TESOL ELevate 2022: Raising the ELT Bar
by Gracie Allely
More than 900 English language professionals from
more than 20 countries came together for TESOL
ELevate (2022 October 18–19). ELevate was an engaging and interactive
online event with sessions facilitated by English language teaching experts.
About ELevate
The virtual event held 16 synchronous sessions on
critical areas in the field, including
- student-centered learning,
- advocacy and social justice,
- newcomers and students with limited or
interrupted formal education,
- family engagement, and
- trauma-informed practices.
Participants joined sessions via Zoom, and the
event was hosted on TESOL’s Canvas platform.
Participants started each day together in the main
room. Day 1 started with a discussion between Debbie Zacarian and Diego Boada
to engage on what motivates us as educators and to help us dig into existing
challenges and explore opportunities ahead. On Day 2, all the participants came
together to explore advocacy from the local and personal to the national and
global levels. The discussion was guided by the issues the participants
identified in an advocacy survey. As a group, ELevate participants examined the
shared themes and became energized in their advocacy.
After the kickoff, each day, participants got to
choose which sessions they wanted to participate in. All the sessions were
recorded, enabling attendees to watch any session they missed and access the
session materials on the ELevate Canvas page.
Participant Takeaways
More than 96% of participants said that they found
ELevate to be a great experience and would recommend attending next year!
Here are some of the key takeaways that
participants shared with us:
“I have learned how to start class with interesting
warmer activities. Especially for the different aged and second language
students.”
–Bolororgil Galsan (Mongolia)
“I will use the information from Dr. Manuel Gomez
Portillo’s presentation, ‘Culturally Responsive Family Engagement: Amplifying
the Voices of Diverse Families.’ I work as a third-grade
EL teacher. Our staff could benefit from analyzing the case studies.
"Minimal contact does not mean that the parent does
not care about their child’s success. Our district sends out weekly messages to
smartphones. Expecting every household to have a smartphone with an unlimited
data plan is unrealistic. We need to send home printed notices in multiple
languages to reach all families.”
–Kathy Lanette Cohran (USA)
“I have learned about TESOL's 6 Principles for
engaging young learners and I’m going to use the activities and principles when
delivering training to teachers on how to teach young learners.”
–Heba Khalil (Egypt)
“I learned that teaching online can be as
interactive as face-to-face teaching. I have learned from the instructors that
break-out rooms are a perfect way to include group work in online teaching and
learning.
"I also loved the fact that the workshops were
dealing with contemporary topics…I acquired the necessary skills and solutions
handed down to us by the TESOL ELevate instructors.
"Thank you TESOL ELevate!”
–Catherine Nansobya (Uganda)
“Some sections were cozy and familiar, while others
were genuine eye-openers. For instance, the talk by Mary Romney on
incorporating diverse English into listening material. I’ve been using audio
materials recorded by non-native speakers for nearly a decade, yet during the
talk, I realized that open-minded as I am, I still strived to choose the talks
with speakers whose accents were as close to the [received pronunciation]
and/or [standard southern British] as possible. It was a revelation to me. Now
I plan on changing that to raise my students’ awareness of the variety of
Englishes and to boost their cultural and linguistic tolerance.”
–Aida Rodomanchenko (Russia)
Learn More
To learn more about this year’s TESOL ELevate presenters
and their workshops, visit the TESOL
ELevate website.
Gracie
Allely has taught K–12 ESL internationally
for more than 10 years. She completed her master’s degree in English language
learning at the University of North Dakota (UND) and is currently completing
her educational doctorate in educational leadership at UND. Allely is an
experienced teacher educator, program developer, and curriculum designer. As
the TESOL Education associate director, Allely manages TESOL’s professional
learning offerings and virtual events as well as develops new
courses.
TESOL Blogs
Interested in writing a blog for TESOL?
Read the submission guidelines and send us your post!
Check out some of the most recent TESOL Blogs:
|
STEM and ELT: Performance Tasks for MLLs, by Darlyne de Haan
Performance tasks can be more informative for teachers, students, and parents of all students—particularly multilingual learners (MLLs) of English—than standardized achievement tests, which are used for assessment and accountability purposes. This is because performance tasks can offer multiple opportunities for MLLs to present a more comprehensive picture of what they know and are able to do.
The research says that students must be afforded the opportunity to actively participate in meaningful interactions with other students and teachers in order to learn the new language. By doing this, MLLs learn new patterns of language and expression and have opportunities to develop vocabulary in context. Performance tasks allow these interactions to occur seamlessly if students are allowed to work collaboratively and are provided with multiple modalities to express their solution(s). Read more. |
|
4 Harmful Myths About Linguistically Minoritized Students, by Naashia Mohamed
Too often, it is assumed that when students come from language and cultural backgrounds that are different from the mainstream, they are lacking in some way, and have less chance of success. Such deficit beliefs about linguistically minoritized students can cause them to feel disenfranchised and prevent them from experiencing equitable learning opportunities. They can diminish learning outcomes, negatively impact students’ self-perceptions, restrict their relationships with other students, and cause rifts between themselves and their communities. In this blog post, I’d like to draw attention to four such harmful beliefs—or myths—that are detrimental to multilingual learners from linguistically minoritized communities. Read more. |
|
Celebrating World Teachers’ Day: Literacies of Vulnerability, by Spencer Salas
On October 5th, UNESCO celebrated World Teachers’ Day 2022 with the theme of teachers transforming education around the globe! In honor of the celebration, I want to share a memory of my fourth-grade year at Old Creek Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia, USA and what Mrs. Dahlstrom taught us about reading. It goes like this: Read more. |
TESOL Bookstore
Featured Resources from TESOL Press
Teaching listening means more than just giving students listening activities and checking for understanding—it means teaching them how to listen. Listening in the Classroom takes promising research findings and theory and turns them into practical teaching ideas that help develop listening proficiency.
Engaging Online Language Learners: A Practical Guide
Faridah Pawan, Sharon Daley, Xiaojing Kou, and Curtis J. Bonk
While engaging and motivating students in the classroom has always been critical for student success, it is even more important and challenging in the online learning environment. This practical guide will provide English language educators with a number of strategies and ready-to-use activities to help them engage and motivate their students for improved learner outcomes. It also covers trends in online learning, engagement and motivation principles and competencies, as well as ways administrators can support teachers' professional development. As an additional resource, the book comes with a companion website. **This title also includes a companion website with online resources.
Social-Emotional Learning in the English Language Classroom: Fostering Growth, Self-Care, and Independence
Gilda Martinez-Alba and Luis Javier Pentón Herrera
While SEL is becoming increasing critical for learners’ success, teachers often feel unprepared to incorporate or address it in their classrooms. This book serves as a practical, concise, and easy-to-follow reference that English language teachers in K-12 and adult education and English language teacher educators can use in their classrooms. It is one of the limited emerging SEL resources available that is tailored to the English language teaching field and contributes to filling the existing gap of SEL in English language education. Teachers will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to practice self-care and be confident in implementing SEL in their learning spaces to support and benefit their learners.
Previous Article
;){kind=small}
