Teacher training

Overarching concepts 

• • Modeling Cultural Humility, by Lee Shainis at Intercambio

• Fundamental Principles of Effective Adult Language Education (from Center for Applied Linguistics)

• Retrieval Practice: helping students remember (from Cult of Pedagogy)

• What I learned about teaching English from Russian 101, by Linda Bonder 

  • Increasing impact with assistant teachers (a short presentation)

Instructional examples (videos)

• New American Horizons. Teaching ESL to Adults: Classroom Approaches in Action - 12 teacher training videos of actual classrooms in action 

• From Adult ELL Pathway to Literacy - Phonics: Take away / replace

• Linda's TESOL - two short sample online classes

• Putting English to work: list of videos with topic labels, playlist for the whole series

Interactive, self-paced trainings

(All thanks to Amy Grant!)

• How and when to correct which errors? 

• Connecting with learners (reducing learner confusion) 

Sample lesson plans

• From Adult ELL Pathway to Literacy (theme-based plans & resources)

• From the British Council on Teaching English (theme-based plans & resources)

• When Should You Abandon Your Lesson Plan? (from Barefoot TEFL Teacher)

Teaching low level learners

• Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) - resource list from Massachusetts TESOL

• Tips & Tricks for Teaching Beginners (presentation)

• Teaching low-level learners - part 1, part 2 (webinar)

Teaching reading 

• Letter sounds and spelling patterns, learner videos by Amy Grant

• Alphabetics, TESOL 2023 presentation by Kaylin Wainwright 

• Helping struggling readers by Amy Grant (synthesized information for teachers)

• Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults (an online book)

• 11 alternatives to Round Robin Reading, by Edutopia (ways to get students to effectively participate in reading activities in class)

• Supporting English Learners with Dyslexia, from Ellii

• Reading Strategies - many ways to activate student learning and help them both read to learn and learn to read, by ELT Buzz (for paid subscribers)

Video trainings & workshops

• NEW! BLC's 5-minute videos on important topics (building class community, teacher talk & student engagement, homework, feeling students' stress, handling absences & tardiness, guarding student privacy, student Zoom cameras)

• Portland ESL Network 1-minute teaching tips

• Modules about how to teach specific aspects of language, from University of Texas at Austin

• Minnesota Literacy: See what's coming up and videos of past events. 

• Portland Literacy Council. Join their mailing list to learn about upcoming workshops.

• ProLiteracy: See what's coming up and videos of past events. 

Resources for deciding what to teach when

• An excellent & straightforward list of skills - categorized by skill type and student level. Thanks to the Torrance Adult School!

• CASAS standards. From their web site:

• • The CASAS Competencies identify more than 360 essential life skills. 

  • The CASAS Content Standards identify the underlying reading, listening, and math basic skills at specific proficiency levels.