Teaching Channel: Academic Conversations + ELLs

Our Tech of the Week this week is Teaching Channel, a website where teachers can watch videos to share their knowledge and techniques. Although the website is not designed specifically for SLPs, I found a great series of videos, "Academic Conversations with ELLs."


This series of six videos highlights three middle and high school teachers whose students are primarily English Language Learners. They use different techniques to engage their students in academic discussions in class. This is a skill that is very important for any student to learn, but it can be especially challenging for ELLs. It typically takes about 7 years after the start of learning a language to become proficient enough to use that language in academic and abstract contexts. This means that these middle school and even high school ELLs still need a lot of support and guidance to be successful in academic discussions, even if they are more proficient in conversational English. I think these teachers have done a great job coming up with structures that scaffold students' ability to participate in class discussions. I think this series offers helpful, concrete ways to support ELLs, a population of students I may be working with as an SLP in the school system. It is important to keep in mind the additional struggles students may experience if English is not their first language, while also challenging them to meet Common Core standards.

Click here  to check out all six videos!
And click here to read the accompanying articles offering more information about the content of the videos.