Upcoming Events

SIOP Meeting: Thursday, May 6 at 3:00pm

Elementary Meeting: Wednesday, May 12 at 2:00pm (more information to follow)

Return date assessment materials for oral language pilot: May 18^th

New/Nearly New to ELL Assessment Workshops

Are you new or nearly new to ELL? Is this your first-time doing ELL year-end assessments? Have questions about the assessments? Want to learn how to make an AIP?

Please join us for drop-in training sessions where we will go over the K-7 ELL year-end assessments and answer any questions you may have. You do not need to RSVP, just show up whenever it works for your schedule. Come to one or as many as you like!

Sessions will run:

Friday, May 7 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/9698994253

Thursday, May 13 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Secondary ELL Scholarships

CATHERINE LOGAN EDDY SCHOLARSHIP
The Catherine Logan Eddy scholarship has been created to honour one of the long-time ELL educators in British Columbia. Before her retirement, Catherine dedicated more than 25 years to ELL pedagogy and research, working with both ELL learners and their teachers as mentor, advocate, and scholar.
Purpose: To recognize a student graduating from a BC Secondary School who has combined hard work with school and community involvement, and who wishes to further her/his education/training at a tertiary institution in BC. This student will be a recent immigrant who has been granted permanent resident status in Canada.
Amount of Scholarship: $750.00
Tenure: Any BC post secondary institution/training facility.
Criteria:
• This student must be a recent immigrant who has been granted permanent resident status in Canada.
• The student must be graduating from a BC high school and wishes to attend a tertiary institution to further her/his education or training for a specific type of employment;
• The student should have demonstrated consistent improvement in academic competence;
• The student should have school or community involvement or service to others; and,
• The student must have ELL coursework at the secondary level.

Expectations: The recipient of this award is expected to commence her/his post-secondary education within one year of receiving the scholarship. The recipient must also provide the BCTESOL with:
• proof of secondary graduation, and
• proof of acceptance to the chosen post-secondary institution.

Application Deadline: Friday, May 14, 2021

Student Application Process:
1. Complete the Application Form on pages 3 and 4. You may ask a school official to work with you to help you complete the required information. https://mcusercontent.com/84662f3c70ad8594b1e196bcc/files/5ac2b4ab-aab9-42be-91eb-e0a24ec621b2/CLE_Scholarship_forms_2021.pdf
2. Obtain transcripts of your marks for Grades 8 to 11, including ELL courses.
3. Obtain a copy of your marks for Grade 12 so far. Your report cards would work well for this. Include ELL courses, if taken.
4. Write an unassisted personal essay, typed or hand-written, 500 words in length and double spaced. The essay should be about how going to a post-secondary program will help you to become a contributing citizen of Canada and BC. Sign and submit the original of your essay. Have one of your references sign it also.
5. Obtain three letters of reference regarding your academic and community performance. Get two of these from teachers, administrators or counsellors. One of your school references MUST confirm your immigrant status. Get the third letter from someone who can talk about your support of and service to others, such as a coach, sponsor or community program coordinator.
6. Make two photocopies of everything you will be submitting – one original and one copy go to the BC TESOL and one copy is to keep for yourself.
Note:
• Only applications that are complete and submitted on time will be considered.
• Submit only the required documents. Do not submit additional information, photographs, etc.
• Only successful candidates will be notified. No materials will be returned.

Mail completed application package to:
Debbie Gomes, CLE Scholarship Chair
c/o Eric Hamber Secondary School
5025 Willow Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3S1

SYLVIA HELMER SCHOLARSHIP
The Sylvia Helmer scholarship has been created to honour one of the long-time ELL educators in British Columbia. Before her retirement, Sylvia dedicated more than 25 years to ELL pedagogy and research, working with both ELL learners and their teachers as mentor, advocate and scholar.

Purpose: To recognize a student graduating from a BC Secondary School who has combined hard work with school and community involvement, and who wishes to further her/his education/training at a tertiary institution in BC. This student will have started their schooling in BC as a student with refugee status in Canada.

Amount of Scholarship: $750.00

Tenure: Any BC post secondary institution/training facility.

Criteria:
• This student must have started their schooling in BC as a student with refugee status in Canada.
• The student must be graduating from a BC high school and wishes to attend a tertiary institution to further her/his education or training for a specific type of employment;
• The student should have demonstrated consistent improvement in academic competence;
• The student should have school or community involvement or service to others; and,
• The student must have ELL coursework at the secondary level.

Expectations: The recipient of this award is expected to commence her/his post-secondary education within one year of receiving the scholarship. The recipient must also provide the BCTESOL with:
• proof of secondary graduation, and
• proof of acceptance to the chosen post-secondary institution.

Application Deadline: Friday, May 14, 2021

Student Application Process:
1. Complete the Application Form on pages 3 and 4. You may ask a school official to work with you to help you complete the required information. https://mcusercontent.com/84662f3c70ad8594b1e196bcc/files/92ab307f-a1b5-489c-b16e-b521292cae2e/Sylvia_Helmer_Scholarship_forms_2021.pdf

2. Obtain transcripts of your marks for Grades 8 to 11, including ELL courses.

3. Obtain a copy of your marks for Grade 12 so far. Your report cards would work well for this. Include ELL courses, if taken.

4. Write an unassisted personal essay, typed or hand-written, 500 words in length and double spaced. The essay should be about how going to a post-secondary program will help you to become a contributing citizen of Canada and BC. Sign and submit the original of your essay. Have one of your references sign it also.

5. Obtain three letters of reference regarding your academic and community performance. Get two of these from teachers, administrators or counsellors. One of your school references MUST confirm your refugee status. Get the third letter from someone who can talk about your support of and service to others, such as a coach, sponsor or community program coordinator.

6. Make two photocopies of everything you will be submitting – one original and one copy go to the BC TESOL and one copy is to keep for yourself.

Note:
• Only applications that are complete and submitted on time will be considered.
• Submit only the required documents. Do not submit additional information, photographs, etc.
• Only successful candidates will be notified. No materials will be returned.

Mail completed application package to:
Debbie Gomes, CLE Scholarship Chair
c/o Eric Hamber Secondary School
5025 Willow Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3S1

Upcoming Events

SIOP Meeting: Thursday, May 6 at 3:00pm

Elementary Meeting: Wednesday, May 12 at 2:00pm (more information to follow)

Return date assessment materials for oral language pilot: May 18^th

AIP Helpful Hints

Ensure all assessments, matrices and protocols have:

Full student legal name

Full dates

Assessor Name

Levels clearly identified

Report Card Helpful Hints

All reports (embedded or ELL insert) should have the following:

A comment on the student’s language progress

Type and frequency of support

What the student can do

What they are working towards

Ways to support

AIPs

Database: https://esl.sd41.bc.ca/ESL/

If you need help logging in or resetting your password contact Kiran Abraham, Fanny Lee, Michelle Van-Balkom or Nancy Hoy for help.

Need a refresher in how to make an AIP? Check out this great resource video made by Michelle: Youtube

New/Nearly New to ELL Assessment Workshops

Are you new or nearly new to ELL? Is this your first-time doing ELL year-end assessments? Have questions about the assessments? Want to learn how to make an AIP?

Please join us for drop-in training sessions where we will go over the K-7 ELL year-end assessments and answer any questions you may have. You do not need to RSVP, just show up whenever it works for your schedule. Come to one or as many as you like!

Sessions will run:

Tuesday, April 27 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Friday, May 7 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/9698994253

Thursday, May 13 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Secondary ELL Scholarships

CATHERINE LOGAN EDDY SCHOLARSHIP
The Catherine Logan Eddy scholarship has been created to honour one of the long-time ELL educators in British Columbia. Before her retirement, Catherine dedicated more than 25 years to ELL pedagogy and research, working with both ELL learners and their teachers as mentor, advocate, and scholar.
Purpose: To recognize a student graduating from a BC Secondary School who has combined hard work with school and community involvement, and who wishes to further her/his education/training at a tertiary institution in BC. This student will be a recent immigrant who has been granted permanent resident status in Canada.
Amount of Scholarship: $750.00
Tenure: Any BC post secondary institution/training facility.
Criteria:
• This student must be a recent immigrant who has been granted permanent resident status in Canada.
• The student must be graduating from a BC high school and wishes to attend a tertiary institution to further her/his education or training for a specific type of employment;
• The student should have demonstrated consistent improvement in academic competence;
• The student should have school or community involvement or service to others; and,
• The student must have ELL coursework at the secondary level.

Expectations: The recipient of this award is expected to commence her/his post-secondary education within one year of receiving the scholarship. The recipient must also provide the BCTESOL with:
• proof of secondary graduation, and
• proof of acceptance to the chosen post-secondary institution.

Application Deadline: Friday, May 14, 2021

Student Application Process:
1. Complete the Application Form on pages 3 and 4. You may ask a school official to work with you to help you complete the required information. https://mcusercontent.com/84662f3c70ad8594b1e196bcc/files/5ac2b4ab-aab9-42be-91eb-e0a24ec621b2/CLE_Scholarship_forms_2021.pdf
2. Obtain transcripts of your marks for Grades 8 to 11, including ELL courses.
3. Obtain a copy of your marks for Grade 12 so far. Your report cards would work well for this. Include ELL courses, if taken.
4. Write an unassisted personal essay, typed or hand-written, 500 words in length and double spaced. The essay should be about how going to a post-secondary program will help you to become a contributing citizen of Canada and BC. Sign and submit the original of your essay. Have one of your references sign it also.
5. Obtain three letters of reference regarding your academic and community performance. Get two of these from teachers, administrators or counsellors. One of your school references MUST confirm your immigrant status. Get the third letter from someone who can talk about your support of and service to others, such as a coach, sponsor or community program coordinator.
6. Make two photocopies of everything you will be submitting – one original and one copy go to the BC TESOL and one copy is to keep for yourself.
Note:
• Only applications that are complete and submitted on time will be considered.
• Submit only the required documents. Do not submit additional information, photographs, etc.
• Only successful candidates will be notified. No materials will be returned.

Mail completed application package to:
Debbie Gomes, CLE Scholarship Chair
c/o Eric Hamber Secondary School
5025 Willow Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3S1

SYLVIA HELMER SCHOLARSHIP
The Sylvia Helmer scholarship has been created to honour one of the long-time ELL educators in British Columbia. Before her retirement, Sylvia dedicated more than 25 years to ELL pedagogy and research, working with both ELL learners and their teachers as mentor, advocate and scholar.

Purpose: To recognize a student graduating from a BC Secondary School who has combined hard work with school and community involvement, and who wishes to further her/his education/training at a tertiary institution in BC. This student will have started their schooling in BC as a student with refugee status in Canada.

Amount of Scholarship: $750.00

Tenure: Any BC post secondary institution/training facility.

Criteria:
• This student must have started their schooling in BC as a student with refugee status in Canada.
• The student must be graduating from a BC high school and wishes to attend a tertiary institution to further her/his education or training for a specific type of employment;
• The student should have demonstrated consistent improvement in academic competence;
• The student should have school or community involvement or service to others; and,
• The student must have ELL coursework at the secondary level.

Expectations: The recipient of this award is expected to commence her/his post-secondary education within one year of receiving the scholarship. The recipient must also provide the BCTESOL with:
• proof of secondary graduation, and
• proof of acceptance to the chosen post-secondary institution.

Application Deadline: Friday, May 14, 2021

Student Application Process:
1. Complete the Application Form on pages 3 and 4. You may ask a school official to work with you to help you complete the required information. https://mcusercontent.com/84662f3c70ad8594b1e196bcc/files/92ab307f-a1b5-489c-b16e-b521292cae2e/Sylvia_Helmer_Scholarship_forms_2021.pdf

2. Obtain transcripts of your marks for Grades 8 to 11, including ELL courses.

3. Obtain a copy of your marks for Grade 12 so far. Your report cards would work well for this. Include ELL courses, if taken.

4. Write an unassisted personal essay, typed or hand-written, 500 words in length and double spaced. The essay should be about how going to a post-secondary program will help you to become a contributing citizen of Canada and BC. Sign and submit the original of your essay. Have one of your references sign it also.

5. Obtain three letters of reference regarding your academic and community performance. Get two of these from teachers, administrators or counsellors. One of your school references MUST confirm your refugee status. Get the third letter from someone who can talk about your support of and service to others, such as a coach, sponsor or community program coordinator.

6. Make two photocopies of everything you will be submitting – one original and one copy go to the BC TESOL and one copy is to keep for yourself.

Note:
• Only applications that are complete and submitted on time will be considered.
• Submit only the required documents. Do not submit additional information, photographs, etc.
• Only successful candidates will be notified. No materials will be returned.

Mail completed application package to:
Debbie Gomes, CLE Scholarship Chair
c/o Eric Hamber Secondary School
5025 Willow Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3S1

Dorina Sackman-Ebuwa Presentation

We had the pleasure of hosting @Dorina_BELIEVE at our February joint Pro-D day with Coquitlam. She will be joining us again in a virtual follow-up session TOMORROW – Tuesday, April 20th at 3:15. Please email michelle.van-balkom@burnabyschools.ca for more information!

Single-Point Rubrics

Looking for creative ways assess communication using single-point rubrics? Check out our colleague in Nanaimo, Loa Richardson’s latest video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btSEBpneevw

New/Nearly New to ELL Assessment Workshops

Are you new or nearly new to ELL? Is this your first-time doing ELL year-end assessments? Have questions about the assessments? Want to learn how to make an AIP?

Please join us for drop-in training sessions where we will go over the K-7 ELL year-end assessments and answer any questions you may have. You do not need to RSVP, just show up whenever it works for your schedule. Come to one or as many as you like!

Sessions will run:

Tuesday, April 27 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Friday, May 7 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/9698994253

Thursday, May 13 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Dorina Sackman-Ebuwa Presentation 

We had the pleasure of hosting @Dorina_BELIEVE at our February joint Pro-D day with Coquitlam. She will be joining us again in a virtual follow-up session next Tuesday, April 20th at 315. Please email michelle.van-balkom@burnabyschools.ca for more information!

Professional Development Opportunity

If you are looking for some professional development on supporting your ELLs in the virtual environment, please consider joining Alina Cozma and Ann Stewart Hunter for: Inclusive Strategies in the Virtual Environment Living Room Literacy on Wednesday, April 14^th from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30  p.m.   This session offers ready-to-use interactive activities for the virtual learning environment. This workshop is being hosted by the Learning Assistance Teacher Association of BC (LATA). To register on Eventbrite, click on the link below:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/inclusive-strategies-in-the-virtual-environment-tickets-142038963363

If you are not a member of LATA, you will be required to pay their membership fee ($35.00) to participate, which will give you access to a pool of resources and future events from LATA.

In the Community

BPL Workshop for Teenagers

Sikh Heritage Month

Wanting resources or lesson plans that highlight Sikh history and Sikh-Canadians? Check out https://www.sikhheritagemonthbc.ca/ for resources and links for more information. This is particularly timely as some students may be celebrating Vaisakhi on this week

Ramadan

QSSSA

Looking for creative ways to share ELL-friendly teaching strategies with your colleagues? Check out our colleague in Nanaimo, Loa Richardson, video on QSSSA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ7_6kFYBC4&t=10s

New/Nearly New to ELL Assessment Workshops

Are you new or nearly new to ELL? Is this your first-time doing ELL year-end assessments? Have questions about the assessments? Want to learn how to make an AIP?

Please join us for drop-in training sessions where we will go over the K-7 ELL year-end assessments and answer any questions you may have. You do not need to RSVP, just show up whenever it works for your schedule. Come to one or as many as you like!

Sessions will run:

Wednesday, April 14 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Monday, April 19 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Tuesday, April 27 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Friday, May 7 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/9698994253

Thursday, May 13 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

In The Community

The Burnaby Public Library and Literacy Now Burnaby are hosting an excellent workshop for families on multilingualism. Please check out the information below and share with the families in your school community!

Join Burnaby Public Library and Literacy Now Burnaby as we present the first two workshops in a series on multilingual literacy.

Anti-Racism Resources

Looking for ways to address anti-Asian racism with your students? Check out the following Canadian resources for ideas:

https://www.acenetedu.ca/addressingasianhate https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/docs/Addressing%20Anti-Asian%20Racism%20Resource%20Booklet%20final%20web%20Jan%2024.pdf

New/Nearly New to ELL Assessment Workshops

New/Nearly New to ELL Assessment Workshops

Are you new or nearly new to ELL? Is this your first-time doing ELL year-end assessments? Have questions about the assessments? Want to learn how to make an AIP?

Please join us for drop-in training sessions where we will go over the K-7 ELL year-end assessments and answer any questions you may have. You do not need to RSVP, just show up whenever it works for your schedule. Come to one or as many as you like!

Sessions will run:

Wednesday, April 14 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Monday, April 19 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Tuesday, April 27 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

Friday, May 7 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/9698994253

Thursday, May 13 – 9:00am – 11:00am https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/6724521999

UBC Pilot Project – Primary Oral Assessment

Burnaby is an active member of the UBC ESL Assessment Consortium. This group created the BERAs that we currently use. We are in the process of creating a new oral language assessment for K-3 and need your help! We need teachers to help us administer the assessment so we can norm the results and ensure that the assessment is valid and reliable.

Requirements:

Let Kiran know of your interest in participating by Friday, April 9th.

Attend a training session on April 15 (1:00pm – 2:30pm) or April 20 (9:00am – 10:30am).

Complete the IPT and new oral language assessment for 12 students.

Send the results back to Kiran in the district mail by Tuesday, May 18^th.

We know you are incredibly busy with year-end assessments and would really appreciate your participation. Let Kiran know if you have any questions!

Year-End Assessments

Elementary teachers – if you haven’t already, please complete the “Form” from Fanny to request your year-end testing materials.

Thank you to all teachers who returned their extra IPTs! Our new order of IPTs has arrived. For those of you still needing IPTs for year-end assessments – they will be arriving soon!

Secondary teachers- all documents have been uploaded to our shared Teams folder. Please get in touch with Kiran if you wish to use the BERA.

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful and rejuvenating spring break!

In The Community

The Burnaby Public Library and Literacy Now Burnaby are running two excellent workshops for families on multilingualism. Please check out the information below and share with the families in your school community!

Join Burnaby Public Library and Literacy Now Burnaby as we present the first two workshops in a series on multilingual literacy.

New Booking System!

Please let your school staff know there is a new booking system for the Welcome Centre. It is online and for new to Burnaby students who know languages other than English. More information can be found at http://www.burnabyschools.ca/ell

Year-End Assessments

Elementary teachers – if you haven’t already, please complete the “Form” from Fanny to request your year-end testing materials.

Secondary teachers- all documents have been uploaded to our shared Teams folder. Please get in touch with Kiran if you wish to use the BERA.

Thank you

A huge thank you to Michelle (and Fanny!) for the amazing work she did as the ELL Program Consultant this past year. I am so grateful for her adaptability and familiarity with technology to help support Burnaby ELL through all of the many Covid changes.

Today is my first day back and I am very much looking forward to virtually connecting with you all and to be working alongside both Fanny and Michelle. Please feel free to reach out anytime: kiran.abraham@burnabyschools.ca

Thanks,

Kiran

Reminders

Secondary SIOP meeting: Thursday, March 11 at 3:15

New Booking System!

Please let your school staff know there is a new booking system for the Welcome Centre. It is online and for new to Burnaby students who know languages other than English. More information can be found at http://www.burnabyschools.ca/ell

The system is currently down as we add in new assessor availability, but we hope to have it back up and running this week.

Year-End Assessments

Elementary teachers – a form will be coming out soon for you to request your year-end testing kits from the Welcome Centre.

Every Teacher is a Language Teacher

Vocabulary Development:

When planning your own lessons or supporting a colleague, consider focusing on only 3-5 Tier 3 vocabulary words at one time. Choose the words that have the most impact on the topic. By focusing on only a few at a time, it allows students to deepen their understanding of the words and makes it more likely that they will retain the words.

Some strategies that can help with this include the use of images or diagrams, providing non-examples and using the word across multiple contexts.

Reminders

Group Chat is a program for newcomer youth who want to meet other youth and practice speaking English. with the Burnaby Public Library. We will play games, connect, and discuss an interesting topic in a fun and friendly online group setting. Please email teenservices@bpl.bc.ca for the zoom link.  Next meeting: Saturday February 20^th at 3:00pm-4:00pm

Elementary ELL meeting: February 24, 2021 We will be discussing 2021 Spring Assessments. This meeting will be on zoom.

District Pro-D Day: February 26, 2021 In conjunction with Coquitlam, Burnaby has many choices for District Pro-D day. We are especially excited to have Dorina Sackman Ebuwa join us virtually from the Florida-Georgia Line with her Emotional InELLigence workshops. She is a dynamic educator passionate about transformative emotional intelligence from an ELL lens.

New Booking System!

Please let your school staff know there is a new booking system for the Welcome Centre. It is online and for new to Burnaby students who know languages other than English. More information can be found at http://www.burnabyschools.ca/ell

Every Teacher is a Language Teacher

Co-teaching with Co-Assessment

Several Burnaby teachers were fortunate to attend the second session with Tan on February 16th, 2021. As always, Tan’s enthusiasm and positivity were inspiring. He shared his newest blog post about co-assessment with content and language teachers. Check it out: https://www.empoweringells.com/co-assessment/

Thank you

In March, Kiran will be return from her mat leave. I know we are all going to welcome her back. I wanted to say thank you all for helping me as I stepped into her big shoes this past year (and what a year!). Everyone has been wonderfully supportive.

United National International Mother Language Day

February 21st is the UN’s International Mother Language Day. Consider how you can discuss, share and promote mother/home languages with your students. According to the UN, approximately 43% of the world’s 6000 languages
are endangered. The UN also notes that “languages are the most  powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage.” We hope this leads to interesting and meaningful conversations with your
students.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day

Every Teacher is a Language Teacher

Sentence Frames

Having sentence frames for both oral and written answers is one way to provide content to all levels of language learners. They provide explicit modelling of academic language and can be leveled to provide access for all.

First, use sentences that have a language function such as sequencing, comparing and contrasting, or describing. Then write the sentences for various abilities on the board with the target vocabulary.

Example of contrasting sentence frames

Beginning: “Plants are living. Rocks are non-living.”  ______________ are living. _____________ are non-living. (simple sentences)

Expanding: “Plants are living, yet rock are non-living” _______________ are living, (but, yet, although) _____________ are non-living.” (compound sentence)

Bridging: “The main difference between plants and rocks is that plants are living organisms while rocks and nonliving substances.” The main difference between _____________________ and _______________ is that ____________________________ while _____________________________________________________.

Image from: Valentina Gonzalez https://elementaryenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/blog/sentence-stems-or-sentence-frames

Reminders

Teen 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.  All English language learners are welcome. The next meeting is: January 23 at 3:00pm. Email teenservices@bpl.bc.ca for the video meeting (Zoom) link.

Elementary ELL Meeting-January 27th, 1:00pm Zoom– We will be discussing reporting and file reviews. Please send agenda suggestions to Michelle.

Every Teacher is a Language Teacher

Groupings in a Pandemic

Grouping students together in a variety of ways is a powerful tool in most teachers’ toolboxes. For ELL students, it increases their language opportunities tenfold.  However, it has become much more complicated since March 2020. How do you put students together when you need to keep them physically distant?

Pairs grouping are probably the easiest way to go. Students can still sit 6 feet apart and hear each other. However, having students use outside spaces for group work can also be possible, although more complicated with our wet winters.

While physical groupings are not always feasible, digital ones have become more readily available. Breakout rooms in Zoom or Teams offer virtual spaces for students to work together. Furthermore, Office 365 means that students can collaborate on multiple documents with groupings from in their class, school, or even district like never before.

Putting students together often allows for them to learn from each other and shifts the focus from teacher-centric conversations. This allows students to push each other for more more meaningful learning.