SupportEd Webinar

Imaged used to promote the webinar

On February 21st, 2019 I had the privilege to collaborate and participate in a webinar hosted by SupportEd. Participating alongside Diane Staehn Fenner - president of SupportEd, Sydney Snyder, and Jill Kester was just beyond an imaginable opportunity. 

First of all, I am a huge fan of their book, "Unlocking English Learners' Potential". This book provides an array of strategies and ideas to support ELs on working at their fullest potential. I've also participated in several of their free webinars and I've learned so much.

Sydney (left) & Diane (right)

So, the title of our webinar is
Supporting ELs' Oral Language  Development Through Academic Conversation.
You can access the recorded webinar here.

In the webinar, Jill Kester shared on the Importance of Oral Language Practice for ELs. 

• Value of oral language practice for ELs
• Productive talk - NOT - just talk! Our ELs interaction with academic oral language is <2%
• Productive talk: had depth; It's sustained; Student controlled not scripted! 
• Building a conversation culture: Diverse ideas; listen and respond to each other; clarification skills.
• Error correction: Intentional feedback - we want them to take risk.

Sydney Snyder shared on Fostering ELs' Oral Language Development based on their book "Unlocking English Learners' Potential".

1. Come Prepare: Lesson objectives have to be clear; prior knowledge and vocabulary check; provide scaffolds and time to think and write; use graphic organizers - help them organize their thoughts. 
2. Use appropriate body language: appropriate eye contact 
3. Participate by taking turns to engage & participate: Structured paired work; use talking sticks - language for active listening; accountability for each student. 
4. Make connections to what others have said: Provide the language they need! Model!! Use talking chips or counters when group discussions.

Sydney shared an oral language activity checklist to improve activities used throughout our lessons.

​Access to the template and more resources are provided in the Padlet below: 

"By developing lessons that support ELs' participation and engagement in academic conversations, YOU are advocating for ELS' equal access to content, supporting high academic expectations for ELs, and providing Els with opportunities to develop their academic identity." 
​~ Unlocking English Learners' Potential book

I shared on  Effective Activities Supporting Language Development. 
Of course, before sharing activities for academic language development, I focused on the importance of affirming identity. I shared activities that affirm identity and support language development with newcomers and all ELs in general. 

The 3 activities I shared are:

• Name Tent: validating languages and identity  (credit to author Carol Salva)
• Classroom Language: teaching self-advocacy
• Survival English: Basic English phrases needed to engage in content 

These activities build a sense of belonging where students are encouraged to take risks and participate because they know they're accepted and belong. 

I also shared ways to develop oral language activities that support ELs' participation. I believe that it is imperative for teachers to intentionally plan activities that will support our students if we want them to be engaged in any task given. 
​
We first must: 

• Model: 10/2 Chunk & Chew strategy
• Provide sentence stems/starters: Scripted Talk Options "Chew"
• Opportunities for collaboration: Create presentations; encourage sketching for students who are in the entering stages of language acquisition. 

Overall, the webinar was a great success. We had about 10 minutes of Q&A and the feedback we received was fantastic. 

I hope you take your time to watch this webinar and add a few new tools to your ESL teaching toolbox! 

Thank you for reading!