 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!
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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!
 I’m pretty sure I can speak for all of us when I say 2020 has been ROUGH. But, hidden within the destruction, Covid, and injustices, are glimmers of hope. A greater, international consciousness of racism and a strong desire to educate ourselves. Police reform and increased funding for social programs across the country. A Supreme Court vote that finally protects gay and transgender individuals from discrimination in the workplace. And of course, alongside the social distancing, a sense of unity, and a sense of being in this all together.
As we go into this next school year, I’m set on capturing that glimmer and teaching hope, and I hope you are, too! While I’ve never started the school year in a pandemic, I have guided students through school buildings being condemned, water being shut-off, and through the process of adjusting to school in the United States. So without further ado, here’s a few of the tried-and-true ways I’m teaching hope this year! 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!   Whether you have one or two English Language Learners or a whole classroom full of ESL students, you're probably wondering how you can best support English Language Learners in your classroom. At first, it might seem daunting to have students who don't understand everything (or anything!) you're saying, but with these easy-to-implement strategies, your ELLs will be communicating and completing work in no time!
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