Presenter: Vicki Hale, Riverside Immigrant Services & Empowerment

“The Grammar of Job Readiness” focuses on the language and communication skills, at multiple ESL levels, necessary to prepare adult students for the job market while teaching various parts of speech. Participants will learn how to merge specific grammar facets (such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, prepositions, and more) into every aspect of job readiness: experiences, skills, résumés, cover letters and interviews. Specifically, participants will produce a Diamante poem in groups and create and strengthen sentences by adding prepositional phrases, conjunctions, and adverbs. Finally, participants will write job-ready sentences using parts of speech. Handouts will be provided.

Category: ESOL, Job Readiness

Presenter: Pamela JB Clenance, Ph.D., The City College of CUNY

As a professor teaching an English composition class, the presenter has found that designing and implementing an assignment-based grading contract can be both challenging and transformative. This session will share the rationale behind using grading contracts and highlight common challenges and successes. The presenter will also provide sample contracts and implementation strategies for instructors interested in creating more learner-based and process-based assessment models. Drawing on Asao Inoue’s Labor-Based Grading Contracts (2019), a system developed to evaluate students based on the quality and quantity of their assignments, as well as student feedback and course evaluations, a grading model and assignments will be shared to support student learning, increase engagement, encourage students to take risks, and foster more focus on revision and reflection. Participants will discuss the grading model and how it could apply to their classroom experience.

Category: Evaluations, Goals

Presenters: David A. Housel, CUNY Language Immersion Program, LaGuardia Community College; Paula Da Silva-Michelin, Center for Immigrant Education & Training, LaGuardia Community College

The lived experiences of every HSE graduate or adult ESOL student are unique, so guidance regarding their most appropriate next steps must be individualized. For example, their financial realities might dictate a short-term vocational training program, even though they aspire to higher education. Many of these training programs are specifically designed for bi/multiliterate students whose language skills are assets. In these cases, a postsecondary degree might simply become a longer-term goal. Some learners might lack the requisite educational credentials or English-language proficiency to be accepted into college. Through facilitated discussions, the presenters will share their experiences guiding students toward their most viable educational/vocational trajectories and overseeing vocational training and academic English-language programs at LaGuardia Community College. In pairs or small groups, participants will then strategize how to bring what they have learned back to their own settings, including leveraging available resources to guide their students along the most suitable pathways.

Category: ABE/HSE, ESL Literacy, ESOL, Postsecondary Vocational Training & Academic Options

Presenter: Matthew Villareal, The New School's Parsons School of Design

This interactive workshop introduces structured conversation as a practical, culturally responsive teaching strategy for adult education classrooms. Designed for ABE, HSE, ESOL, and civics educators, the session demonstrates how guided dialogue, drawn from community-based and culturally rooted practices, can support learner engagement, persistence, and voice. Participants will experience a facilitated conversation model that can be adapted for multilingual, multi-level classrooms. For example, educators might use a structured prompt such as: “Describe a challenge you’ve overcome in work or family life. What skills helped you succeed?” This type of guided dialogue builds academic vocabulary, strengthens listening skills, and connects literacy instruction to learners’ lived experiences. The workshop emphasizes low-cost, flexible strategies that can be immediately applied to reading, writing, civics, and workforce preparation activities. Participants will leave with ready-to-use prompts, facilitation steps, and tools for fostering inclusive, respectful learning environments.

Category: ABE/HSE, Civics, ESL Literacy, ESOL, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Presenter: Madeline Cohen, Symphony Space / All Write!

Focusing on the multi-faceted concept of "home" — from the specifics of one's apartment to the more abstract "emotions" — participants will create word banks, poems, and stories based on their own experience and imagination. Simple poetry forms, related images, and writing prompts will be used. Time will be allotted for discussing how to adapt each activity for different reading/writing levels.

Category: ABE/HSE, ESL Literacy, ESOL, Family Literacy

Presenter: Amelia Hessling, Burlington English Inc.

Adult English language learners in New York City face unique, often compounding barriers – from demanding work schedules and transportation challenges across the boroughs to social concerns that prevent attendance. To strengthen our community, our instructional strategies must transform. This session demonstrates how adopting flexible models (hybrid, hyflex, asynchronous) is the most effective approach to meeting learners where they are and ensuring equitable access. We will show how a digital curriculum helps NYC programs deliver clear instruction, build digital literacy, and integrate essential Civics and Workforce Preparation. Participants will engage in a "Barrier-to-Bridge" collaborative activity, using real-world NYC learner profiles to map specific digital solutions to attendance obstacles. Learn how this flexible approach removes critical barriers, boosts retention, and supports the continued success of the city’s diverse adult learners.

Category: Civics, ESL Literacy, ESOL, Family Literacy, Instructional Technology (Commercial)

Presenter: Scott Salesses, GED Testing Service

This workshop will provide an update on GED® testing in New York City and the state of New York and share relevant updates from a national perspective. The workshop will cover key topics such as an overview of the GED program, important policies for students, and key teaching resources for educators and test administrators. We will spend time on our GED Manager™ tool for ABE programs, which allows programs to view student information and run reporting. In addition, we will spend time covering our GED & Me™ app as well as publisher products available to help your students succeed on the GED test and earn their credential.

Category: ABE/HSE, Family Literacy

Presenters: Heather Dutiel, Robin Poley, Liz Billy, and Maya Banks, The New York Public Library

In this workshop, ESOL instructors will learn about The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures and about opportunities for focused conversation practice during class trips to the exhibition. NYPL staff from both the Adult English Language and Literacy Program and the Center for Educators and Schools will share about their collaboration in bringing adult students to this exhibition. We selected objects from the exhibition that invite curiosity, which can be intrinsically motivating for students, and that present an opportunity for people to share background knowledge and their own experiences with each other through conversation. Workshop participants will experience activities from the program and leave with practical ideas for how they can be easily adapted for their classrooms.

Category: Civics, ESOL

Presenter: Giovanna Perciballi, CUNY City Tech; Polina Belimova, CUNY College of Staten Island

How can we make space for bilingual learners’ to be their full selves in writing? How can we support their use of their “unitary language repertoire” (Garcia, 2009)? In this workshop, participants explore translanguaging pedagogy in adult TESOL classrooms, to understand what it is, how it is applied to adults, and how current framings of language learning can shift to a more assets-based approach to multilingualism. We see translanguaging pedagogy as a way of celebrating our students’ multilingual identities and as a way for educators to help them use their linguistic resources to achieve their goals and take agency in their language learning. Writing activities that center translanguaging practices will be presented and can be used at all levels of English language proficiency.

Category: ESOL

Presenters: Allyson Paty, Corinne Butta, and Alia Attar, NYU Gallatin

When writing includes the possibility of epic journeys, tragedies, or grand triumphs, facing the blank page can be daunting, especially for a new writer. Luckily, the smallest stories can be among the most powerful. In this workshop, participants read and discuss works of prose and poetry from recent volumes of The Literacy Review, compiled from adult learners’ writings, that are in some way small. Some – though not all – are exceptionally short. Some hone in on a single scene, object, or image. Some stay in the details of everyday life, while others use a narrow narrative frame to cast light on a bigger theme or idea. Participants examine the writing choices that make these works compelling and discuss how to encourage similar choices in student writing. The workshop concludes with a writing exercise. Participants receive readings from The Literacy Review, a list of writing prompts, and ideas for how to use them in classes of different levels.

Category: ABE/HSE, ESL Literacy, ESOL

Presenters: Monique Scrubb, NYCDOE District 79; Nana Afua Boyd, Inspired Purpose-CS

Adult ESL instructors often struggle to find materials that respect the maturity of adult learners while meeting their specific linguistic needs — from foundational literacy to advanced academic English. This interactive workshop demonstrates how Gemini (Google’s AI) serves as a powerful instructional partner to generate real-world dialogues, differentiate complex texts, and build visual/linguistic scaffolds tailored specifically for the adult learner."

Category: ESOL, Instructional Technology

Presenters: Danny Katch and Santonyo Bangali, City College of New York

As literacy educators, many of us know two contradictory things: on one hand, Standard English conventions are often arbitrary rules that gatekeep our students who weren’t born speaking upper-class white English; on the other hand, those same students often aren’t taken seriously in their schools and workspaces if they don’t recognize and understand many Standard English rules. How can we teach grammar, syntax, and punctuation to multilingual students in ways that don’t reinforce Standard Language ideology?  In this workshop, presenters will explain the approach that they take in our sections of composition class at the City College of New York. We will share activities and resources that we use to teach Standard English conventions regarding punctuation, syntax, and identifying parts of speech in ways that facilitate discussion about why these “rules” exist and whether many of them help or hinder effective communication in a diverse society. Activities will include a video and a handout with Appalachian English. After a free-write, focusing on grammar issues, participants will engage in a group discussion.

Category: ABE/HSE, High-Level ESOL

Presenters: Sarah Wang and Sarah Siddiq, Queens Public Library

Critical Reflection is a key phase of Transformative Learning. Workshop participants will learn how critical reflection is defined and how it spurs transformative learning for adults. Workshop participants will learn what defines critical reflection, how it spurs transformative learning for adults, and key tools, including Stephen Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire, for integrating critical reflection in the adult learning classroom. Participants will hear about how teachers of Queens Public Library’s community-based ESOL classes have applied Mezirow's theory of Transformative Learning and critical reflection in their classes. We will discuss how language serves a role as both a communicative tool and a medium for students’ identity, voice, and meaning-making in both their native and non-native languages. Participants will practice using the Critical Incident Questionnaire and discuss ways to adapt it at a classroom or program level. Participants will learn new tools and reflective processes to use with their own students.

Category: ABE/HSE, Civics, ESOL, Family Literacy

Presenter: Peggy Bernard, Essential Education

This session allows participants to go through the full suite of what Essential Education offers and how it serves different populations. Also, it lets participants reinforce the ease of "dual enrollment" using our learning management system (LMS) as well as the adaptive feature allowing for some "automation." We will also showcase all our reports to help with staffing issues including readily available attendance, progress, and test readiness. In an era of tight budgets and growing learner needs, adult education programs must find innovative ways to maximize limited resources without compromising quality or access. This session will explore practical, scalable strategies for delivering high-impact instruction and support services – even with staffing, funding, and time constraints. Participants will examine creative approaches to resource sharing, cross-sector partnerships, technology integration, and program design that extend reach and improve learner outcomes.

Category: ABE/HSE, ESOL, Work Essentials (Commercial)

Presenter: Christina Marinelli, Brooklyn Museum

How can artworks be used for text-to-text comparisons and for scaffolding writing? Drawing on the Brooklyn Museum’s collection and its recently reinstalled American Art galleries, this workshop will model discussion strategies for engaging students with a work of art and for using the work of art itself as a text to be mined for information about identity, immigration, and American history. The artwork will then be paired with a contemporary poem for text-to-text and text-to-world comparison. Finally, participants will begin brainstorming elements and ideas for their own poems as part of a text-to-self reflection. The workshop will conclude with a discussion of additional extension activities, such as art-making, and how this type of activity might be adapted for their classrooms.

Category: ABE/HSE, ESL Literacy, ESOL

Presenter: Billy Wharton, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

This is an interactive workshop in which adult educators will be presented with and asked to comment on the founding documents of the United States. These include a selection of materials from the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, and a summary of the US Constitution. Participants will also be presented with recent research on Civics Education. These documents and the research will be read within the context of the second Trump presidency. Participants will be asked to generate questions that are informed by these three elements – the documents, the research and the Trump presidency. The goal is that the questions we generate could form the core of a critical civics education.

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Category: ABE/HSE, Civics

Presenter: Yoland Moore, Department of Youth and Community Development

This interactive session explores how adult educators can move beyond delivering content to intentionally shaping learner confidence, communication, and problem-solving skills through reflective instructional practice. Participants will examine simple, practical strategies that integrate soft skills into everyday lessons without adding extra workload. For example, in groups of 3-4, participants will work through 2-3 realistic adult-ed scenarios (e.g., low confidence, uneven group participation, learner disengagement). For each scenario, groups will identify: the soft skill to target, a specific teacher move, and one sentence stem they would use the next day. Groups will share out, and I will capture strong strategies on chart paper/a slide. Through guided reflection, scenarios, and shared stories, educators will leave with tools that strengthen classroom engagement, support workforce readiness, and contribute to stronger learning communities across adult education programs.

Category: ABE/HSE, ESOL

Presenter: Susanti Vijaykumar, SAPNA NYC

For adult ESOL learners, balancing jobs, families, and daily responsibilities, simply getting to class is already an achievement. But finding time and energy for homework is a big challenge. This workshop will explore how educators can co-design learner-led, culturally rooted design practices that fit into learners' real lives. Using the Sapna Rannaghor (Dream Kitchen) Cookbook Project as an example, participants will examine how centering Bangladeshi cooking traditions in homework turned daily routines into meaningful language learning experiences and supported faster, more confident progress among women ESOL learners. Through collaborative brainstorming in small groups, participants will discuss challenges around homework and develop practice activities for their contexts. Participants will leave with implementable strategies and ideas for developing authentic practice activities that treat learners' cultures and daily schedules as powerful assets and creative learning opportunities.

Category: ESOL

Presenter: Heidi Fischer, CUNY Language Immersion Program

What's in your name? Vowel and consonant sounds, a syllable stress pattern, family stories, your parents’ dreams for you, the history of your ancestors, your cultural inheritance. In other words, a lot! In this workshop, we will explore creative ways of using a simple text – your class roster – to build community, develop pronunciation strategies, conduct autoethnographic research, and write meaningfully about identity. Workshop participants will come away with pronunciation, reading, and writing activities that can be used with classes at a wide range of levels, from advanced beginner and up. These activities center students and their stories, supporting warm connections, curiosity, and critical thinking about where we all come from.

Category: ESOL

Presenters: Missy Watson and Franco Colombo Rusell, City College of New York, CUNY

While feedback on student writing is one of the most important (and time-consuming) jobs we writing teachers do, few of us are afforded the chance to reflect on and enhance our approaches. Participants in this workshop will learn research-backed strategies for offering students sentence-level feedback in ways that promote linguistic inclusion, metalinguistic awareness, and student agency. Ample time will be allotted for participants to practice new approaches to feedback, refining their own along the way. Participants will also be given access to a range of helpful readings and handouts supporting social justice approaches to sentence-level feedback.

Category: ABE/HSE, Writing

Presenters: Greg Stultz, ProLiteracy New Readers Press

What do dedicated educators, a captivating news article, an evidence-based reading instruction lesson template, and effective strategies and classroom activities have in common? They can all be found in this session! In this session, the presenter will define evidence-based reading instruction (EBRI) and its four key components. He will then walk participants through an EBRI lesson template, applying it to an engaging article and sharing numerous strategies and activities for ABE and ESL learners alike. Attendees will receive a free News for You newspaper with a teacher's guide and a free News for You Online trial. Come as your favorite sponge and be ready to soak up some fresh ideas!

Category: ABE/HSE, ESOL (Commercial)

Presenter: Ira Yankwitt, Literacy Assistance Center

During these troubling times, how are adult educators meeting the challenges of advancing literacy for social change?  What does social justice in education mean today?

In this plenary keynote speaker Ira Yankwitt, Executive Director of the Literacy Assistance Center, will provide an overview of the current state of adult education in terms of its funding sources and the difficulties facing us. Following a Q&A session, participants will share in groups what they and their students have been doing in their classes and programs to foster civil rights and social justice.