Rethinking How We Teach Literacy-level Learners: Curriculum, Methods, and Materials
David Nohara, Founder & Content Creator at Making Sentences
This session is intended for teachers and tutors of literacy-level adult ELs; that is, students with little or no oral English ability and little or no literacy, often in any language. It will begin with a discussion of why the needs of these students are radically different from those of other English learners, why even experienced ESL teachers struggle with this population, how instruction often ends up in one of 3 models: “Day by Day,” “Cough Medicine,” or “Frankenstein,” and the resulting demand for innovation in curriculum, methods, and materials. The presenter will then share examples from his work of the past few years as the basis of discussion, starting with a unique scope and sequence that integrates a high-need, life-skills-based oral language curriculum with current best practices in K-12 early literacy, adapted for adult ESL learners. He will also present numerous examples of classroom-ready print and online activities that address head-on the unique needs of this population. Attendees will leave having heard a new perspective on literacy-level adult EL instruction and seen examples that they can use to create activities and materials for their own students.
