Ready to kick back and enjoy summer? Pencil this date in first!

November 15, 2008,

is NNETESOL's Fall Conference,

Cultural Lenses--Current issues for TESOLs

at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, N.H.!

Our Plenary Speaker is Patrick Moran, a professor in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at the SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vt. He has a special interest in the cultural dimension of language teaching and learning, a topic he explores in Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice (Heinle & Heinle). He began his teaching career as a Peace Corps TEFL volunteer in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Since then, he has been involved in a variety of activities related to second language education and language teacher education in the U.S. and abroad, including work in Peace Corps training and materials development, language and culture orientation in France, and refugee resettlement education in Thailand and Indonesia. He is also an illustrator of language learning and teaching materials, including Lexicarry: Pictures for Learning Languages, published by the language teaching publishing house Pro Lingua Associates, which he cofounded.

Plenary:

“Explaining Cultures: A Guide for the Perplexed”

“Why do people of the culture do what they do?” This question lies at the core of all language and intercultural education: understanding–and explaining–another culture. Understanding another culture and putting this into words is perhaps the most challenging aspect of intercultural education for both learners and for teachers of language and culture. It is challenging because culture is a complex phenomenon, and because to understand and explain other cultures, we need to understand and explain our own culture, and to recognize our own cultural conditioning. This talk explores the challenges of explaining cultures and offers a set of practical strategies for teachers and learners.

Workshop:

“Cultural Knowings Framework: Practical Strategies for Teaching Culture”

Effective strategies for teaching culture depend on the nature of cultural content and how it is learned, presented here as Knowing About, Knowing How, Knowing Why, and Knowing Oneself. To teach each knowing, teachers need to adopt appropriate roles and techniques. Examples of content, techniques, and roles are provided.

Call for proposals

As we all struggle to meet the needs of our students, we look to each other for the answers. So here's your chance. If you have something that you think could make teaching our ELLs a little easier, submit a proposal. Share your knowledge, and help us all teach one student just a little better. Just click on the link above and you're on your way!

Need more details? Click here!

A LOOK BACK...

Our latest keynote speaker was Dr. Donald Freeman. Please watch soon for excerpts from his talk...

Donald Freeman is Director of Teacher Education and Associate Professor of Education at the School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He is also a Senior Faculty Fellow at the graduate School for International Training, Brattleboro, Vermont. His research interests focus on teacher learning, in the contexts of organizational and systemic reform, and its influence on student learning. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Modern Language Journal and previously on the boards of the Educational Researcher and the TESOL Journal. He is past president of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and member of the University of Cambridge ESOL Advisory Council.

The 2007 NNETESOL Fall Conference was Nov. 10 at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. Check out this link for resources on the presentations.

Mainstream Teacher of the Year Awards:

AS ELL teachers, our job is made easier by mainstream teachers who strive to learn how to best reach the ELLs in their classrooms. This year, NNETESOL recognized two teachers, one from Burlington, Vt., and the other from Wolfeboro, N.H. Please take a moment to read their nominations:

Kim Hunt teaches at Hunt Middle School in Burlington, VT. What makes this teacher deserving of the NNETESOL Mainstream Teacher Award? Kim Hunt took on the assignment of teaching a math class for low proficiency level ELLs with limited schooling during the 2006-07 school year. She developed a new curriculum designed to meet the linguistic and conceptual learning needs of the students. She has advocated for ELLs’ unique learning needs in her role as math coach in the school. In what ways has she supported English language learners in the classroom? Kim attends to her instructional language. She has learned to paraphrase, restate, model, and act out what she is saying to students so they can understand her instruction.

Patti Edson, a teacher at Carpenter School in Wolfeboro, N.H., deserves this award for her wonderfully positive attitude toward ELLs. She puts so much extra sensitivity, energy, creative effort, and joy, into all aspects of teaching ELLs. She is very "tuned in" to the needs of ELLs and very creative in making content comprehensible. She welcomes ELLs, affirming the linquistic and cultural diversity that they bring. She is obviously excited and enthusiastic about having ELLs in her class. She also welcomes me as a colleague, and is a pleasure to collaborate with. Overall, she has created a very open, warm, and affirmative atmosphere for all students, including ELLs. At the beginning of the year we had a newcomer who was having a difficult time. Patti was undaunted, so understanding and really glad to have this student in her class. She got the whole class involved in helping the student feel welcome and comfortable and also in helping her learn English. She took every opportunity to bring in the student's home language and culture. The whole class learned to count in her language. While teaching she stopped to use various modifications and strategies to help the student understand, e.g. role-playing, drawing, and realia. She encouraged a great interest among all the students in learning the ELLs language. She brought in volunteers who spoke the ELLs language. She planned and implemented whole class lessons using videos in English and the ELL's language. She bought a bi-lingual matching vocabulary game for the class. She always sought my ideas and put them into practice. She just was always sensitive to the needs of the ELL in her classroom; always asking "What more can we do to help?" In summary, I think the great thing about Patti is that she always seems to really enjoy having an ELL in her classroom; it's not a burden to her, but a real plus! And that makes her an extraordinary mainstream teacher for ELLs! I really can't imagine anyone more deserving of this award.

Know someone you think should be recognized for their dedication to teaching ELLs in the mainstream classroom? We would love to recognize someone from your state. So how about it? Nominate someone today!

News from your area and beyond:

SUBMISSIONS

Send us your photos, your lesson plans, your questions. We can find a forum for it here...