6 week-course 75-minute sessions
This course is designed to give you the tools and support you need for effective language teaching. You will learn teaching methodologies, vocabulary and strategies to maximize and manage your instruction. Through communicative and interactive activities, you'll gain skills to create your own teaching palette for your students to have an engaging learning experience with the English language. This course is for beginner and advanced teachers who are looking for creative development and to also connect with like-minded professionals.
👩🏫📘 Teaching English Learners: Strategies for Success
For Educators Supporting ESL Students
🗓️ 6 Weeks | ⏱️ 75-minute sessions | 🎯 Standards-Aligned | 🌐 Interactive & Practical💬 Course Description:
This 6-week professional development course is designed for educators seeking to deepen their understanding of how to support English learners in the classroom. Through interactive workshops and practical exploration, participants will build a toolkit of evidence-based strategies for teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking across all proficiency levels.
Aligned with the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) English Language Proficiency Anchor Standards, this course emphasizes academic rigor, differentiation, and real-world classroom application.
🧠 What You’ll Learn
✔️ How to scaffold instruction for language learners
✔️ How to teach and assess all 4 language domains
✔️ How to adapt lessons while keeping academic goals high
✔️ How to align strategy with proficiency level and purpose
✔️ How to promote student voice and confidence
📅 Week-by-Week Breakdown
📖 Week 1: Foundations & Frameworks
🧭 Who are English learners, and what do they need to succeed?
Explore language acquisition theory & student diversity
Introduce the 4 domains (Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking)
Review ICCB ESL Anchor Standards and CEFR levels
📝 Activity: Personal reflections + student needs mapping
👂 Week 2: Listening Strategies
🎧 Supporting comprehension through active listening tasks
Pre-, during-, and post-listening techniques
Scaffolding for different proficiency levels
Tools: visuals, sentence frames, audio supports
📝 Activity: Build a listening lesson with check-for-understanding tasks
📚 Week 3: Reading Strategies
📖 Teaching academic and functional reading skills
Close reading, skimming/scanning, and guided annotation
Vocabulary acquisition in context
Differentiation through text levels and tasks
📝 Activity: Plan a reading activity using layered questions
💬 Week 4: Speaking Strategies
🗣️ Developing student voice, fluency, and confidence
Structured talk: pair/group roles, sentence stems
Academic conversations and pronunciation support
Informal vs. formal speaking practice
📝 Activity: Design a speaking task with scaffolds for interaction
✍️ Week 5: Writing Strategies
📝 Scaffolding clear and purposeful writing
Sentence structure, paragraph building, and idea organization
Writing for different genres: emails, narratives, arguments
Feedback cycles and student modeling
📝 Activity: Create a writing frame and assessment checklist
🔄 Week 6: Integration & Assessment
🔍 Pulling it all together + evaluating student growth
Integrated projects using all 4 language domains
Formative and summative assessment tools
Giving effective feedback and promoting reflection
📝 Final Task: Build a mini-unit aligned to ICCB standards
📚 Standards Analysis: Using Illinois Community College Board ESL Proficiency Anchor Standards
✅ Listening & Reading
• (1) Understand ideas from spoken/written texts
• (8) Determine meaning of words/phrases in context
✅ Speaking & Writing
• (2) Share ideas and respond to questions
• (3) Speak/write about complex topics
• (7) Use appropriate language for audience
• (9) Produce clear, understandable language
✅ Critical Thinking & Research
• (4) Support ideas with reasons and examples
• (5) Find, interpret, and explain information
• (6) Give feedback and evaluate ideas
• (10) Use accurate grammar and structure