment, any classroom can become a TV studio! The presenter, Cindy Bowling, shares her 25 years experience as a professional television production assistant, with tips and tools to augment any journalism lesson.
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“The Land of Osbasdo”
Edith Cowper, Wake Tech
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 8A
Never lived in another country? Here’s your chance for foreign adventure in “The Land of Osbasdo.” Participants will simulate and experience entering another culture. This activity will help instructors understand some of the challenges international students face as new residents of the US. Minimum of 12 participants needed.
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Dynamic Assessment in the Chat Room Context
Mark Anthony Darhower, NC State University
11:10-12:00 Friday, June 1: Room 9
This study employs dynamic assessment to illuminate the developmental process of advanced intermediate L2 learners as they narrate in an online chat room in the past time frame. The study aims to further understanding of dynamic assessment and the use of Internet chat in L2 learning.
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Hybrid Courses: The Hows and Whys, the Ups and Downs
Scott Despain, NC State University
11:10-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 9
This presentation discusses the overall role of hybrid/blended courses in language education, the principal technologies and approaches along with examples and associated pros and cons. Attendees can expect to gain a clear idea of how hybrid courses work, the reasons for and against blended courses, and the typical tool set.
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Schedules and Teachers and Credits, Oh My!!!!!
Mary Fahle, Steve West, Haley Stallworth, Wake County Schools
________Thursday, May 31; Room 8B
This presentation will explore proven and practical strategies that can be effectively implemented to interface ESL programs with Student Services. A designated ESL counselor, equipped with knowledge and compassion, can be a driving force for success of the total child.
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How to Survive the National Board Process
Karen Fichter, Mary Fahle, Steve West, Laura Cernik, Wake County Schools
10:15-11:05 Thursday, May 31; Room 8A
This session will begin with the presenters, all of whom are NBCTs in English as a New Language, giving tips and information about the certification process. It will end with a question and answer session so participants can better understand what this process entails.
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Integrating Social Studies into the ESL Classroom
Karen Fichter, Zebulon Middle; Val Pinkney, Wake County ESL
______ Thursday, May 31; Room 8B
This presentation will give participants information about the concepts/activities/strategies that should be included in shaping social studies instruction in the ESL classroom to help ELLs become more successful in the mainstream classroom.
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Keynote Session Title
Differentiated Instruction: Grouping for Success
Vicki L. Gibson, Ph.D.
Session Description
Increasing student diversity has created a demand for multi-tiered differentiated instruction. Teachers report they need help to address those challenges in their classrooms. Traditional practice is not working. Professional development is needed to provide research-proven effective ways for teachers to respond to student needs.
This presentation integrates what the research says and what we must do to enhance student achievement. We will discuss how to deliver instruction in ways that increase student engagement, incorporate flexible grouping, provide more teaching, and increase practice opportunities with immediate corrective feedback.
Participants will learn:
Persons attending this session will actively participate with partners to discuss and discover fun, effective ways to use research-proven effective methods that help educators make small and whole group instruction work in their classrooms.
Breakout Session Title
Differentiated Instruction: Grouping for Success
Vicki Gibson, Longmire Learning Center
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 1 A/B
Teachers need help with managing whole class and small group instruction. This session explains what differentiating instruction is and how to make it happen successfully in classrooms. It answers teachers’ most frequently asked question, “What are the rest of the students doing while I am working with a small group?”
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Differentiating Instruction: Grouping for Success
Vicki Gibson, Longmire Learning Center
Thursday, May 31; Room 1 A/B
Increasing student diversity has created a demand for multi-tiered differentiated instruction. Teachers report they need help to address those challenges in their classrooms. Traditional practice is not working. Professional development is needed to provide research-proven effective ways for teachers to respond to student needs. This presentation integrates what the research says and what we must do to enhance student achievement. We will discuss how to deliver instruction in ways that increase student engagement incorporate flexible grouping provide more teaching and increase practice opportunities with immediate corrective feedback.
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Managing Whole Class and Small Group Instruction
Vicki Gibson, Longmire Learning Center
10:15-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 1 A/B
This session presents field-tested teaching tools that will help teachers differentiate instruction successfully in their classrooms and address student variance. The presentation integrates research and best practice to help educators know how to successfully group for instruction in any classroom and provide skills-focused lessons to enhance student achievement.
Participant Outcomes: Participants will learn many ways to alternate time periods for whole class and small group differentiated instruction. The presentation shows how to use a job chart to delegate responsibilities in the classroom, a daily schedule to alternate time periods for whole and small group instruction, and a rotation chart to guide student through activities and clarify expectations. Teachers and administrators will know how to ensure every student meets with a teacher for small group, differentiated explicit instruction everyday.
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Strategies to Help ESL Students Participate in the Mainstream Classroom
Claudia Gomez, Daniels Middle School
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 7A
Novice ESL students avoid contact with English-speaking students and teachers in the mainstream classroom for many reasons: language barrier, cultural differences, fear… This presentation shows how novice ESL students feel in the classroom and examines strategies teachers can use to help novice speakers improve their communicative skills and class participation.
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Best Practices for Teaching Limited English Proficient Students
Claudia Gomez, Daniels Middle School; Rebecca Blomgren, Greensboro College; Jorge Zuluaga-Urrea, Deep River Elementary; Christian Walter, Wake County Schools; Amanda Wimmer, Danville City Schools, VA
11:10-12:00 Friday, June 1; Room 8B
This panel of special educators will discuss the big questions of why LEP students are a challenge to regular classroom teachers. Participants will share their thought on best practices for teaching LEP students, focusing on literacy and mathematics instruction and accommodations.
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The Teacher-Technology Interface
Paul Heacock, Cambridge University Press
10:15 Friday, June 1; Room 9
The Internet, CD-ROMs, and other interactive technologies are increasingly commonplace in the language-learning environment. But can these tools alone teach students? The presenter examines the impact of technology on English teaching and discusses the critical role of the teacher in the wired world of today.
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A Crash Course in ESL
Carrie Hill, ESL Innovations
3:45-5:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 7A
To effectively educate ESL students, ESL teachers must equip regular classroom teachers with the knowledge and skills to reach the ESL students in their own classrooms. How do ESL teachers accomplish this? What is the essential information that regular classroom teachers need? What resources can be provided to classroom teachers to educate them about ESL and testing, modifying content teaching, and the complexities of language acquisition? Come to this session to receive resources to educate classroom teachers and learn about other opportunities for getting the word out about ESL in your schools.
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Tools for Teaching Academic Content
Dorothy Kauffman, consultant, Center for Applied Linguistics
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 6
What academic language functions do ELLs need to accomplish academic tasks.? What can teachers do to help them learn academic vocabulary and language structures? Come explore some effective strategies and techniques as the presenter demonstrates them using the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas. Sample materials will be provided.
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Collaborative Teaching--Models of Inclusion
AliceAnne Kern, Courtney Chavez, Emily White, Matthew Gamble, Durham Public Schools
19:15-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 7B
“It takes a village to raise a child” With the increase of the ELL population and the pressure of AYPs and of passing standardized tests within a year or two of the arrival of ELLs in the US, we have to find more effective ways of reaching our students. We will explore a variety of models of inclusion and collaborative teaching to empower mainstream and ESL teachers to serve ELLs effectively.
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Get Your Hands On SIOP
Ivanna Mann Thrower, Joan Rolston; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
10:15-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 5
Hands-on activities offer students access to content in creative ways, but the material may still not TRULY be accessible to the ELL. How do you SIOP your tried and true activities? In this interactive workshop, participants will review the SIOP Model and create SIOPed versions of favorite activities.
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State ESL Update
Joanne Marino, NC DPI
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 5
This session will provide an update of important happenings in the world of North Carolina ESL for 2007. The new ESL/Title III Consultant will be introduced, and we will discuss current LEP data, LEP testing, the new high school exit standards, and our state NC SIOP initiative. There will be a short time for questions at the end of the session.[back]
What are the Essential Elements for Providing Services to LEP Students? - an Overview
Joy McLaughlin, Director LEP Program Services, Asheboro City Schools
1:00-1:50 Thursday, May 31; Room 7B
Often we try to close the achievement gap by opting for remedial programs, providing EC services, or changing our models of delivery of ESL services. The mistake we make is taking a fragmented approach that does not always include the essential elements for LEP success. This presentation addresses the considerations that must be addressed in designing the best models for student achievement.
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Gangs--Are They Giving our Youth What They Need?
Alan Muriera, Muriera Consulting
11:10-12:00 Friday June 1; Room 5
This presentation will take a look at gangs and their structure, what they are providing our kids that we are not, how they build self esteem and commitment among their members, and how to identify a youth on the verge of getting involved in one.
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Latino Parent Educational Training
Maria Rosa Rangel, Wake County Schools
10:15-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 8B
The Latino population is the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. This group is rapidly changing the face of public schools and presenting a unique set of challenges to public education. As educators we often take for granted the parents of these students. We need to be able to provide them with training that includes: how to understand the U.S. Educational System, what parental involvement is, how to have an effective parent/teacher conference, parent’s rights, and gang awareness. In this training you will be trained to become a trainer. The first 20 people will receive a copy of a curriculum guide to provide this training in Spanish.
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Parent Involvement--Bridging the Cultural Gap
Sashi Rayasam, Durham Public Schools
10:15-12:00 Friday, June 1; Room 7B
The purpose of the session is to a)provide background information about culturally diverse families and include them in the mainstream programs at the school; and b) focus on a variety of ideas to create a strong parent outreach program. The goal is to be able to find effective ways to welcome our culturally diverse families into our schools--when translation is not enough.
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Conversational Ballgames—Why Your Students Converse Awkwardly—and some Solutions
Glenda Reece, ESL Training Services
11:10-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 8A
ESL teachers are often surprised when their students do well in class but can't carry on a conversation. Perhaps their conversational style is nowhere near that of English speakers. What if you are playing tennis while your student learned only to bowl? This look at cultures with a few solutions should help everyone involved. Let's look at many cultures and see if they play soccer or wrestle in a conversation.
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The Oral Proficiency Rating FSI: The Basics of Oral Testing
Glenda Reece, ESL Training Services
3:45-5:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 8A
Just how do you rate the spoken language of your students? The FSI Oral Proficiency Rating is the grandfather of all the oral tests. Yet, this public domain material is vital to any successful ESL teacher. Learn the rating scale and the terminology and feel secure in your oral testing success. Suggestions on interviewing are included.
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Top-Down/Bottom Up Pronunciation: It's Not all in Single Sounds, but in Sound Units, too.
Glenda Reece, ESL Training Services
10:15-12:00 Friday, june 1; Room 1 A/B
Do you sometimes despair at your students’ pronunciation? This presentation will include and go beyond a focus on individual sound problems (a bottom-up approach) to the set of priorities you need in genuinely improving intelligibility and clarity (a top-down approach). The presentation includes lots of fun ideas (and an accent grading chart).
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SIOP Implementation--Ideas for Program Design
Joan Rolston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg International Center
10:15-12:00 Friday, June 1; Room 7A
As the SIOP program continues to grow in North Carolina, the topic of implementation and program design has become an integral part of SIOP professional development. This interactive workshop will allow teachers and administrators the opportunity the opportunity to explore a variety of SIOP program designs.
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Reinforcing and Assessing Literacy Skills with "Out-the-Door" Activities
Mary-Ryan Smith, Wake County Public Schools
10:15-11:05 Thursday, May 31; Room.7A
As an ESL teacher with only 30-35 minutes per day to spend with each group of students, I often ask myself, "How can I get to everything in such a short amount of time?" During this session, I will share quick and easy activities that ESL teachers can use to reinforce and assess literacy skills as students line up to leave class each day.
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Integrating Technology Tools into the ESL Curriculum
Nancy Swisher, North Carolina State University
10:15-11:05 Thursday, May 31; Room 9
This session will address the effectiveness and ease of use of various technology tools to engage students in interactive learning both in and beyond the classroom. The presenter will demonstrate how podcasts, voice tools, blogs, and wikis can be tailored to fit your students' needs and will offer practical tips on how to get started.
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Language to Literacy: A Demonstration of Oral to Written Language Connections
Georgia Thompson, Dallas ISD
10:15-12:00 Friday June 1; Room 8A
Use your read-alouds to extend and enrich vocabulary, develop oral language, and build comprehension skills through a Language to Literacy chart. The audience will participate in an interactive workshop guaranteed to provide students with reading strategies that will improve their comprehension.
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Post-conference workshop: Winning Ways with Words: What You Need to Know about Interactive Vocabulary
Georgia Thompson, Dallas ISD
2:15-4:15 Friday June 1; Room 6
This interactive session will highlight strategies for teaching, enhancing, and refining vocabulary instruction. The goal of all teachers should be and can be children's vocabulary development. "Make and take" effective strategies for working with words and making it fun!
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Strategies for Identifying and Differentiating Instruction for Gifted ESL Students at the Elementary Level
Claudia Villafuerte, Casa Esperanza Montessori Charter School
11:10-12:00 Thursday, May 31; Room 7A
After an extensive research in identification of ESL gifted students as well as how programs for gifted populations meet ESL gifted students' needs some strategies for a more proper identification of this minority group at the elementary level are presented as well as differentiated instruction that could meet and nurture the particular needs of ESL gifted students.
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Learner Corpora--Fancy Name, Simple Concept, Useful Tool
Cynthia Walker, Georgia Perimeter College
10:15-12:00 Friday June 1; Room 6
You know how the treatment of modals varies wildly in advanced texts, from detailed exercises to no treatment of modals at all? This presentation began as one individual’s study of modals in 65 compositions students had to pass to go on to the next level, to find that the success rate correlated directly with certain uses of modals. The term here is ‘Learner Corpora;’ the presentation shows how to use them to understand what your students know (and don't know) so you can teach more effectively.
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Literacy Research among Latino Children
Tonya Wolford, NC State University
10:15-11:05 Friday June 1; Room 5
In this paper I will discuss methods for conducting literacy research among elementary school children with non-standard home dialects, specifically those who are exposed to Spanish in the home. I will focus on ways to use traditional educational research methods in combination with sociolinguistic methodologies to improve reading among this population.
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