Levels

Morning Workshops (9-noon)

PCI #A. I Read It, and I Got It! Strategies to Comprehend Texts

Levels / Interest Groups:  E, S

Dr. Dorothy Kauffman, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C.

Reading is an essential skill for successful schooling. However, simply recognizing words on a page is not enough: it is the full comprehension of texts that enables students to acquire new knowledge and explore a variety of points of view. Workshop participants will examine the challenges students face when confronted by a variety of texts and explore ways to teach reading strategies to improve students’ comprehension.

PCI #B. Promoting Clearer Pronunciation

Levels / Interest Groups: All

Marsha Chan, Mission College, Santa Clara; Sunburst Media

This workshop will provide teachers with numerous approaches for enabling English language learners to improve their pronunciation. The presenter will present core features that affect intelligibility; discuss the role of perception, production, and monitoring; and consider low- and high-tech media. She will demonstrate learning activities that foster spoken clarity for students at various levels. She will invite participants to engage in exercises that activate auditory, visual, analytical, and kinesthetic modalities and that promote stimulating pronunciation lessons.

PCI #C. Grappling with the Group Dynamic in the Communicative Classroom

Levels / Interest Groups: S, A, CC, C/U, IEP, TEW, IC

Jayme Adelson-Goldstein, Lighthearted Learning

In this highly interactive workshop, we will examine the power of the group dynamic, identifying how it turns an ESL class into either a community of engaged and active learners or a collection of detached and off-task individuals. Come explore the techniques that inspire effective group work, while reflecting on language-learning tasks that are best tackled in groups and experiencing ways to form and manage those groups. Reproducible classroom materials provided. 

PCI #D. Strategies and Methods for Your First Contract

Levels / Interest Groups:  All 

Julie Graboi, Cuyamaca Community College, Palomar Community College 

Workplace ESL training can be a satisfying and well-paying field. Trainers come from a wide range of backgrounds. If you have ever considered this specialty as a career step, attend this workshop to find out how to build on your experience and discover if workplace ESL training is for you! Topics include proposals, methods of evaluation, and selection of materials. Participants will gain hands-on experience through role plays based upon actual case studies.

Levels / Interest Groups:  S, A, CC, C/U, IEP 

Deborah Crusan, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 

In the quest for accountability in assessment, teachers might forget those to whom we should first be accountable: our students. Providing students with clear, accessible, and understandable assessment materials promotes accountability. In this hands-on workshop, participants will develop tools for writing assessment that are transparent and understandable to students and that act as both teaching and assessment tools. Many examples of assignment criteria and rubrics will be provided to aid in the development process.

 Afternoon Workshops (1:30-4:30 PM)

Levels / Interest Groups: All

Natalie A. Kuhlman, San Diego State University

Performance-based assessment helps both teachers and students see progress, but once information has been gathered, how is it interpreted and evaluated? One of the most common methods is to use a rubric. Rubrics are usually scales which clearly describe each level of growth. This hands-on workshop will provide guidelines for using rubrics and describe what the parts and elements of good rubrics are. Participants will then have an opportunity to critique actual rubrics.

Levels / Interest Groups:  CC, C/U 

Kathleen Flynn, Ph.D., Glendale Community College

When the Chancellor’s Office established the Basic Skills Initiative, most California community colleges requested funding. The BSI funded projects required for curriculum development, Student Learning Outcomes, and accreditation projects. BSI funds are still available, but in more restricted ways. This PCI will explain the BSI and the “Poppy Copy” report, and discuss BSI projects (one-time and on-going). The presenter will explain why one application was funded while another was not and offer advice based on experience. Handouts.

Levels / Interest Groups: C/U, CC, IEP

Susan Kesner Bland, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Dryden, NY

For academic writing instructors trying to teach both grammar and writing skills, this hands-on workshop focuses on using grammar as a tool for teaching academic writing. In small groups, participants will explore topics such as the present perfect in introductions / conclusions / summary statements, modals and academic tone, gerunds and cohesion, and the “grammar” of background information. Participants will create and critique targeted mini-lessons, using examples from academic discourse, research on discourse-based grammar instruction, and sample grammar activities.

Levels / Interest Groups: S, IEP, CC

Eleanor Black Eskey, California State University, Los Angeles; Loyola Marymount University

Content-based instruction in ESL/EFL classes provides for the “Conceptualization” of subject matter and “Communication” through technology-supported, active learning tasks. Participants will learn techniques for planning instruction, vocabulary and concept development, integration of communication skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking – and acquisition of academic content. Outcomes from this instructional approach result in the expansion of students’ background knowledge, language skills, critical thinking, motivation, imagination and academic achievement.

Levels / Interest Groups:  All 

Barry Bakin, Division of Adult and Career Education, LAUSD

Get a free wiki website that will motivate students to read, write, and communicate in English as they construct it in collaboration with a partner class. Start creating your easy-to-build classroom collaboration wiki at the workshop! By the end of the session, not only will you have a website that you can use with your students, you’ll also know how to enroll students, recover “lost” work, and perform other crucial wiki management tasks.