Accommodating English Language Learners

EDZU 9959 (3 credits / 45 hours)

Location: Online
Instructor: Vanessa Pizzo & Marcella Biordi

Start Date: 04/03/2024
End Date: 05/07/2024

Course Syllabus

Imagine being in a room where everyone is speaking a language completely unfamiliar to you. Many students in our schools face this problem on a daily basis. We will help prepare you to help children in all grades (K-12) to overcome language barriers and what to expect from students coming from different countries and educational backgrounds. You will develop a greater awareness of their needs in your multilingual/multicultural school district. We will provide you with strategies that you will find helpful to implement into your own lessons. We gear this class toward discussing the best practices for English Language Learners/Bilingual Learners. We will address co-teaching strategies and supports, and scaffolds that support ELLS/MLLs (Multilingual learners) in mastering core content. We will cover the identification process for ELLS/MLLs, Language Learning vs. Disability, and integrating language and content instruction for ELLs/MLLs. We will also address cultural responsiveness and cultural competency.

Teachers enrolled in this course will...

Know

• How ELLs are identified, tested and screened
• Different strategies that can be applied to the different levels of proficiency
• Cultural Awareness
• How to adjust their lessons to accommodate ELLs
• How to collect progress data on your ELLs

Understand

• The challenges ELLs and teachers face (regressions/silent period/testing etc.)
• Understand ELLs level of proficiencies & language acquisition
• Various cultures and their customs
• Student’s home life
• Co-teaching models and the role of the general education and ENL teacher in this setting

and Be Able To

• Develop culturally empathetic lessons
• Use fun and innovative tools to engage learners
• Create a community of diversity
• Implement differentiated strategies and interventions to support ELLs
• Take away from the class a variety of printable documents and resources for lesson design, interventions, and other supportive resources for ELLs and other struggling students