A Month of Classroom Laughs
April Fools' Day kicks of National Humor Month, giving teachers the opportunity to incorporate jokes and laughter in their lesson plans this month. Read Full Post >
Recently in English-Language Learners Category
April 01, 2013
June 04, 2012
The Coming Demand for Credentialed ELL Teachers in Pre-K
In a push to improve early childhood education for English-language learners, Illinois will soon require pre-K teachers who work with ELLs to earn ESL credentials, Maggie Severns writes in The Washington Post. The change in Illinois' policy regarding ELLs may serve as a lesson to other states, acc... Read Full Post >
February 01, 2012
A Teacher's Test Problems
Having just finished scoring a batch of state English exams, NYC teacher Mrs. Eyre expresses sympathy for an ELL student who wrote one of the required essays in her native language: This student was clearly not ready for the challenge of writing an entire essay in English. [That] was someone's dec... Read Full Post >
September 15, 2011
What's Behind the SAT Reading-Score Drop?
Washington Post education blogger Valerie Strauss takes issue with the College Board's explanation that the decline in the SAT reading scores this past year was caused largely by an increase in the number and diversity of test-takers. She puts the blame squarely on the effects of recent education po... Read Full Post >
July 11, 2011
Dumbing Down 'Gatsby'
Film critic Roger Ebert is fuming mad about a "retold," intermediate reader version of The Great Gatsby published by MacMillan. The book employs greatly simplified prose, comes in at less than half the length of the original, and seriously muddles the ending. For Ebert, the whole project amounts to ... Read Full Post >
June 10, 2011
Could Immigration Status Become a Teacher Issue?
At the Learning the Language blog, Mary Ann Zehr points to a law just signed in Alabama that requires schools to determine the immigration status of students. Read Full Post >
May 19, 2011
A New Take on College-Level Reading
They say that authentic literacy assignments can help prepare students for college. But Tobie Lynn Trachina, a 4th grade English-language learners teacher in suburban New Orleans, is taking the concept to a new level by having her students actually read and analyze college and university information... Read Full Post >
October 26, 2010
The Real Lives of Immigrant Students
Just in case you weren't aware: Our Teacher book club discussion of Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe is going on all this week. I'm biased, of course, but it's a pretty powerful discussion so far—one that really takes you up close to th... Read Full Post >
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