Building Positive Relationships with English-Language Learners

Description

Building Positive Relationships with English-Language Learners
3 In-service Credits/ 45 hours Instructor Sandy Catapano, January 3-30, February 1-28, April 1-29, September 1-29, May 1-30, June 1-30, July 1-30, August 1-30

The foundation of any successful classroom begins with positive and trusting relationships between a teacher and his/her students particularly one that includes English-Language Learners. In order to connect students to new learning, teachers must learn about their students’ backgrounds and experiences. To maintain and build positive relationships, teachers need to know what their students are interested in and what their goals are. By setting the right tone, teachers can make better decisions about the curriculum, classroom management, instructional strategies and more. The National Center for Educational Statistics says, “The percentage of public school students in the United States who were English Language Learners was higher in 2010-11 (10 percent or an estimated 4.7 million students) than in 2002-03 (9 percent, or an estimated 4.1 million students).” The population of English language learners in the United States continues to increase each year. English language learners can face a number of difficult situations at a young age, such as learning a different language and trying to fit into a new school. That’s why a supportive and accepting teacher is so critical to their success. By creating a welcoming and language rich classroom environment, teachers can help students make transitions a lot easier. Through this course, participants will create a welcoming classroom for ELL’s, create a community of learners, adapt strategies to support ELLs in the classroom, prepare ELL’s for academic success and more. This course is open to N-12 classroom teachers, reading teachers, ELL teachers, support staff, and special education teachers.