Reminders:

Tuesday, November 17th, 1-3pm: Elementary ELL meeting: We will welcome speakers from the Burnaby Public Library. A zoom link has been emailed.

 

Saturday, November 28th 3-4pm: Burnaby Public Library Group Chat  Group Chat is a program for newcomer youth who want to meet other youth and practice speaking English. We will play games, connect, and discuss an interesting topic in a fun and friendly online group setting. Encourage your students to email teenservices@bpl.bc.ca for the zoom link.

Seidlitz Education Virtual SLIFE Conference

On November 12, Seidlitz Education held a virtual conference focusing on teaching students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). They have posted the whole 7 hour conference on youtube. There are many useful models but if you have time for only a short clip watch Pamela Broussard from the 14 minute mark to 17 minutes.

Every Teacher is a Language Teacher

The Importance of Effective Instructions

I really bombed recently. I had six students in an online class do a writing assignment comparing a real life hero to a character in a book. I explained the assignment and asked them to show it to me next class. None of them did it correctly. They wrote about why they respected the real life hero or gave a biography but no one mentioned the novel’s character. The first one could be caused by an inattentive student…but all of them? The problem was my instructions were unclear. I orally told them what to do and assumed they got it. I apologized for my mistake and we went over the assignment again. This time, I wrote step by step instructions on a shared document. Then, we brainstormed characteristics with a group chosen hero. Then, I wrote/co-wrote a model using the hero and one of the characters. Finally, I let them get to work. All of them were successful the second time.

Teachers need to have clear, scaffolded instructions for students. Oral instructions are rarely enough.