Spooky season is here to mark the start to several months of holiday goodness, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve had the pumpkins out for a little bit too long waiting for this time to arrive. I’m even listening to the “Spooky Music” playlist on Spotify as I write this (the kids version…I’m home alone and easily spooked after all!) It’s true, I LOVE the fall and winter holidays, and I love incorporating them in my classroom… but when you teach ESL students, it’s not all creepy music and ghost stories.

Incorporating spooky, Halloween goodness in your classroom will take a bit more effort, but, I promise, the extra effort and research to make the perfect Halloween for ESL lesson will make for some of the MOST fun classes you’ve ever taught

It's no secret that districts are scrambling to put technology in the hands of every student right now. Most are doing everything they can to ensure students are able to access online learning tools safely. This has led to changes in student security settings, which may be making it more difficult for students in your classroom to use audio clips (or videos) that originate from outside the district. 

This makes sense for student security, and it really is important. But what happens if you know the audio is safe, like the leveled texts with audio you just bought off Teachers Pay Teachers? Luckily, there's a way to make the audio accessible for your students, and it only takes a few quick steps! 

Hey there! 
If you're here, I'm guessing you're dealing with the craziness that is Back to School 2020. Here in Arizona, we go back pretty early (although we're two weeks late this year!), so I'm hoping sharing my back-to-school experience might help some of you that are starting the year a little later! Learn from my mistakes! 

Y'all. Google Classroom might be my favorite EdTech tool. That was true even before distance learning was a thing! Sure, it isn't the flashiest or the most fun, but, Google Classroom has so many features that make differentiating for English Language Learners a breeze! No matter how you're teaching this year, Google Classroom should be part of your teacher toolkit. 

Below, you'll find four of my favorite features and a step-by-step guide to using each one in your classroom! 

Does anyone else feel like they have whiplash trying to figure out what's going on this school year? Yesterday morning, the first day of school was August 3rd. Then yesterday afternoon, the governor said August 17th. Then two hours later, the press said he meant that the first day for in-person was the 17th, but schools could start on their regular date online, so back to August 3rd. This morning, there was questions about funding if we started online, so now, we're starting August 17th? I think? 

Insert dramatic sigh here. 

I know I'm not the only one trying to figure this mess out, so I figured I'd share what I'm doing to plan and (attempt to) be prepared for this maybe distance learning, maybe in-person, maybe both school year, knowing that everything is still so up in the air! 

Of all the strategies for English Language Learners, using audio can be one of the most difficult to get started with. I avoided it for years, because I just didn't know how to get started! Once I got started, I realized using audio was great for both engaging and assessing my English Language Learners, and even better, it wasn't as hard as I thought to implement! Plus, there are so many easy, independent, ESL listening comprehension activities that are easy to implement for distance or hybrid learning! 

Teaching English Language Learners does not have to be difficult! Using a few strategies for English Language Learners and level (and age!) appropriate texts, any teacher can teach ESL reading comprehension with ease! Just be ready to have fun...and do a lot of acting!