Supporting High School English Learners
Welcome! I have created this site to help teachers and paraprofessionals who work together at Evanston Township High School (ETHS) in Evanston, Illinois. My name is Patricia Payne. I teach secondary-level English Learners (ELs) from all over the world in my beginning, intermediate, intermediate advanced and advanced English as a Second Language classes in the Bilingual Program within the World Languages Department. My students range in age from 14 to 21. I have also worked with newly mainstreamed students and with non-literate students who are English Learners. I act as an instructional coach for the World Languages Department. I assist new teachers to ETHS in honing their teaching skills. In addition, I assist teachers in other departments who have ELs in their class. I help them adjust and/or modify their curriculum and lessons to better meet the needs of the ELs. Though this site is created for ETHS, many other teachers in other schools may be interested in its content.
Camila Fuentes Diaz talks about her own experiences learning English. This is a clear presentation about what it means to be a language learner of any language.
In this issue of the vlog, "The Language Lady" talks about how to be the best ESL teacher you can be in your first year as an ESL teacher. She captures of the enthusiasm of a born-ESL teacher. Subscribe to her vlog via this link: The Language Lady
I have created this site; however, I have not done this alone. I have had the invaluable assistance and the input of many others within ETHS. I am very grateful for their suggestions and comments. We are all excited about this site and the help it can provide for those in our school and for those outside of our school. We hope that this site becomes a useful tool for you throughout the school year. We encourage both teachers and paraprofessionals to make comments to help us improve the site and develop the ideas, techniques, and strategies presented here.