CBET Pledge Drive ~ Oct. 20-30, 2009

It’s that time of year again! 
You bet…It’s CBET (Community-Based English Tutoring).
The purpose of the CBET funds is to provide free or subsidized adult English instruction to parents or other community members who pledge to provide English tutoring to California school children with limited English proficiency.
During our CBET Pledge Drive, our ESL/Family Literacy students will pledge [...]

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STEP Forward (Sub Teacher Essentials Packet)

We want our substitute teachers to have a productive and pleasant experience with our wonderful students at Newport-Mesa Adult School. To help with this goal, we created the first STEP:
Substitute Teacher Essentials Packet
 We hope our STEP will help you efficiently create your substitute lesson plans.  Remember, you must provide a detailed written lesson plan for the substitute [...]

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Top Post This Week – Remembering 9/11

On his blog Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day……For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL, Larry compiled a list of helpful sites for remembering 9/11 in the ESL classroom.  Check out these excellent resources:

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Revised ESL Pacing Plans and Testing Calendar

Here are the revised ESL Pacing Plans and Testing Calendar for 2009-10:

All-Star I Pacing Plan (2009-10)
All-Star II Pacing Plan (2009-10)
All-Star III Pacing Plan (2009-10)
All-Star IV Pacing Plan (2009-10)
Testing Calendar (2009-10)

A big THANKS to Mandi for revising our pacing plans and testing calendar to align with our new managed-enrollment session dates!

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End-of-Semester Essentials ~ June, 2009

Here again are Martha’s End-of-Semester Essentials to help you hit the lip and rip….without any gnarly wipe-outs.  
 Keep it smooth, Dudes and Dudettes!  
Click on BACK after viewing a file to return to this post.
CASAS Assessment Resources

CASAS Scores & ESL Level Placement
Sample Certificate of Achievement

Certificates

Sample Certificate of Achievement (CASAS)
Attendance & Achievement Certificate Template

ESL Curriculum Pacing Plans

All-Star 1 Pacing [...]

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Brain Botox

 Botox is known to be somewhat helpful in keeping a person’s appearance youthful if only for a while.  But to consistently lessen the effects of cognitive decline, researchers have found that  the best remedies are proved to be linked with problem solving,  excercise, a healthy diet, sleep and socializing. Among  other recommended activities, to keep our [...]

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“And In This Corner…”

Here’s a cool website that I have been using in my classroom. It has lots of activities including thematic units, lesson plans, and printable worksheets for your students…and it’s FREE! Check it out!
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/

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Hail Today in Laguna Hills

 
 

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Things You Need ~ 1st Week of 2nd Semester

Class Orientation PowerPoints

Beginning Literacy ESL Orientation PowerPoint
Beginning Low ESL Orientation PowerPoint
Beginning High ESL Orientation PowerPoint
Intermediate Low ESL Orientation PowerPoint
Intermediate High ESL OrientationPowerPoint
Multi-Advanced ESL Orientation PowerPoint
Sonora’s ESL & Tech Orientation PowerPoint

Course Outlines

Course Outline: Beginning Literacy
Course Outline: Beginning Low
Course Outline: Beginning High
Course Outline: Intermediate Low
Course Outline: Intermediate High
Course Outline: Advanced Low
Course Outline: Advanced High

Goal Setting

Goal Setting Ideas [...]

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End-of-Semester Essentials

 
As the sun sets on 1st semester at Newport-Mesa Adult School, here again are Martha’s End-of-Semester Essentials to help you hit the lip and rip….without any gnarly wipe-outs.  
 Keep it smooth, Dudes and Dudettes!  
Click on BACK after viewing a file to return to this post.
CASAS Assessment Resources

CASAS Scores & ESL Level Placement
Sample Certificate of Achievement

Certificates

Sample Certificate of [...]

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Orientation PowerPoints Are Here!!!

 
Student Council 2007-08Student Council asked for it!  They helped make it!  THEY GET IT! 
How do learners become LEADERS  at N-MUSD Adult School?  Continue reading to learn how our 2007-08 Student Council changed how we do intake & orientation at our school.   View/save/edit our student-created PowerPoints and use them in your classes for Orientation Week…and beyond. 

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USALearns- A Free Online English Portal

USALearns is a free web site for immigrants and other adults wanting to improve their English skills.
It’s free.  It’s simple.  It’s easily accessible.  It can be used inside or outside the traditional classroom.  It teaches basic English skills and helps adults improve their English proficiency.
At NMUSD Adult School, we can use this web site as 1) an [...]

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Miguel’s Tech Tip of the Week: http://classtools.net/

Miguel’s Tech Tip:  Our computer/digital photography teacher, Miguel Vasquez, shared a cool website http://classtools.net/ at last week’s PLC for our daytime ESL teachers. 
Overview:  It’s a great interactive tool for practicing vocabulary, comprehension, and grammar.
Classtools.net allows you to create free educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash! Host them on your own blog, website or [...]

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ESL Fun with Karaoke

These recommendations come from Larry Ferlazzo’s Best of list.  He writes:
Karaoke is a good language-development activity,  and there are quite a few karaoke sites on the Internet….
[These sites are] …available free-of-charge (or at least some of its resources have to be free), easy-to-use, require no download, and allow students — either alone or in a group [...]

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Verb Power! Simply Pointing It Out

Here is a Verb PowerPoint that points out the power of consistency and simplicity in verb practice.  It uses simple, repetitive sentence structures to help ESL students differentiate between present progressive, simple past, and simple present verbs.  The images come from FreeFoto.com.
A N-MUSD Adult School Beginning High ESL Teacher created the PowerPoint after an “unsuccessful” grammar lesson on the same concept.  Lora [...]

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Learn English at Home…for FREE!

by Mandi Spottsville, Distance Learning Program Coordinator
The Newport-Mesa Adult School is using a wonderful program to help meet the needs of parents who cannot attend our 3-hour classes but who still want to learn English.  This program is called EASY English.  The EASY program is a set of DVDs and corresponding work packets that students [...]

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Learners to Leaders 2008!

NMUSD Adult School ~ a dynamic community of learners and leaders!
We learn to become wise leaders in our families, our workplaces, and our local, national and global community.   Education…becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.  Paulo [...]

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Our ESL Student Transfer Policy and Procedure

We want to remind all ESL teachers, administrators, and office assistants at Newport-Mesa Adult School that our student transfer policy and procedure are as follows…

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Remembering 9/11 in the ESL Classroom

On his blog Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day……For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL, Larry compiled a list of helpful sites for remembering 9/11 in the ESL classroom.  Check out these excellent resources:
Inside 9/11 is from the National Geographic. It has short video interviews, along with transcripts, of key people connected to the event, including survivors.
Complete [...]

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Essential End-of-Semester Materials

There are only 6 weeks until the end of the semester!  Click on the Continue Reading link for our essential end-of-semester materials to help you plan and organize the last month of instruction and assessment.

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Using Video in ESL Instruction

Check out this easy-to-make video on teachertube.com:   
ESL Instruction-Teaching Eating Utensils.

Description from teachertube.com
Although obviously homemade, this video is a wonderful example of ESL instruction using video implementation. It is a great jumping off point for you to use in your classroom, creating your own videos for vocabulary lessons, or even encouraging your students to create their [...]

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Movie Project ~ Starring Beg. Lit & Low ESL Students

At the last PLC meeting, our Beg. Lit and Low teachers at our BESST-evening site came up with a great a culminating group project.  Their students will make a Moving on Up movie that introduces beginning literacy students to the beginning low level.  This project capitalizes on the power of project based learning.   It gives students a [...]

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ESL Tip ~ Online Radio Essays on NPR

This I believe! ~ Here is a true treasure of an ESL tip, shared by Beth Bogage (SDCCD) at the April 10-13 CATESOL conference in Sacramento.

Use “This I Believe” online radio essays in your intermediate-high and advanced ESL classes to read, write, and talk about values.

Continue reading for WHY, HOW, and WITH WHAT…

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ESL Tip: Sponging with Verbs

ESL Tip submitted by Nancy
NMUSD Adult School Beginning Low ESL instructor
Here’s a simple idea that works when you have a few ticks left on the clock and need a quick-n-easy sponge activity that keeps students focused on English.

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Goal Setting and Self Reflection – A Daily Practice

How do we weave goal setting and self-reflection into the daily fabric of our instructional practice? Read on for some practical ideas.

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CPT Meeting ~ March 19, 2008

Our ESL Curriculum Planning Team will meet this Wednesday at the BESST-Center, Room 116, from 2:30-4:00pm.  To view/download our CPT Agenda, click on the below hyperlink:
 CPT Agenda (March 19)
CPT Meeting Minutes (March 19)
 

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Mis CASAS Son Sus CASAS

CASAS testing is coming to a site near you.  Click here to view/download our second-semester Testing Calendar.  Read on for additional resources to help you prepare your students for the CASAS post-test.

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Nifty ESL Site: Breaking News English

Breaking News English.com offers free, ready-to-use EFL / ESL lesson plans in Word and PDF with graded news articles, listening, podcast, and communicative activities.  It appears to be most appropriate for Intermediate High/Advanced ESL levels.  Read on to learn more about this site’s nifty features:

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ESL/Citizenship: Fun online quiz

This fun online quiz allows students to find out where they fit on the political map:  http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
Read on for for helpful ideas on how to use this quiz in your ESL/Citizenship classes to get students excited about the political process and the upcoming elections.

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Tech Tip: Building Basic Computer Skills w/Mouserobics

Many of our adult students are first-time computer users.  They often approach a computer with some fear and trepidation.  As an ESL/Computer instructor, I use Mouserobics to build my students’ confidence with basic computer skills.  Read on to learn why I adore this site!  Lead on!!

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Eating Well, Living Well: Nutrition Education for Adult ESL

Information provided by:
Laurie Cozzolino cozzolino@pacbell.net
Nancy Hampson nhampson@sdccd.net
Eating Well, Living Well Online Teacher Training Webcasts are ready for use.  To register and view the webcasts, go to http://www.sdcoe.net/eatingwell/welcome.asp.

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Fast-Acting Relief for the Computer-Lab Headache

You want to take your class of 30 adult ESL students to the computer lab for hands-on computer experience.  Your lesson objective is to teach how to access and use free ESL web sites.  For many students, it will be their first time navigating the web.  They feel nervous…and so do you! 
Read on for some tips from experts in the field on how [...]

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Learner Outcomes for ESL Beginning Literacy

Our curriculum planning team is working to provide additional tools for our Beginning Literacy teachers. Here is a draft of our ESL Beginning Literacy Expected Learner Outcomes.  Read on for more information.

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A PLC at Work on Common Formative Assessments

Last night, our BESST site teachers met for a 40-minute PLC Power Wrap Session.  One team posted their meeting summary this morning in the comment area of the Empowering a Learning Community, Transforming our World article. 
Their summary includes their Smart Goals, strategies and action steps, responsibilities, timeline, and evidence of success.  Read on to learn more about how this team intends to work together to [...]

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ESL Curriculum: Grammar Recommendation

Based on student and teacher feedback, the NMUSD Adult School Curriculum Planning Team made a recommendation to supplement our ESL curriculum (All-Star series) with class sets of the Azar grammar series.  Read on for our CPT recommendations of usage by ESL level.  Read on!  Lead on!!

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Setting and Revisiting Adult Learner Goals

Second semester begins next week, and it’s time to plan those important first weeks of instruction. As you plan, please consider the research-proven power of goal setting for increased student motivation and retention.  Read on for these tips and tools:

helpful, research-based tips on goal setting for the adult learner

goal setting templates to kick off your second semester class.

Read on!  Lead [...]

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Multiple Assessments for Next-Level ESL Placement

In our adult ESL program, we use a variety of assessments to evaluate student learning.  During the last week of the semester, our teachers and ESL students work together to review these assessments and jointly determine whether the students have met the exit criteria for their levels. 
In this article, you can read about our next-level placement [...]

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Listening Comprehension: Free Online Audio Resources for ESL Learners

Listening comprehension is an essential skill for adult ESL learners.  Our students need authentic, interactive and varied listening activities that build the communicative skills they need to succeed.
Here’s one great site that offers a FREE audio course with 40 Units of English focusing on practical conversations and academic language as commonly found in American universities and society. 

Practical [...]

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ESL Tech Tip from Taylor

Contributed by Taylor Blakely – NMUSD Adult School Technology Peer Mentor
Here are Taylor’s tech-tip handouts and PowerPoint presentation from his latest Tech Tip featuring UsingEnglish.com, esl.about.com and EnglishClub.com.  We share to impart, impact, improve and empower!  Read on. Lead on!

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Making Course Outlines Meaningful Tools for Learning Communities

Our curriculum planning team (8 teachers, 3 administrators) just approved NMUSD Adult School’s new ESL course outlines.  Read on to learn about our revision and adoption process.  More importantly, read on to learn how these course outlines are becoming essential tools for our teachers as we pursue our PLC goal of improving student learning.   Read on. Lead [...]

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Two Thumbs Up for this ESL Site

The 80th annual Academy Awards are coming!  Create your own BUZZ by using this free website that helps your students study English through movie trailers and reproducible ESL activities that go with them.  You’ll be an instant celebrity!   Read on. Lead on!

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Online Tools for Teachers

If you have Microsoft Office available, this gallery provides templates for creating certificates, newsletters, various tests, class gradebooks, a seating chart, lesson plans and a syllabus.  Read on. Lead on!

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Have You Tried Google’s Web Page Translation?

Google breaks the language barrier with this translation feature. Using machine translation technology, Google now gives you the ability to translate any web page with a single click.  Read on to see how Google Translation can work as a powerful instructional tool for you!  Read on. Lead on!

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Daily Oral English: Conversation Starters

If you are looking for some conversation starters and reading comprehension activities, this website may just be what you need to get your students listening, talking and learning together.  We share to impart, impact, improve and empower!  Read on. Lead on!

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a4esl.org – Building Vocabulary using Smartboards

Are you looking for a virtual picture file by topic with instant assessment built right in?  Look no further than http://a4esl.org/.  It’s a homerun!  Read on. Lead on!

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