Book Reviews / I Will Screw This Up / Teaching ELLs
by Dina Strasser · Published 04/26/2022 · Last modified 08/23/2022
In The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide (2nd Edition) teacher-authors Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski provide an accessible compendium of deep practical knowledge intended for the most part for MS and HS ELLs and teachers, writes ENL educator Dina Strasser.
Middle grades teacher Kathleen Palmieri uses a time-saving digital tool to create quick and concise visual instructions. Show students how to share a document, use an add-on, find an online resource and much more. Kathie outlines the basics and recommends a good YouTube how-to video.
If we want multilinguals to develop their speaking skills while learning content (and we do!) then they need multiple opportunities to engage in academic conversation throughout the school day. ML/EL education leader Jenny Vo shares her favorite successful strategies.
Supports for ELs / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 04/04/2021 · Last modified 05/09/2021
Discover what educators and students can do when they believe success is possible for language learners. Tan Huynh highlights five research-based principles developed by Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld, whose essential book includes effective teacher strategies from around the world.
Assessments that aren’t designed with language learners in mind perpetuate an equity gap, writes teacher Tan Huynh. When language specialists co-assess with subject area colleagues they can ensure the right balance of challenge and support for each student. Here’s how!
The Unstoppable ML Teacher / Translanguaging
by Tan Huynh · Published 01/24/2021 · Last modified 03/22/2025
English learners achieve more when we let them use all of their languages to understand and retain what they’re taught in subject-area classes. Teacher Tan Huynh shares Dr. Gini Rojas’s insights about the power of translanguaging and how mono-linguistic teachers put it to use.
Principals are the creators of school culture. Through their words, actions, and policies they can assure ELLs’ success. The work teachers need to do with language learners can’t be done without principal support. Tan Huynh offers 4 principles for school leaders to adopt.
Once you begin Reading & Writing with English Learners, you won’t want to stop. Better yet, you’ll begin looking at your lesson plans, figuring out how to fit in all the fresh ideas you’ve gathered, writes high school EL teacher Emily Francis, who recommends it for K-12.
You don’t have to be an ELA teacher to teach academic content to English learners. The goal is to guide students in using language “like an expert in a particular field would use it,” writes Tan Huynh, who shares a 4-step process used by international consultant Beth Skelton.
School closures have made learning more challenging. For students without access to technology, this challenge might seem insurmountable. Tan Huynh looks at some ways teachers are reaching language learners who don’t have regular access to tech tools or the internet.
