Watch & Learn in the ELL Classroom

Video modules

What to do first: Creating a welcoming ELL classroom environment

Learn about these important first steps that will help ELLs feel welcome and get them on the path to academic success. Strategies include creating a print-rich environment and connecting content to students' cultures and experiences.

Chapter walk with me!

Previewing content is an important step in scaffolding new content for ELLs. One way to do this is through a "chapter walk" - not only does it prepare students for what they are about to learn, it gives them the tools for previewing content independently in future academic coursework.

Story set-up: Pre-reading strategies for comprehension

These pre-reading strategies will help lay the groundwork for ELLs before tackling a new text. Strategies include previewing vocabulary, activating background knowledge, and introducing academic concepts (such as literary elements) important to the text in an ELL-friendly way.

Making connections: Creating an active & engaged reader

Learn how to engage ELLs as readers through strategies such as frequent comprehension checks and higher level thinking activities.

Featured Teachers

Amber Prentice

Amber Prentice is an ELL and Spanish teacher with experience teaching students of all ages and backgrounds. While teaching in St. Paul, MN, Amber taught middle school ELL newcomers and refugees and led a number of initiatives to integrate ELL families into the school community. Amber has also taken an active role in leading teacher training programs, and was selected by the AFT to train female teacher trainers in Yemen and high school teachers in Afghanistan in a special professional development program.

Amber has served on the American Federation of Teacher ELL Cadre for three years and currently teaches middle school Spanish in California.

Michelle Lawrence Biggar

Michelle Lawrence Biggar has been an ESL teacher for the past ten years. She has worked with students of all ages, proficiency levels, and backgrounds, but has spent the majority of her career teaching ELLs at the high school and college levels. Michelle currently teaches at the International Preparatory School at Grover — A College Board School — in Buffalo, NY. Her students are primarily refugees and immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She serves as a consultant to administration and to content area teachers on best practices for ELLs.

As a chairperson on her school's Redesign Committee, Michelle presented plans to the New York State Board of Regents on how to restructure the ELL program, which included a focus on small learning communities. When her current school was conceived four years ago, she led the design and implementation of the school's ELL program. Michelle also teaches at the English Language Institute at the University at Buffalo.

Susan Lafond

Susan Lafond, a Nationally Board Certified teacher, has 20 years of experience teaching ESL and foreign language. She currently works with the Education & Learning Trust, the professional development arm of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and serves on the American Federation of Teachers' ELL Cadre. She is a member of the Common Core State Standards Initiative ELA work group and recently participated in the Standards revision for English as a New Language for NBPTS. In addition, she has been a reviewer and member of numerous committees for test development of the New York State English as a Second Language Assessment Test (NYSESLAT) for the New York State Education Dept, as well as an evaluator for teacher certification exams for National Evaluation Systems.

Susan serves as the Capital Region Co-Chair for NYS TESOL and has presented numerous workshops both at statewide conferences and in districts around the state. She was selected as a member in the New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning through Statewide Peer Review. She won the Union College Excellence in Teaching award, and the Employee Recognition Award in her former school district.

Christine Rowland

Christine Rowland has been an urban New York City educator for more than 18 years. A native of England, Rowland has spent her teaching career in high schools in the Bronx, where many of her incoming high school students are recent newcomers to the United States. Rowland spent seven years as an ESL teacher at John F. Kennedy High School, until she was recruited by the Board of Education to become a professional developer for three years. Eight years ago, she joined the UFT Teacher Center and since then has been based at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, where she teaches, provides on-site professional development, and recently led an effort to keep the school open in the face of closure.