Back to school or not back to school, that seems to be the question! It is still unsure what our classroom for the new school year will look like: face-to-face, online or maybe a bit of both? Now, maybe even more so than ever, it is key that we prepare young learners to take the driver’s seat: we need to enable them to learn for themselves. This webinar will look at what learning independently means and the importance of it before exploring some practical ideas to support young learners in managing their own learning.
A Meaning-Oriented Model of Language for the Classroom
Join Aída Walqui, Director of the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative and the agency’s new National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners, for an engaging online series that highlights scholarly perspectives on the education of English Learners across a wide variety of settings.
Aída Walqui will lead 12 conversations with renowned linguists and educators from around the world who have made significant contributions to the study of multilingualism. Representing a wide variety of interests in the field, guest speakers will share their perspectives from American universities as well as research and development institutions from four different countries.
A Webinar on “From EFL to ELF: Implications for Language Teachers”
As Seidlhofer and Widdowson (2018) point out, ‘the global learning of English needs to be based on its global use’ and that this means that English as a lingua franca (ELF) ‘corresponds more closely for what is real for learners, and is a more realistic objective for them to achieve’. In this presentation I shall first show how the roles of English have been expanding in many so-called Expanding Circle countries with a focus on the countries of East and Southeast Asia and will illustrate how English has become the major lingua franca of the region. English has indeed moved from a foreign language (EFL) to a lingua franca (ELF). I shall then give examples from the Asian Corpus of English (ACE) of how English is being re-shaped by these Asian multilinguals who are using English as a lingua franca. My talk will then outline 5 principles for an ‘ELF-aware approach’ (e.g. Kirkpatrick 2018) to English language teaching which takes into consideration the diversity and complexity of ELF, while not underestimating obstacles that teachers might face in attempting to apply an ELF-aware approach to their own classrooms.
Revolutionizing Language Learning With Creative Writing
This virtual seminar cheerfully and optimistically hopes to change the way writing is approached in English language learning programs (from elementary schools to programs in higher education) by demonstrating the power of creative writing. Drawing from Randolph and Ruppert’s new book, New Ways in Teaching with Creative Writing, this session helps participants become aware of the various tools that creative writing can offer English language learners while they develop their craft. We will briefly look at the general challenges that English language learners face in their writing classes and then show how activities in poetry, prose, and dialogue can solve these issues and enhance both their critical thinking and academic writing skills. Ultimately, participants will understand how these creative writing activities promote a fun, effective, and positive writing experience that motivates their students and improves their skills. Participants are encouraged to bring a smile, a creative mind, and an energetic teaching and learning spirit to this uplifting and useful virtual seminar.