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Latest from the Blog

Using QR Codes in the Classroom: The January #ELLEdTech Chat

What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done. Tim O’Reilly Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/technology?vm=l What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done. Tim O’Reilly Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/technology?vm=l You’re probably familiar with QR codes. 

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Happy Holidays to All!

Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas myself, this is a sentiment I heartily agree with.  I wish you and yours a joyous holiday! Source: The ESL Nexus

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Why It’s Important To Get Names Right

Transliterating a word from a language that doesn’t use the Roman alphabet can be tricky, especially when there is no equivalent letter in English for the sound in the original language.  Such is the case with the Festival of Lights, the Jewish holiday more commonly known as Hanukkah, which began

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14 Tips to Help ELLs Understand Their Textbooks

Students have to comprehend what they are reading in order to understand the new ideas and concepts presented in their texts.  When they don’t understand the material, it’s easy for them to lose interest in the subject and that has a negative impact on their learning. Ideally, you are using

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10 Gift Ideas for the Middle School Social Studies Teacher

My family stopped exchanging Chanukah gifts because after so many years of giving presents to each other, we ran out of ideas.  That wasn’t my choice and I was kind of disappointed because I always enjoyed looking for fun presents and seeing people’s reactions when they opened them.  Fortunately, we

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What is the Silent Period and Why is It Important?

Thomas Carlyle said, “Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together.”  Oftentimes English Learners are silent in school and won’t talk for an extended period of time.  Teachers need to understand that this is a normal part of second language acquisition–it’s a concept called the Silent Period. 

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How to Build Background Knowledge: October 2107 #ELLEdTech Chat

My professors in grad school emphasized the importance of developing schema among English Language Learners.  Schema is the fancy word for background knowledge.  (And schemata is the plural.)  ELLs who are immigrants or who grow up in the U.S. immersed in cultures that are not the dominant American culture often

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8 Ways to Increase ELL Parent Involvement

I had to make a special effort to get the parents of my English Language Learners involved in school activities.  Not knowing English, or thinking they didn’t know it well enough, kept a lot of the parents of my ELLs from attending parent-teacher conferences.  A lot of my students’ parents

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