- April 2011 –
Submitted by Kern Goyette and Debra St. Lawrence
ESOL Network Meeting:
Upper Valley TESOL Network – The Upper Valley TESOL Network meets the first Wednesday of every month at 3:00 at Seminary Hill School at 20 Seminary Hill in West Lebanon, NH. Meetings are held in the white annex in front of the school. Take the long ramp across from the front door of the school. Contact: Charlotte Johnson at Charlotte.Johnson@valley.net.
South Central Network – The 2010-2011 South Central ESOL network meetings are held in Room 217 of Grappone Hall at New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) in Concord, NH. The address is 13 College Drive. Meetings are the second Tuesday of each month from 4:00pm-5:45pm. Attendees receive 2.0 hours of professional development per meeting from the NH Department of Education for attendance and participation.
Here are the specific dates for the 2010-2011 year, along with the facilitator’s name: September 14, 2010 – Karen Boxell, October 12, 2010 – Jean Fremont-Smith, November 9, 2010 – Kerri Biller, December 14, 2010 – Nancy Morse, January 11, 2011, February 8, 2011, March 8, 2011 – Gordana Mlinar and Danielle Boutin, April 12, 2011 – Dottie Keller and Brandi Drinkwine, May 10, 2011, and June 14, 2011.
North Country Network – The North Country Network meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 4:00 at the Café on Route 16 in North Conway. Contact: Karen Gibson: esl9@aol.com.
New Hampshire Department of Education (Concord): Sue Stepick, Education Consultant, Title III (603) 271-2034 sue.stepick@ed.state.nh.us and Susan Morgan, Title III Assessment Specialist, (603) 271-3719 smorgan@ed.state.nh.us
State Highlight:
- NH School districts completed the 2nd annual Mid-Year Update
- NH State-wide English for Speakers of Other Languages Database has been made available to districts
- Plymouth State University now offers increased opportunities for mainstream teachers to participate in coursework relating to ELLs
- University of New Hampshire continues to offer opportunities for coursework relating to ELLs
- The State of New Hampshire continues to offer professional development to teachers in the form of guest presenters (i.e. Don Bouchard)
- The University of New Hampshire-Manchester continues to expand their collection of ESOL resources available to teachers within the state
- September 2010 -
Submitted by James Whiting
Upper Valley: Meetings at Cemetery Hill School (http://lebanonshs.learningnetworks.com/Pages/index) first Wednesday of every month after school. Contact: Charlotte Johnson, <charlotte.johnson@valley.net>
Conway: Meetings, MET Coffeehouse in North Conway (http://metcoffeehouse.com/) at 3:30 on the 3rd Monday of every month. Contact: Karen Gibson, <esl@sau9.org>
Concord: Meetings, second Tuesday of each month at New Hampshire Technical Institute at 4:00. Contact: Karen Boxell, KBoxell@winnacunnet.org. (NHTI, Grappone Hall, Room 217 13 College Drive, Concord, NH 03301. Take I-93 to Exit 15- East. Follow the signs. www.nhti.edu will provide you with directions and a campus map to find the way. Park anywhere on campus EXCEPT in the Planetarium parking lot where you run the risk of being towed.
- June 2010 –
Submitted by James Whiting and Vicki Payne
Received from Upper Valley and Charlotte Johnson
Topics at recent Upper Valley TESOL meetings include various workshops from TESOL 2010 Boston, the W-APT and ACCESS tests, exiting students based on the ACCESS scores, sharing interesting resources, and a book discussion. Those who attended the TESOL Boston conference discussed and gave handouts from workshops they had attended. These included information on the new Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas, the Mathematics in TESOL Forum, a new computer program called Jing, “Strategies for Teaching Reading/Writing,” “Integrating Language and Content in Social Studies and Science,” Penny Ur’s “Using Classroom Time Effectively: Activities that Provided Optimal Learning Opportunities,” “Math Spoken Here: Teaching Math Language Using Manipulatives,” and “Trending Toward the Push-In Model: Caveats and Cautions.” Members discussed how their ACCESS testing had gone and the new W-APT scoring system. They also debated the idea of exiting students based only on the ACCESS test as opposed to using multiple criteria. Some resources that were shared include “How to Scaffold ESL Students’ Writing” by Margaret Williams, The Art of Changing the Brain by James Zull, and Words Their Way by Donald Bear et al. One member reviewed Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston. The book focuses on how the language we use with students can influence them, changing their thinking by pointing out the positives.
Received from Mount Washington Valley ESOL Network
We have been meeting once a month for 11 or 12 years. Right now we have 10 active members in our group. We meet at the MET Coffeehouse in North Conway on the 2nd Monday of each month from 3:30-5:30. Last month we enjoyed having James Whiting as our guest speaker. This month we shared information from recent DOE workshops, a Jim Cummins webinar and the National TESOL Convention. Contact people are Karen Gibson (esl@sau9.org) phone 356-7172 or Kathy Burnell 447-6796
Received from Dottie Keller
An interesting reading suggestion: ELT NEWS | Implications of Neuroscience Research for TeachingForeign Language by Janet N. Zadina in January 2010
- Febraruy 2010 –
Submitted by Vicki Payne and James Whiting
Received from UNH Manchester and Judy Sharkey
ELL Co-op, the National Professional Development grant being managedby UNH is still going strong. SinceJune 2009it has given out over$100,000 in tuition support for pre and in-service teachers to takeESOL certification courses at UNH and/or UNHM. It is also supportingeight professional learning communities (PLCs) or workshop seriesdesigned to help mainstream educators better serve ELLs in theirclassrooms. The state PLC is working on aligning the NH GSEs withWIDA. At a January session, 28 people attended a full-day sessionfacilitated by Dr. Suzanne Irujo. The grant also continues to contribute to the state ESOL curriculum collection and welcomes suggestions for the NH ESOL community.
Received from NH DOE ELL Office and Sue Stepick
1. Three New Hampshire districts met the criteria for funding through the Title III Immigrant Children and Youth Program. Salem, Laconia, and Keene are the award recipients for the 2009-10 school year. 2. Seventeen teachers from the state’s Title III districts have taken part in a four-part webinar series, “Academic Vocabulary for ELLs in PreK-Grade 2″, offered through Schools Moving Up. 3. This year’s Statewide Professional Learning Community, funded through the UNH professional development grant and the NH Title III office, are finalizing the alignment of the ELL and State content standards for middle school, and have begun to align the standards for elementary school. The PLC, facilitated by Dr. Suzanne Irujo, is made up of 28 ELL and mainstream teachers from urban and rural districts across the state. 4. Title III funds for supplemental ESOL instruction and professional development were awarded through a formula process to twelve subgrantees in New Hampshire. The recipients–six single large districts and six consortia of smaller districts–serve approximately 80% of New Hampshire’s English Language Learners.
Received from the South Central Network and Megan Donnelly
The South Central ESOL network meets the second Tuesday of each month during the school year from 4:00-5:45pm on the campus of New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) in Concord, New Hampshire. The purpose of the meeting is support, professional development, and networking among ESOL teachers throughout the state.We invite speakers to come and we also draw on our collective experiences in the field to discuss topics of interest. In September, we began with an “idea share,” where colleagues shared something new they planned to do with their ELL students; In October, Sue Stepick of the ESOL office at the New Hampshire Department of Education spoke to us about the latest issues at the state and federal levels; In November, we shared our favorite websites for teaching ELLs and compiled a list of them for distribution on the NHlistserv; In December, Melanie Greitzer of Pearson Longman publishing company presented current ESOL offerings from Pearson based on network needs; In January, we read an article “Narrowing the Language Gap: The Case for Explicit Vocabulary Instruction” by Kevin Feldman and Kate Kinsella” prior to meeting and then we discussed it and shared our own best practices with one another for teaching vocabulary during the meeting.If you are interested in attending and would like more information, please contact Megan Donnelly,mdonnelly@sau17.orgor Sue Henley,shenley@conval.edu, co-facilitators for 2009-2010.Two hours of professional development hours are awarded by the New Hampshire Department of Education for participation.
Upper Valley ESOL Network – Meetings are the first Wednesday of each month at 3:00 in the art room at Seminary Hill School in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Contact Charlotte Johnson in the Lebanon school system for more information.
North Country Network – North Country ELL teachers meet at the MET Coffeehouse in North Conway at 3:30 on the 3rd Monday of every month (Sept-May). Contact Karen Gibson at SAU 9 in Conway for more information.