MSUM hosts symposium on Teaching English Language Learners
MSU Moorhead is hosting the second annual TEAM Work Symposium: Teaching ELLS with Academics in Mind on Wednesday and Thursday Nov. 18 and 19. The theme is “Pulling Together for ELLS: Content and Language Instruction.”
The conference begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday with registration and a continental breakfast. All events are open to educators at the elementary, high school, and higher education levels.
Kate Kinsella, Ed.D., a teacher educator in secondary education at San Francisco State University, is the keynote speaker. Kinsella has maintained active involvement in K-12 classrooms by teaching academic literacy skills to high school English learners. She is a sought after consultant and presenter across the country regarding instruction of K-12 English learners and striving readers. Kinsella is co-author of Scholastic’s Read 180 Literacy Intervention Program and is the author of the new ESL companion for grades 4 – 12, the LBook.
Kinsella will be the featured speaker for much of the day. Her keynote address is entitled “Structured and Accountable Classroom Language Use Across the Curricula: A Key to Narrowing the K-12 Verbal Gap.” Workshops on explicit language development using classroom structure and vocabulary follow.
Concurrent sessions are being held on Thursday. Speakers from the region will conduct sessions on topics related to working with English Language Learners in the classroom, computer assisted language instruction, ELL placement in MnSCU, and speaking English from an Ojibwe perspective to name a few. Displays and a book table will also be available that day.
The cost for the entire conference is $85, which includes a continental breakfast both mornings as well as lunches. A student rate is also available for interested college students. One undergraduate or graduate credit is available for those who attend the entire conference at an additional cost. An assignment will be due after the conference for participants taking it for credit. Continuing Education Units are also available.
For more information or to register go to the website www.mnstate.edu/continue or contact MSUM’s Continuing Studies at (218) 477-5862 or e-mail contstdy@mnstate.edu.