NJALL 2022 Annual Conference
All Events Are Online
Wednesday May 18th
Opening Plenary 1:00 – 3:00
President’s Welcome
Plenary Address
Working Towards Digital Equity
Priyanka Sharma
Vice-President, World Education
Awards Presentation
Scholarship Program Update
Thursday May 19th
10:00 – 11:00 Working Towards Digital Equity – Follow Up Priyanka Sharma
As we return to more face-to-face settings, the skills adult learners will need for continued success are increasingly digital. What does it mean to be “digitally literate”? How can we integrate digital literacy into curriculum and instruction? What should be the role of digital inclusion in programming and technology in the classroom - in-person or remote? We will examine a range of existing frameworks and assessments currently being used to identify and evaluate the digital skills learners need to be fluent users of technology. We will explore ideas and models like digital navigator services for incorporating digital literacy in your programming and share a multitude of tools and resources to help foster your students’ digital skills to help them thrive in their academic and work pursuits. You’ll leave the session with newly acquired know-how and a digital equity action plan for using technology to support the digital skill development of your learners and address a real-life organizational challenge.
11:30 – 12:30 The 7 Elements of Highly Effective Remote/Blended/In-Person Instruction Nell Eckersley
In this session learn about the 7 elements of highly effective instruction the Literacy Assistance Center developed during the emergency move to remote instruction and how these elements remain salient even as we move (back) to blended and in-person instruction models. We will review online tools that support each element and use lesson examples to illustrate how the elements work across teaching models.
1:00 – 2:00 Self-Assessment Techniques for ESOL Learners Karen Cardell
How can we improve our students' understanding of English while keeping them interested in the lessons? What is the best method for correcting students' writing errors? In this workshop, we will take a look at some activities that combine ESOL lessons with English language learners' self-evaluation techniques. By employing some of these activities, we can encourage students to set their own learning goals, and eventually learn to edit their own written work.
2:30 – 3:30 Data Story Telling With Adult English Language Learners
Maricel G. Santos, Maria Jose Bastias, Yasmin Webster-Woog, Rebecca Kim, Margaret A. Handley
Our adult English learners have powerful stories that should be part of the data that inform what we know about the health and well-being of linguistically diverse populations in the U.S. Our learners also have their own interpretations of the information – the data, images, media campaigns, sound bytes -- circulating all around us, particularly throughout this global pandemic. And yet, rarely do they find opportunities to share their stories and interpretations – with other learners, local communities, or public health professionals. We created the Communicative Justice Learner Leadership Project the harness the data story-telling already taking place in our classrooms. In the spirit of medical anthropologist and linguist Charles Briggs’ vision for ‘communicative justice’, we hope to change the way we see health data by changing the way we engage adult learners as data interpreters and visualizers.
4:00 – 5:00 Advocacy Update from NJ Citizen Action Renee Koubiadis
In this session, you will learn about the work of the NJ Citizen Action and partner organizations fighting for social, racial, and economic justice for all. This session will present information about helping students, their families and their communities access necessary resources (e.g., heat, the internet, etc.) and identify ways for people to get involved in the struggle for justice.
Friday May 20th
10:00 – 11:00 Students in Their Own Words Brookdale Community College Students
Join in the conversation and hear directly from students from students at Brookdale Community College. Their stories inform us of how best to support students' educational and long term employment goals. They will share their success stories, challenges, and the barriers they face.
11:30 – 12:30 Teaching Listening Skills Carol Cochi
Push play to start is how many listening activities begin. Yet as a language skill, listening is more than simply hearing sounds and words. Listening is an active process that challenges learners to decipher meaning from the audible sounds and visual clues they receive. While listening is one of the most fundamental and essential skills for language learning, it is also a challenging skill to teach. This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to strategies and skills they can use to help their adult English as a second language students become more proficient, and active, listeners whether on the job, at home, or in a test setting.
1:00 – 2:00 Immigration Policy Update: Make the Road New Jersey Sara Cullinane
This workshop will begin with an overview of key developments with regards to immigrants' rights and immigration policy at the local, state (New Jersey) and federal level. Participants will then have a chance to discuss the potential impact of key policies on their students and their programs. The presenter will also review how students, teachers and others can get involved in efforts to expand and protect immigrants' rights.
2:30 – 3:30 Math Word Problems: Opportunities for Learning or Just Annoyances to Overcome
Lynda Ginsburg
In this session we will discuss the rationales for math word problems and why they seem to be particularly difficult for many learners. We will explore some research-based instructional strategies that reframe
the problems as opportunities to engage learners and help them develop and employ reasoning skills to make sense of and solve the mathematical tasks.
4:00 – 5:00 Family Literacy: Contextualizing Instruction Sophie Degener
This session will focus on how teachers can support literacy development by creating meaningful reading and writing activities that are contextualized within the lives of adult students and their children/families. The presentation will highlight how to investigate learners’ current literacy practices in their homes and communities in order to use these as the basis for curriculum and instruction. We will also focus on using family and community strengths and existing funds of knowledge to develop literacy skills in out-of-school settings. Participants will work together to identify the kinds of “everyday” literacy practices that can connect homes and schools and offer opportunities for literacy instruction that includes authentic uses of text.
Saturday May 21st
10:00 – 11:00 Adult Learner Contest Winners
This workshop will begin with several winners of the NJALL Adult Learner Writing Contest reading their work. After that the learners will share insights into their own writing process - what helps them get started, how they revise, and what support from teachers and tutors is most helpful. We will then have an open discussion between the learners and participants about how student writing can be used in the classroom to provide models and prompts for other learners.
11:30 – 12:30 ESOL for Action Erik Jacobson
This workshop will focus on creating ESOL curriculum from learners’ own advocacy efforts. The presenter will begin by sharing example of materials that develop learners’ vocabulary, grammar and writing skills while helping them engage in their own self-chosen advocacy efforts (e.g., the campaign to expand access to drivers licenses, the push to include undocumented workers in COVID relief plans). The presenter will then invite participants to discuss the benefits of this approach, while identifying the hurdles that learners and teachers have to overcome. As a group, we will identify a potential advocacy topic and think through the potential it provides for language learning and teaching.
The registration fee of $50 provides access to the opening meeting and all workshops.
Zoom links for each workshop will be sent via email.
To Register and Pay for One Person
First: Sign up via this Google Form
Second: Provide payment via PayPal (credit cards accepted)
To Register and Pay for Multiple People
First: Sign up via this Google Form
Second: Provide payment via PayPal (credit cards accepted)
For Organizations that Would Like to Register and Pay Via Purchase Order
Please email njallmail@gmail.com with information