This online course features Mary Peterson, an experienced classroom teacher, author and national trainer. Her expertise comes from 30+ years of working with ELL students at different levels of English-language proficiency in real classrooms all over the United States. This course is focused on strategies that have been proven to increase learning and accelerate language acquisition by English-language learners in grades K-6. The course includes an in-depth look at how to best provide support for ELL students in an academic setting to maximize their learning and help them succeed beyond elementary school. The course focuses on practical strategies to increase and improve vocabulary acquisition, reading fluency, comprehension, and writing. Additionally, it includes lesson plans and lesson planning strategies that can be used to include ELL students in the general education curriculum. It features books, writing activities, comprehension strategies, and templates to test and improve reading fluency. Finally, the course provides print and digital resources that are ready-to-use and can be utilized as soon as you start the course and continue using in your classroom for years to come.
You will learn how to:
- Create a safe and welcoming environment for ELL students in general education classrooms
- Personalize lesson plans to include and challenge ELL students of various English-language proficiencies
- Make your current curriculum relevant, understandable and challenging for ELL students
- Accelerate and improve your ELL students' vocabulary retention
- Improve ELL students' reading fluency
- Increase ELL students' reading comprehension
- Include writing activities that empower ELL students to start writing and strengthen their writing skills as they continue to acquire the English language
- Use graphic organizers to increase comprehension and improve writing skills of all levels of ELL students
- Utilize provided informal assessment tools to monitor ELL students' progress and match instruction to meet their various needs
Watch an excerpt from this course:
"I learned a lot and the course offered some creative strategies to help ELLs with writing and reading. The ideas were fun and I will use most of what I learned in the new school year."
- A. Johnson
"I have enjoyed spending time in this course and with Mary Peterson. She has motivated me to use more interactive and engaging activities in my ESL classroom. Her tips and theories behind them were fabulous!"
- P. Janutolo
"Many of the ideas presented are easily applicable in my everyday teaching. I loved the variations in the graphic organizers and book publishing ideas. Very informative and creative!"
- S. Handler
"The course was entertaining with many concrete ideas to motivate my students. I have to make a difference in the lives of my students. I hope as my students go to the next grade they will be able to become more confident in their writing which is the ultimate goal."
- E. Roustan
"The presenter of this course was EXCELLENT! Very practical with excellent engaging activities and strategies that can be used in the classroom. I would definitely take another course with her."
- M. Howland
"The strategies and ideas taught in this course were both practical and motivating! I appreciate having an entire course dedicated to EL students! I will be putting many of the things I learned into practice in my classroom! Thank you!"
- L. Scott
