Chapters International

Overview:

The time has come to rethink past policies and practices so that all school leaders and teachers develop responsive mindsets and actions. First and foremost is a call for EAL specialists to shift from ‘fixers of learners’ TO ‘creators, collaborators, consultants, and coaches’ to build and sustain an advocacy ecosystem where multilingual learners benefit from all teachers as language teachers. These four sessions recap how to make this work a reality.

Agenda:

Session 1 leans into the macro-paradigm shifts of what is termed in the research The Multilingual Turn to consider resultant micro-changes impacting the success of multilinguals in international-school settings (EAL Specialist as creator)

Session 2 jumps into the principles of CLIL - a content and language integrated learning approach - where EAL specialist collaborate with classroom teachers to integrate academic language instruction (EAL Specialist as collaborator)

Session 3 revisits instruction and assessment tools which classroom teachers can use in consultation with EAL specialists, even when EAL specialists are not ‘in’ the room (EAL Specialist as consultant)

Session 4 explores ways in which EAL specialists can use utilize coaching models and tools to build a sustainable advocacy ecosystem where all teachers are indeed language teachers (EAL Specialist as coach)

Who Should Attend:

Pre-K-12 EAL teachers and school leaders interested in advocating and improving learning in a school with majority multilingual populations
School leaders seeking to optimize that mindsets, knowledge, and skills of EAL specialists

DR. VIRGINIA PAULINE ROJAS

Virginia Rojas is semi-retired from international-school consulting in which she conducted professional training on effective programs and strategies for multilingual learners from pre-school through grade 12 for EAL specialists and classroom teachers alike.

As a former ASCD faculty member, Dr. Rojas uses the backwards design curriculum model to help teachers design high-challenge, high-support learning experiences for strengthening multilingual learners' second language proficiency and academic achievement.

She provided professional development trainings, job-embedded coaching and demonstration lessons, and conducted linguistic audits of EAL (English as an Additional Language) program. She has worked in over 350 international schools throughout the world as well as with school districts in the US and Canada.

Dr. Rojas is the author of Strategies for Success with English Language Learners: An Action Toolkit for Classroom and ESL Teachers published by ASCD (2007) and of Educating English Language Learners: Connecting Language, Literacy, and Culture (2010), ASCD DVD Series. In partnership with the PTC, Dr. Rojas is the architect and lead faculty of the PTC EAL certification program.