June 2015 Vol. 18, Issue 2 Newsletter Next newsletter deadline is Visit us at August 15, 2015 http://vatesol.cloverpad.org/ Board of Directions Table of Contents President President’s Message 1 Treasurer’s Report 5 Ada Chrisman SIG Reports/Articles 2 Member Articles 5 1st Vice President Pamela Smart-Smith 2nd Vice President VACANT President’s Message Secretary Kathleen Cahoon- Newchok My dear colleagues and fellow VATESOL members, Treasurer VACANT As the new President of VATESOL, I would like to take a moment to Past President & briefly introduce myself to all of our members as well as discuss the Nominating Chair good things on the horizon for our organization. Laura Ray I am Ada Chrisman, and I have been teaching for over 10 years. I Adult Ed SIG began teaching Spanish in private schools and to home schoolers. I Jenna Kelly worked as an Adult Ed ESL volunteer with Literacy Volunteers of Higher Ed SIG America. I moved to teaching in public schools as an Elementary Ed Kama Offenberger ESL teacher, and then into Secondary as both ESL and Spanish teacher. Finally, I moved to Secondary Ed SIG teaching Higher Ed, and am now Teaching/Research Faculty at the Virginia Tech Language & Naadira Mubarak Culture Institute IEP. Elementary Ed SIG With this varied background, I always look forward to the VATESOL newsletter when Stephanie Sebolt it comes out, wishing to read all the Special Interest Group sections. I have found that Teacher Ed/Program methodologies that work for one group of learners often resound with another as well, and Admin SIG it is always good to find practices and hear stories from the variety our membership Jo Tyler represents. I hope you all continue to offer your submissions as we are enriched by them. Eastern Contact As for the good things that are happening, the VATESOL board is in planning mode Michelle Grau for our annual conference. This year it will be in Newport News, VA, at Christopher Newport Western Contact th th Pamela Smart Smith University, October 9 & 10 . More information will be coming soon, but I think it is safe to Northern Contact say that the venue and the conference will be topnotch this year. If you have any interest in VACANT assisting with planning or volunteering during the conference feel free to contact me! Central Contact Between now and then, please take some time to think back over your academic VACANT year. I know that when summer comes, our first inclination is to jump at the chance to relax Membership Chair and not think about work for a while. However, it is also a good time to reflect on what Ashley Leonard practices that worked, which assessments best informed your teaching, and what you Legislative Liaison learned from your students. These are things your colleagues want to know about! I would Denise Ricks like to see you sharing at the conference, whether it is a presentation, a poster, or a special Webmaster interest group session, your experiences are valuable to us all. Debrah Baxter In closing, I would like to personally thank Laura Ray, our Past President and Liaison to VESA Nominating Chair, for stepping up to steer the boat as I am transitioning to this new role. Jo Tyler She is an invaluable asset to this organization. Newsletter Editor Jiuhan Huang Happy summer, Parliamentarian Liz Bowles Ada Chrisman VATESOL President [email protected] 1 | P a g e VOL. 18 ISSUE 2 - VATESOL NEWSLETTER Special Interest Group (SIG) News Teacher Ed/Program Admin SIG Chair, Jo Tyler [email protected] A report released in May 2015 by must for ESOL professionals. Learning about the trends the Pew Research Center shows in immigration, education and language usage enables that 68% of Hispanics in the U.S. us to understand the changing environment in which speak English proficiently, up by we work. One of the best resources for this information 9% since 2000 (Krogstad, Stepler is the Pew Research Center which provides at-a-glance & Lopez, 2015, p. 4). This trend charts as well as detailed reports on its website at parallels an increase in the http://www.pewresearch.org percentage of Hispanics who were born in the U.S. In 2000, 40% percent of Hispanics were born in the U.S., but that figure increased to 65% by 2013 (Pew References Research Center, 2015, p. 1) One of the most dramatic statistics revealed in Krogstad, J. M., Stepler, R. & Lopez, M. H. (2015). this report is the change in English proficiency among English proficiency on the rise among Latinos: foreign born Hispanic children, from 47% in 2000 to U. S. born driving language changes. Retrieved 70% in 2013, up by 23%. In comparison, the increase from from 1980 to 2000 was http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/05/12/engli only 4% (Krogstad et al., sh-proficiency-on-the-rise-among-latinos/ 2015, p. 9). Among the Hispanic children born in Pew Research Center. (2015). Statistical portrait of the U.S., the increase Hispanics in the United States, 2013. Retrieved from 1980 to 2013 was from 15%. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/05/12/statis This data is a tical-portrait-of-hispanics-in-the-united-states- testament to the 1980-2013/ improvements in ESOL teaching and teacher Jo Tyler is chair of the Teacher Education/Program education over the past Administration SIG of VATESOL and professor of two decades. Keeping up linguistics and education at the University of Mary with demographic Washington. From Krogstad et al. 2015, p. 9 statistics is a Higher Ed. SIG Chair, Kama Offenberger [email protected] One of the greatest challenges of teaching is continually In March of this year, several faculty and administrators finding new ways to make the classroom as fun and at the VTLCI attended and presented at the TESOL engaging as possible. For today’s student populations, convention in Toronto, and they brought back many of the best strategies incorporate technology. information about some amazing resources. My two 2 | P a g e VOL. 18 ISSUE 2 - VATESOL NEWSLETTER particular favorites have already begun to make regular appearances in my classrooms. TodaysMeet Kahoot! Unlike Kahoot, TodaysMeet does not require that you create an account. Instead, you simply choose a name This is a surprisingly easy for your room, select the length of time you want the program that can be used to room to exist, and create it. Students then access the create quizzes for your chat by going to the website (with the room name students. I have used it included). Finally, students can make up their own several times as a review nicknames and become part of the conversation. activity for vocabulary and This is an incredibly versatile tool that students grammar, and it is now can use, for example, to write and share sample greeted with great excitement sentences in class, to participate in a game in which and competitive gusto. they are racing to give the correct answer first, or to To use Kahoot, you first need to create a free hold out of class discussions. Students can access it account. You can then develop quizzes, surveys, or with their phones, tablets, or computers. Visit the site discussions. Quizzes are multiple choice and can at https://todaysmeet.com/. include audio, video, or images. Students access the quiz using a unique PIN and can answer questions using A huge thank you to Mary Freday and Elizabeth Bowles their cell phones or tablets. from the VTLCI for bringing back these excellent Some students may initially struggle with the activities from TESOL. If you have recently found any method of choosing the answers on their phones by great technology or tools, please share them! Email looking at the colors and pictures for the answer them to me at [email protected]. choices on the screen, but in my experience they usually catch on and actively participate after the first one or Kama Offenberger is an instructor at the Virginia Tech two questions. In addition, Kahoot has thousands upon Language & Culture Institute in Blacksburg, VA. thousands of public quizzes created by other users that you can also use with your students. Visit the site at https://create.kahoot.it/#login Adult Ed SIG Chair, Jenna Kelly [email protected] Happy Summer everyone! As There are four strands within these standards: Adult Education and Literacy Writing, Speaking/Listening, Language (grammar, programs have been preparing punctuation, word usage, etc.) and Reading. The for the implementation of WIOA, standards recommend an integrated model where you the College and Career are teaching them together instead of individually. Readiness Standards (CCRS) have There are three key shifts from the way we become a hot topic. The CCRS traditionally teach ESOL. 1. Complexity of the text: were developed by the Allowing learners to work with complex texts instead of Department of Education in using simplified texts. 2. Evidence: Focusing in on the 2013 and were adopted by text and finding the answers within the text instead of Virginia’s Adult Education in focusing so much on opinion. 3. Knowledge: Using 2014. The standards are based on K-12 Common Core informational texts instead of literary texts. These shifts and focus on ABE/ASE learners and aren’t directly are so that learners will be well prepared for either a written for ESOL. Therefore, the part that is the most career or college track. There are many good resources applicable to ESOL is the Language Arts Standards. 3 | P a g e VOL. 18 ISSUE 2 - VATESOL NEWSLETTER on the VALRC website for more information, or feel free College of William and Mary.