When you have students from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds in your classes, it is super important to be aware of the impact your teaching during the holiday season can have. Many schools put up displays for Christmas and Chanukah in administrators’ offices and many teachers like to decorate their classrooms for the holidays.
But what if your students are English Language Learners who are refugees fleeing religious persecution? Or are immigrants who follow a little-known religion in the U.S. or other Western countries? Or are students who don’t believe in celebrating holidays at all? How can teachers be culturally sensitive to these concerns while still acknowledging the desire to partake in the spirit of the holiday season? Are there any technology tools that can help teachers navigate this fraught topic?
Please join Laurah from Tools for Teachers by Laurah J and me when we delve into this topic in our next #ELLEdTech chat on Sunday, November 19, 2017. We’ll be discussing Using Tech Tools to Teach Holidays in a Culturally Sensitive Way. We’d love to hear your ideas so please come and participate in the chat at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific time. Details are below.
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| Join the #ELLEdTech chat on November 19, 2017; source: The ESL Nexus |
Schedule and Questions
7:00 = Introduction: Tell us your name, location, level/grade and subject taught #ELLEdTech
7:05 = Q1: What does it mean to teach holidays in a “culturally sensitive” way? #ELLEdTech
7:13 = Q2: How do you make sure to address holidays in a culturally sensitive way with your students? #ELLEdTech
7:21 = Q3: How can tech tools help with a culturally sensitive approach to holidays? #ELLEdTech
7:29 = Q4: What tech tools would you recommend for teaching holidays in a culturally sensitive way? #ELLEdTech
7:37 = Q5: What advice do you have for teachers who want to use tech to teach holidays in a culturally sensitive manner? #ELLEdTech
Directions for Joining the Chat
1. Log into Twitter on Sunday; the chat runs from 7:00 – 7:45pm Eastern.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #ELLEdTech in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. The first five minutes will be spent introducing ourselves.
4. Starting at 7:05, @ESOL_Odyssey or @The_ESL_Nexus will post questions
every 8 minutes using Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. to identify the questions and the
hashtag #ELLEdTech.
5. Answer the questions by prefacing them with A1, A2, A3, etc. and use the hashtag #ELLEdTech.
6. Follow any teachers who respond and are also using #ELLEdTech.
7. Like (click the heart icon) and post responses to other teachers’ tweets.
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| Your participation is welcome! Source: The ESL Nexus |
You can schedule your answers to the questions in advance by using an online scheduler such as TweetDeck or HootSuite (and remember to use A1, A2, etc. and #ELLEdTech). Links are encouraged, but use tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly to shorten your link so it can be included in your tweet. Just click
one of those links, paste the longer link in the app’s box to shorten it for Twitter, then paste the shortened link into your tweet. If you have relevant images, we encourage you to post them, too.
Is this your first Twitter chat? Here are our rules:
1. Please stay on topic.
2. Please do not post about paid products unless explicitly asked.
3. If you arrive after the chat has started, please try to read the previous tweets before joining in.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet if you prefer — we know the first time can be a little overwhelming!
5. Always use the hashtag #ELLEdTech when tweeting.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to “public.” (And do remember that Twitter is completely public; that means anyone–students, parents, administrators–may see what you tweet.)
You are welcome to let your teacher friends who might be interested in joining us know about this Twitter chat. We look forward to chatting with you on Sunday!
November 13, 2017
