Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

Have you heard of&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge Education Group</a>?

Bridge provides accessible and affordable English language teacher training, certification, and continuing professional&nbsp;development.

They offer&hellip;

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TEFL certification programs</a>&nbsp;that provide teachers with internationally recognized&nbsp;credentials</li>
	<li>in-depth,&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/specialized" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">specialized professional development courses</a>&nbsp;to help teachers learn about the latest methodology, best practices, and technologies in&nbsp;English language teaching (ELT)</li>
	<li>short&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/micro" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">micro-credential courses</a>&nbsp;specially designed to help educators gain new skills that will take their teaching to the next&nbsp;level</li>
</ul>

Bridge also publishes relevant and helpful ELT news and resources on&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BridgeUniverse</a>.

Here are four&nbsp;tips from&nbsp;BridgeUniverse&rsquo;s panel on the <a href="https://vimeo.com/776708285/42107a24dd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">best practices for correcting pronunciation errors in the ESL/EFL classroom</a> that you can incorporate into your teaching.

<h2>1. Set realistic pronunciation goals with your students</h2>

At the beginning of a new class, have a conversation with your students to find out what they hope to accomplish by the end of the course. Often, students will say they want to sound like someone whose&nbsp;first language is English. This gives you an opportunity to outline your vision for the class and set a more realistic goal with your students.

Here are some resources you may find helpful for setting realistic goals with your students:

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2127-my-language-goals" target="_blank">My Language Goals</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2224-goal-setting-can-do" target="_blank">Goal-Setting &ndash;&nbsp;Can Do</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2671-50-pronunciation-targets" target="_blank">50 Pronunciation Targets</a></li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
&quot;You don&rsquo;t need to be a native speaker to be a competent speaker in English.&quot;

&mdash;DJ Kaiser, professor and director of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Webster University
</blockquote>

<h2>2. Show different English speakers to your students</h2>

Your students may find it inspirational to see and hear from people with the same language background as them speaking English.

For example, if your student&rsquo;s first language is Portuguese, have them&nbsp;watch a video of a well-known person or celebrity speaking English whose first language is also Portuguese. This will help your student&nbsp;realize that they don&rsquo;t need to sound like someone whose first language is English in order to be a good English speaker.&nbsp;

<h2>3. Avoid correcting every pronunciation error</h2>

When it comes to correcting pronunciation errors, the panelists agreed that there are a few factors to consider, such as...

<ul>
	<li>the level of your students</li>
	<li>the focus of your class</li>
	<li>what you&rsquo;ve already taught</li>
</ul>

Ricardo Cezar, an English teacher and a teacher trainer based in Brazil, also considers his students&rsquo; language backgrounds.

&ldquo;I teach monolingual students most of the time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I have to know what problems Portuguese speakers will normally have when trying to speak English.&rdquo;

Karen Taylor de Caballero, an educational consultant and trainer, believes rhythm and stress are important errors to focus on.

&ldquo;What I find is, when learners want to feel confident, the lack of confidence shows up in the rhythm, first and foremost, and the lack of comprehensibility shows up in misplaced or unperformed stress,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;So I really promote starting with stress and rhythm at the heart of that.&rdquo;

DJ Kaiser, professor and director of TESOL at Webster University, on the other hand, weighs comprehensibility with pronunciation.

&ldquo;I know a lot of people, they want to master that &lsquo;th&rsquo; sound,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And while I&rsquo;ve got great approaches for teaching that, I also have to consider is that time worth spending to correct the pronunciation of &lsquo;th.&rsquo; The &lsquo;th&rsquo; sound typically does not lead to miscommunication. If you&rsquo;re being understood and if certain sounds really don&rsquo;t make a difference in people being able to understand you, I wouldn&rsquo;t spend time focused on it.&rdquo;

At the end of the day, remember that students can&rsquo;t implement every pronunciation correction all at once. They can only comprehend so much at one time. With that in mind, it&rsquo;s important to be thoughtful about the feedback you give your students. Try not to overwhelm them with so much information that they get discouraged. Consider the items that are most important and focus on those errors first.

<h2>4. Make a list of pronunciation errors</h2>

When your students are working on a speaking exercise in groups, walk around the classroom and&nbsp;listen to them talk. Instead of interrupting them every time a pronunciation error is made, write down all the errors on the board as you hear them.

At the end of class, you can discuss the list of pronunciation errors that were made with the whole class without interrupting the flow of the exercise or singling out individual students.

<h2>New! Use Ellii to teach pronunciation</h2>

Did you hear? We recently launched our new <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/pronunciation" target="_blank">Pronunciation videos</a>! In each how-to video, Lise, our social engagement manager, provides a step-by-step tutorial for how to make the sound at hand (e.g., /th/, /r/, /s/). Students are encouraged to repeat after Lise and practice pronouncing the sound out loud for themselves.

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/766180715" width="640"></iframe></div>

Additional practice videos are also available, and each video links to its associated lesson.

We hope you enjoy these new videos&nbsp;and stay tuned as we&rsquo;ll be adding more in the near future!

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

Teachers, how do you teach pronunciation? What errors do you focus on? Let us know in the comments below.
</div>

4 Tips from BridgeUniverse on How to Correct Pronunciation Errors in the Classroom

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Have you heard about the&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">ESL Talk&nbsp;podcast</a>?

As described on their Apple Podcast page,&nbsp;ESL Talk&nbsp;is &ldquo;a podcast for English teachers by English teachers.&rdquo; In each episode, the hosts and their guests discuss various teaching topics, methods, and approaches pertaining to ESL teachers. It&#39;s a fantastic way to&nbsp;hone your English teaching skills&nbsp;and stay current in the field.

Here are three&nbsp;key takeaways from&nbsp;ESL Talk&#39;s episode on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/building-a-connection-in-the-online-environment/id1548652844?i=1000558123538" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">building a connection in the online environment</a> that you can use to strengthen your relationship with your online students.

<h2>1. Get your learners to complete a questionnaire</h2>

It can be hard to get to know someone in an online environment.

During your first class with your new students, ask them to fill out a questionnaire. Not only will this help you get to know your learners better right from the start, but it will also help you&nbsp;understand their level of familiarity with English as well as their goals for the class.&nbsp;

Here are some ready-made questionnaires you can use to get to know your students:

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2832-english-questionnaire" target="_blank">English Questionnaire</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2123-autobiography-beg" target="_blank">Autobiography &ndash;&nbsp;Beg</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2124-autobiography-int" target="_blank">Autobiography &ndash;&nbsp;Int</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2125-autobiography-adv" target="_blank">Autobiography &ndash;&nbsp;Adv</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Play icebreaker games with your students</h2>

Throughout your&nbsp;first few classes together, continue to get to know your new students by spending a few minutes playing <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/key-takeaways-from-tefl-international-webinar-on-ice-breaker-games" target="_blank">icebreaker games</a> with them. Two Truths and a Lie is a perfect icebreaker game to play with a brand-new class.

<h3>How to play Two Truths and Lie</h3>

<ol>
	<li>Ask your students to write down two true statements and one false statement about themselves. Make sure you participate too!</li>
	<li>Have them take turns reading their statements out loud to the class.</li>
	<li>After they&rsquo;ve read out their statements, the rest of the class has to guess which statement was the lie.</li>
</ol>

This game will&nbsp;help you get to know your class in a really fun way, and it&#39;ll help your students learn a little bit about you as well!

<h2>3. Make time to&nbsp;talk with each other</h2>

Typically, small talk happens much more easily and naturally in a physical classroom. In an online environment, you may have to schedule time for it.

Leave a few minutes at the beginning or end of class to&nbsp;make small talk with your students. Encourage your learners to share what they did today or over the weekend and what they&rsquo;re looking forward to for the upcoming week. Make sure you open up too!

Engaging in small talk gives your students a chance to practice their speaking skills and will help you to continue building a personal connection with them.

In our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/functional-english/1749-making-small-talk" target="_blank">Making Small Talk lesson</a>, students review appropriate subjects as well as useful phrases for beginning small talk.

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

Teachers, what do you do to build a personal connection with your online students? Let us know in the comments below.
</div>

3 Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Building a Connection in the Online Environment

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<div class="white-box">
This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and inspiring!
</div>

Nancy Lorenz-Vega was volunteering as an academic coach when she discovered how much she enjoyed teaching. This led her to leave her career in the corporate world and go back to school.

She&rsquo;s been a teacher for 14 years now.

&ldquo;I always thought I&rsquo;d be a good teacher but didn&rsquo;t decide to pursue it until I went back to school as an adult,&rdquo; Nancy said.

Today, she teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) both online and in person at <a href="https://pasadena.edu/" ref="noopener noreferrer nofollow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Pasadena City College</a> in Pasadena, California. Her students are mainly at the intermediate level, but she also teaches&nbsp;students in the <a href="https://curriculum.pasadena.edu/noncredit-division/vocational-english-second-language/vesl-health-care-cert-competency/" ref="noopener noreferrer nofollow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">VESL Health Care certificate program</a> who are hoping to work in medicine.

&quot;I try to bring my background into the lessons, utilizing my experience in the business world&nbsp;where we learn language for the workplace, as well as my early training in the arts where I teach students to speak well with good pronunciation, expression, intonation, and a wealth of vocabulary for different situations,&rdquo; Nancy explained.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2932/content_Ellii_Teacher-Feature-Nancy.jpg" />

Nancy Lorenz-Vega is pictured here.

<h2>How Nancy uses Ellii to overcome the challenges of teaching</h2>

For Nancy, the most challenging part about being a teacher is tending to the needs of students at different levels within the same class.

&ldquo;Ellii helps me to do this, as I can adjust the level of some activities,&quot; she said. &quot;For instance, I can choose a topic and there may be a high-intermediate level as well as a low-intermediate or beginner version of the same article.&rdquo;

One of her favorite Ellii lessons is our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/grammar-practice-worksheets/1610-subject-verb-agreement" target="_blank">Subject&ndash;Verb Agreement</a> lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/grammar-practice-worksheets" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section.

&ldquo;There are about 17 pages of worksheets, vocabulary, rules, etc. All of the grammar lessons are wonderful and full of content,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;

Nancy also likes our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/mini-debates/1308-english-globalization" target="_blank">English Globalization</a> lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/mini-debates" target="_blank">Mini-Debates</a> section, calling it &quot;a great discussion starter&quot; for her ESL students.

Despite the challenges that come with the job, Nancy loves being an educator and making a difference.

&ldquo;I&#39;m so lucky to teach my ESL students,&rdquo; she&nbsp;said. &ldquo;They want to learn! The students are adults who want to get ahead or learn English better to bring their skills to the workplace. It&#39;s so rewarding to be able to teach and have students so interested in the material!&rdquo;

Her advice for aspiring teachers?

&ldquo;Every class is different. Get to know your students individually&nbsp;but also as a class. What is the chemistry of the class? What do they want to learn?&rdquo;&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use the platform&nbsp;in your classroom.
</blockquote>

Teacher Feature: Nancy Lorenz-Vega

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Did you know that December 22, 2022, is Ellii&rsquo;s official 20th birthday?

Earlier this year, we celebrated 20 years of providing great content for great teachers by <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-name-ellii" target="_blank">changing our name</a> to better reflect who we are and what we do to empower educators.

As we wrap up our 20th year in business, we can&rsquo;t help but reflect on how far we&rsquo;ve come.

<h2>A little bit of backstory</h2>

In 2002, our CEO, Ben Buckwold, founded Ellii (formerly known as ESL Library). The idea for Ellii came out of Ben&rsquo;s own teaching experience. As a former English language teacher himself, he was no stranger to late nights of lesson planning. He knew how hard teachers had to work and how many extra hours they had to put in outside of class time.

Ben hoped that Ellii would save teachers time by taking the most time-consuming tasks off&nbsp;their plates. It&rsquo;s safe to say the platform has done just that and more.

Over the past 20 years, Ellii has grown from a small supplemental resource site to one of the world&#39;s most commonly used language teaching platforms. Today, Ellii is used in more than 10,000 schools across&nbsp;the globe.

Whether you&rsquo;re new to the platform or have been with us since the very beginning, we thank you for choosing Ellii and are&nbsp;thrilled to have you as&nbsp;part of our global community of teachers.

We&#39;re&nbsp;proud of what we&rsquo;ve built, and we can&rsquo;t wait to see how Ellii grows over the next 20 years. In the meantime, here&rsquo;s an in-depth look at Ellii&#39;s evolution over the years.

<blockquote>
<h2>Ellii over the years</h2>

1997&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Ben started working as an English language teacher.

2002&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;On December 22, 2002, Ben founded Ellii! Back then, it was known as ESL Images and had 2,000 images and 40 lessons. The subsciption-based resource site primarily focused on visual learning content. On that same day, we launched our first GoogleAds campaign and got our very first customer as a result. That customer&rsquo;s name was Adam.

2004&nbsp;&ndash; With&nbsp;more than 200 lessons on the site, we changed our name to ESL Library, a name we kept for 18 years!

2006&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;We launched EnglishAvenue, a companion site that solely focused on children&rsquo;s content.

2008&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;One month after Apple launched the App Store, we released Conversation English, the first English learning app in the world. It ranked number 1 in education apps and made the list of top 50 overall apps in several countries.

2010&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;One month after the iPad was released, we released a series of iPad language learning apps.

2013&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;We renamed EnglishAvenue to SproutEnglish.

2018&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;We merged ESL Library and SproutEnglish into one platform under the ESL Library brand,&nbsp;gearing our content to learners of all ages. We also hit 1,000 lessons! We began offering digital interactive versions of our content and launched student accounts too.

2021&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;We hosted our <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">first virtual conference</a> to explore current teaching trends and the future of education technology.

2022&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;We <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-name-ellii" target="_blank">changed our name to Ellii</a> to better reflect who we are, what we do, and how we&rsquo;ve changed. We also published our 2,000th lesson, hit 10 million views on<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Ellii" target="_blank"> our YouTube channel</a>,&nbsp;and hosted <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon2022</a>, our second virtual conference&nbsp;where we explored strategies for building stronger relationships with students.
</blockquote>

Celebrating & Looking Back on 20 Years of Ellii

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Have you heard about the&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">ESL Talk&nbsp;podcast</a>?

As described on their Apple Podcast page,&nbsp;ESL Talk&nbsp;is &ldquo;a podcast for English teachers by English teachers.&rdquo; In each episode, the hosts and their guests discuss various teaching topics, methods, and approaches pertaining to ESL teachers. It&#39;s a fantastic way to&nbsp;hone your English teaching skills&nbsp;and stay current in the field.

Here are three&nbsp;key takeaways from&nbsp;ESL Talk&#39;s episode on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/fostering-independent-learning/id1548652844?i=1000540594466" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">fostering independent learning</a>&nbsp;that you can incorporate into your teaching.

<h2>1. Encourage your students to practice English outside of class time</h2>

If you see your students on a regular basis, ask them at the end of each class what they&rsquo;re going to do over the following week or weekend to practice English. When you ask your students this, you&rsquo;re not just telling them that they need to study the language on their own time. You&rsquo;re taking it one step further and asking them to tell you exactly how they&rsquo;re going to work on improving their skills.

If your English learners aren&rsquo;t sure what activity they want&nbsp;to do, this&nbsp;gives you an opportunity to brainstorm some ideas with them. For example, students&nbsp;can...

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Esl-library/playlists" target="_blank">watch one of our videos on YouTube</a> to increase their fluency</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/improve-your-listening-with-true-stories" target="_blank">listen to a podcast</a> to improve their listening skills</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/what-makes-you-cozy" target="_blank">try an activity from our blog</a> to practice their writing</li>
	<li>read a book to improve their reading skills</li>
</ul>

If your students are interested in doing some extra reading, have them check out our reading recommendations:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-for-your-low-int-students" target="_blank">Reading Recommendations for Your Low-Intermediate Students</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-high-intermediate-students" target="_blank">Reading Recommendations for Your High-Intermediate Students</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-for-advanced-students" target="_blank">Reading Recommendations for Your Advanced Students</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Help your students create a practice schedule</h2>

Work with each student individually to craft a schedule that works for them and that gets them into the habit of practicing English on their own time. Outlining the exact days and times your students are expected to devote to additional language learning will give them a clear and focused plan to follow.

To hold them accountable, have them keep a log of what they do during this time. You can also ask them to share the activities they did in&nbsp;class.

<blockquote>
&quot;Those who took control of their own learning were much more engaged.&quot;

&mdash;Fiona, guest speaker on ESL Talk podcast
</blockquote>

<h2>3. Get your students to keep a reflection journal</h2>

In life, we learn when we reflect. This is also true when it comes to our students&rsquo; language learning journeys.

When students learn something new, it&rsquo;s incredibly beneficial to have them take some time to reflect on what they&rsquo;ve learned.

If you&rsquo;re in a physical classroom, students can keep a physical journal. If you&rsquo;re teaching online, students can use a document in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.ca/docs/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Google Docs</a>. They can also use a regular piece of paper to jot down their thoughts.

At the end of class or at the end of a week, guide your students in a few minutes of reflection time by asking them questions like:

<ul>
	<li>What did you learn?</li>
	<li>How did you feel when you were learning it?</li>
	<li>What were you proud of?</li>
	<li>What worked?</li>
	<li>What didn&rsquo;t work?</li>
	<li>What would you do differently?</li>
</ul>

Here are some ready-made assessment&nbsp;tools&nbsp;you may also find useful:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2370-weekly-reflection" target="_blank">Weekly Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2225-monthly-reflection" target="_blank">Monthly Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2557-3-2-1-reflection" target="_blank">3-2-1 Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/3196-weekly-check-in-literacy" target="_blank">Weekly Check-In (Literacy)</a></li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

Teachers, how do you foster independent learning? Let us know in the comments below.
</div>

3 Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Fostering Independent Learning

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<div class="white-box">
This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and inspiring!
</div>

Fernando Varaschin has been teaching English on and off since 2012.

Currently, he&rsquo;s a full-time educator at <a href="https://www.philyoung.com/en/" tagret="_blank" target="_blank">Phil Young&rsquo;s English School</a> in Curitiba, Brazil, where he teaches pre-teens at the&nbsp;intermediate level as well as high school students and adults at the&nbsp;advanced level.

Fernando mostly teaches classes in person, but he also has two online classes as well as a private student.

&ldquo;I was never a great student,&rdquo; admitted Fernando. &ldquo;I had learning difficulties, and&nbsp;I had always thought that most of my teachers were not patient enough and that they assumed everyone learned the same way. I wanted to change that.&quot; 
 
Fernando explained that he&nbsp;wanted to be a teacher who respected students&rsquo; limitations and who taught&nbsp;different subjects using a step-by-step process&mdash;beginning&nbsp;with the simplest concepts before slowly building&nbsp;up to larger ones.

For Fernando, a typical day of teaching can start anywhere from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and can end as late as 10:00 pm.

He begins each day by checking his schedule to make sure he&rsquo;s prepared for each class, and he always arrives 15&ndash;30 minutes early to set up his classroom. In between class time, he plans upcoming lessons, marks tests and assignments, talks to parents, and attends meetings.

His day also involves driving between the four Curitiba branches of Phil Young&rsquo;s English School&nbsp;since he teaches at all of them.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2828/content_Fernando-Varaschin.jpg" />

Fernando Varaschin is pictured here at the front desk of one of the school branches where he teaches.

<h2>How Fernando uses Ellii with his English learners</h2>

Fernando uses Ellii to complement the school&rsquo;s required material.

&ldquo;Ellii fits in like a glove,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have the lessons printed out for my in-person students. Sometimes, I blow [the lesson] up on the digital board so that we can work hands-free. I try to vary as much as I can so that I have a more dynamic class. But [Ellii]&rsquo;s always there and it works perfectly . . . &nbsp;we need reliable material so that we can provide our students with nothing but the best.&rdquo;

With Fernando&rsquo;s private students, he has them pick the Ellii lessons they&rsquo;re interested in.

&ldquo;I browse through the site mirroring it on Google Meet so that they can choose the topics they&#39;re interested in,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;The only thing I do is&nbsp;pick the grammar topics.&rdquo;

<h2>Overcoming the challenges of teaching</h2>

For Fernando, the most challenging part about teaching a big class&nbsp;is giving each student&nbsp;enough attention.

&ldquo;As a teacher, I try my best to encompass everyone and make sure that everybody gets the same amount of attention,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;Although, that&#39;s a hard thing to do given that sometimes students are not exactly at the level that they&#39;re supposed to be. . . . as a teacher trainer at our school once said, &#39;How can I bring that one student out from the shadows?&#39;&nbsp;In other words, how can I get him or her to participate more?&rdquo;

Despite the challenges, Fernando loves being a teacher.

&ldquo;I love what I do and I intend to continue to do it for as long as I can. I&rsquo;m always looking to get better and better at it.&rdquo;

His advice for aspiring teachers?

&quot;Be patient with your students and keep in mind that different people learn in different ways.&rdquo;

<blockquote>
Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use it in your classroom.
</blockquote>

Teacher Feature: Fernando Varaschin

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Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

World Teachers&rsquo; Day is celebrated annually on October 5 to honor teachers all around the world for everything that they do for their students.&nbsp;

At Ellii,&nbsp;we&rsquo;re incredibly grateful for and in awe of our global community of educators. Teaching has always been a difficult profession, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made things even harder. In the midst of yet another challenging year, teachers everywhere have continually shown dedication, perseverance, and resilience.

This World Teachers&rsquo; Day, we want to give one lucky teacher a free,&nbsp;1⁠⁠-⁠⁠year&nbsp;subscription&nbsp;to&nbsp;Ellii! Simply visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/draws/teachers2022/enter" target="_blank">giveaway&nbsp;page</a> and fill in your information to enter. The winner will receive full access to our teaching materials and resources for an entire year.&nbsp;

<a href="http://ellii.com/draws/teachers2022/enter" target="_blank">Enter our World Teachers&rsquo; Day 2022 Giveaway today</a>! Contest ends Tuesday, October 11, 2022. We&#39;ll reach out to the winner by email.

Good luck!

PS. Feel free to share this blog post with a teacher who you think deserves to win!

<div class="whiteBox">Free related lesson

<a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/holidays-events/1897-teachers-day"><img alt="an apple" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2768/content_94_Teachers-Day.png" /></a>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/holidays-events/1897-teachers-day" target="_blank">Teachers&#39; Day</a></h2>

We&rsquo;ve made our Teachers&rsquo; Day lesson FREE for the entire week! In this lesson, students read about all the ways that teachers educate, support, and inspire their students. They also review nouns, verbs, and adjectives and discuss which teachers had the greatest influence on their lives.
</div>

World Teachers’ Day 2022 Giveaway

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<div class="white-box">
This article is part of a series of posts highlighting education systems around the world. With this article, we hope to&nbsp;raise awareness of both the needs of the students and the challenges of running an English language program for refugees and asylum seekers who&#39;ve experienced persecution or violence.

We also hope to share heartwarming and inspiring success stories with our community of teachers around the world.
</div>

<a href="https://jubileepartners.org/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Jubilee Partners</a> was founded in 1979 when three families bought 260 acres of land in rural northeast Georgia. 
 
They hoped&nbsp;to use the land for welcoming refugees.

For the first year, the three families lived in tents while&nbsp;the school and welcome center&nbsp;were being built. The construction&nbsp;finished in 1981, just in time to welcome the first refugee group from Cuba.

&ldquo;We are a wide network of people around the country who seek to respond compassionately to the realities that refugees and immigrants face,&rdquo; explained Rachel Bjork, the ESOL (English to Speakers&nbsp;of Other Languages) coordinator and leader of Jubilee Partners&#39;s hospitality program.

Since its founding, Jubilee Partners has hosted more than 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 38 different countries.

They host up to five families at a time and&nbsp;provide them with housing, English language classes, social services, legal resources, and medical and mental health care. Families typically stay anywhere from two to 12 months.

<img alt="Two wooden houses with porches surrounded by trees." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2652/content_How-Jubilee-Partners-Supports-Refugees_01.jpg" />

Some of Jubilee Partners&#39;s housing is pictured here.

&ldquo;Everyone we receive has experienced some type of persecution or violence,&rdquo; said Rachel.

Seventeen&nbsp;long-term staff members currently live and work at Jubilee Partners.

At any given time, 5&ndash;8 resident volunteers also live and work on-site for three months to a year. Long-term staff are not paid a traditional salary for their work. Instead, long-term staff and volunteers receive food, housing, and a small living allowance. Staff also get additional financial support for medical and travel expenses.

All activities at Jubilee Partners take place in an intergenerational community context. The families, staff, and volunteers eat meals together and if individuals are interested, they can also attend worship services and Bible studies&nbsp;too.

The families that stay there are also invited to contribute their skills, expertise, and experience in whatever way they can. For example, working in the gardens and in the pastures gives residents the chance to share their agricultural knowledge and skills.

&ldquo;Our 260 acres is a gift and plays a significant part in our work,&rdquo; said Rachel. &ldquo;The land offers natural beauty, a sense of safety and space for children to play, and opportunities for therapeutic activities, such as helping out in the garden or working with the animals.&rdquo;

<img alt="A garden with flowers, vegetables, and other plants." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2653/content_How-Jubilee-Partners-Supports-Refugees_02.jpg" />

Some of Jubilee Partners&#39;s gardens are pictured here.

<h2>English classes at Jubilee Partners</h2>

Refugees and asylum seekers&nbsp;arrive at Jubilee Partners with a wide range of language abilities.

Some people have studied English before in their home countries, other residents are familiar with conversational English but have never received any formal education, and some people aren&rsquo;t familiar with the English language at all.

After assessing their English language skills,&nbsp;residents&nbsp;are grouped by speaking and listening levels. Both beginner and intermediate-level classes are usually offered. Language learners attend eight language classes per week and each class is about two hours long.

Beginner classes focus on simple conversational English. Students learn how to relay basic information such as their name, phone number, and date of birth.

They also learn the important terminology required when visiting the doctor&#39;s office&nbsp;as well as useful vocabulary when shopping for food. More advanced learners have the option of studying for the GED (General Educational Development tests).

&ldquo;Students need survival English for doctor&rsquo;s appointments, interacting with the school system, answering questions of legal and social service providers, and participating in everyday life in the United States,&quot; said Rachel. &quot;Our job is to adapt to their specific needs and learning styles.&quot;

<img alt="A teacher showing a map to a group of five English language students who are sitting around a table" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2654/content_How-Jubilee-Partners-Supports-Refugees_03.jpg" />

A group&nbsp;English class is pictured here.

At Jubilee Partners, resident volunteers teach English.

Each volunteer is assigned one class level at a time, and they share the teaching load with at least one other teacher.

Teachers are given one hour of prep time for each scheduled lesson as well as 30 minutes of time after class for journaling.

&ldquo;Class notebooks are essential for communicating amongst the teacher teams,&rdquo; said Rachel. &ldquo;They are kept up to date each day, recording practices and outcomes for each lesson to support continuity. Once a week, all of the ESOL teachers meet with the program coordinator for an hour to share challenges and successes.&rdquo;

<h2>Responding to challenges</h2>

One of the biggest challenges volunteer teachers face in the classroom is responding appropriately to the unique needs of students who have recently gone through a stressful situation and are worried about the unknowns of their future.

&ldquo;Our students have often experienced significant trauma in their lives before arriving at Jubilee, so our main goal is to present ESOL lessons that are engaging and a classroom atmosphere that is compassionate and low-stress,&rdquo; said Rachel.

<img alt="A girl is helping a young refugee student with their schoolwork." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2655/content_How-Jubilee-Partners-Supports-Refugees_04.jpg" />

A volunteer teacher is pictured helping a student here.

<h2>How you can help</h2>

Despite the challenges, Jubilee Partners continues to have an incredible&nbsp;impact. Here&rsquo;s just one touching story that Rachel shared with us:

<blockquote>
&ldquo;Tina* came to Jubilee after four years of labor trafficking under extreme conditions and almost a full year in immigration detention.

After arriving, she began to tend to health and legal issues while also jumping into English classes and trying to establish a sense of peace through a consistent daily routine. In classes, she particularly enjoyed reading interesting true stories and discussing ideas and opinions. She grew in her vocabulary, control over grammar, and ability to express detailed information.

Outside of the classroom, she spent hours exploring the surrounding fields and forests and enjoyed planting and tending to a small potato and cucumber crop.

Tina moved on from Jubilee after having gotten her work authorization, a driver&rsquo;s license, a car, and a job. There are still many hurdles for Tina in rebuilding her life after her difficult experiences, but she made important strides in her time at Jubilee.&rdquo;

&mdash;Rachel Bjork, ESOL coordinator and director of Jubilee Partners&#39;s hospitality program

&nbsp;

*Name has been changed to protect&nbsp;privacy
</blockquote>

As a nonprofit that receives no government funding or large grants, Jubilee Partners relies&nbsp;on donations from individuals, churches, and other community organizations to provide support to people like Tina.

&ldquo;The average person can help by volunteering, contributing financially, or providing support to refugee and immigrant populations in their local area. The need is great,&rdquo; said Rachel.

To volunteer with Jubilee Partners, check out their <a href="https://jubileepartners.org/volunteer/resident-volunteer-program/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Resident Volunteer Program</a>.

To help financially, <a href="https://jubileepartners.org/donate/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">make an online donation</a>.

<h2>More inspiring organizations</h2>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/taking-action-for-education" target="_blank">Taking Action for Education</a>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/building-an-alliance-for-international-women-s-rights" target="_blank">Building an Alliance for International Women&rsquo;s Rights</a>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-isans-creates-possibility" target="_blank">How ISANS Creates Possibility</a>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-outreach360-empowers-students" target="_blank">How Outreach360 Empowers Students</a>

How Jubilee Partners Supports Refugees

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<div class="white-box">
This September 15 and 16, 2022, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>, a free, two-day virtual conference to explore simple, effective, and practical strategies that will help you build stronger relationships with your students and engage them in a more meaningful way. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference&nbsp;speakers.
</div>

Kieshia Thorpe is a US English teacher, licensed principal, and the winner of the <a href="https://www.globalteacherprize.org/person?id=15192" rel="noopener, noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">2021 Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize</a>&nbsp;in partnership with UNESCO. She&#39;ll be joining us at ElliiCon on September&nbsp;15.

Over the past few years, Keishia has dedicated herself to helping her grade 12 English language learners&mdash;95% of whom identify as low-income&mdash;level up their skills and prepare for&nbsp;college.

In addition to assisting her senior students with applying for college and scholarships, she also revamped the grade 12 English curriculum to make it more engaging and culturally relevant to her first-generation American, immigrant, and refugee students. Consequently, her English learners&rsquo; reading skills have improved by&nbsp;40%.

&quot;Every child needs a champion, an adult who will never, ever give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the very best they can possibly be,&quot; said Keishia via video conference after winning the 2021 Global Teacher Prize.&nbsp;&quot;This is exactly why teachers will always&nbsp;matter.&quot;

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W0h4cJHgIpo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>

YouTube

Keishia is also the cofounder of <a href="https://www.uselite.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">US Elite International</a>, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk student-athletes around the world obtain fully funded scholarships to colleges and universities across the&nbsp;US.

So far, 500 students have received full&nbsp;scholarships.

<blockquote>
&quot;Education is a human right and all students should have access to it at all&nbsp;levels.&quot;

&mdash;Keisha Thorpe
</blockquote>

<h2>Learn about developing global citizens through culturally responsive practices with Keishia at ElliiCon2022</h2>

On September 15, Keishia will be joining us at ElliiCon2022 to talk about how you can engage your students and make learning relevant to the real&nbsp;world.

You&rsquo;ll discover how to integrate culturally responsive practices that promote equity and inclusivity in the classroom and how you can support students in becoming global&nbsp;citizens.

<blockquote>
Join us at ElliiCon2022!

Want to attend Keishia&rsquo;s presentation?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airmeet.com/e/0ee877b0-e369-11ec-b1b2-394b94cc9521" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2022</a>&nbsp;(it&#39;s&nbsp;free!).
</blockquote>

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Keishia Thorpe

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<div class="white-box">
This September 15 and 16, 2022, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>, a free, two-day virtual conference to explore simple, effective, and practical strategies that will help you build stronger relationships with your students and engage them in a more meaningful way. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.
</div>

Those who attended our virtual conference last year will recognize this speaker! We&rsquo;re thrilled to announce that Dr. Katie Welch will be joining us once again at ElliiCon2022 on September 16.

Dr. Welch is an educational consultant at <a href="https://www.welcheducation.com/" target="_blank">Welch Education</a> in Dallas, Texas. For two decades, Dr. Welch has&nbsp;taught and trained teachers to effectively work with English learners at the K&ndash;12, adult, and higher education levels.

She currently provides professional development to language educators through partnerships with institutions like the US Department of State and Cambridge University Press.

<h2>Literacy for multilingual learners</h2>

An education topic that Dr. Welch is closely following these days is literacy for multilingual learners.

&ldquo;In the US K&ndash;12 space, there&#39;s been a shift in recent years toward &lsquo;the science of teaching reading,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Dr. Welch. &ldquo;Many states, including Texas where I&#39;m located,&nbsp;have retooled their teacher&nbsp;certification exams and are now requiring elementary school teachers&nbsp;to take part in reading academies to become more proficient in early literacy&nbsp;research.&quot; 
 
According to Dr. Welch,&nbsp;teachers of multilingual students have concerns that the research does not take into account the unique needs of English learners.

She says that while&nbsp;these conversations are most&nbsp;applicable to those in K&ndash;6 education, the topic of literacy is emerging more broadly as an area of interest applicable to all levels. 
 
&quot;I just read a great&nbsp;<a href="http://blog.tesol.org/literacy-vs-reading-3-questions-to-consider-this-fall/?utm_content=buffer378e0&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=linkedin.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TESOL International blog</a>&nbsp;this week about how our understanding of literacy is growing beyond just the discrete skill of reading,&quot; said Dr. Welch.&nbsp;&quot;Since reading is one of the four foundational language skills of English language teaching, this shift is definitely one to watch.&rdquo;

As an educational consultant, Dr. Welch explains she is also incredibly passionate about helping other teachers:

<blockquote>
&quot;I tend to &lsquo;nerd-out&rsquo; on all things pedagogy, so what I&rsquo;m most excited about right now is how I can be the best teacher I can be and how I can help other teachers do the same in their classrooms.

I especially enjoy following other educators on Twitter because I learn so much by seeing what others are doing in their classrooms.

Just today, I was inspired by a teacher who said&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JakeMillerTech/status/1556943494354276354?s=20&amp;t=Pe9fWiLRtX6vCtmtWD6srg" target="_blank">he turns his syllabus into a mad-lib</a>&nbsp;as a way to build community, help students become aware of learning targets, and keep students interested in what otherwise can be a very boring first-day-of-class housekeeping matter.

I love adding new ideas like this to my teacher toolkit and enjoy passing them along to others&nbsp;as well.&quot;
</blockquote>

<h2>Learn about addressing teachers&rsquo; social-emotional needs with Dr. Welch at ElliiCon2022</h2>

On September 16, Dr. Welch will be joining us at ElliiCon2022 to talk about self-care.

&ldquo;The last few years have been so difficult for teachers,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Dr. Welch. &ldquo;Teaching was already a challenging profession, and the pandemic exacerbated that even more.&quot; 
 
Dr. Welch has&nbsp;spent more than a decade training teachers and has recently seen many former students&mdash;who she says were fantastic teachers&mdash;leave the profession altogether. 
 
&quot;Those&nbsp;who have stayed are often teaching with as much or more pressure than they had pre-pandemic but with much less energy and emotional reserves.&quot;

At last year&rsquo;s conference, Dr. Welch addressed students&rsquo; well-being and discussed how to cultivate social and emotional learning in the ESL classroom.

This year, Dr. Welch will focus on&nbsp;teachers&rsquo; social and emotional needs. She&rsquo;ll unpack how sustainable self-care must go beyond bubble baths and massages and instead address the underlying issues that make teaching so challenging.

Attendees will gain practical, concrete solutions for how they can prioritize their own social and emotional well-being so that they can bring their best self to the classroom each week.

&ldquo;While the topic of self-care tends to evoke images of bubble baths and massages (both good things!), I want to give teachers some additional tools to cope with the emotional labor that is often required when working with immigrants or refugees from traumatic backgrounds,&rdquo; said Dr. Welch.

&ldquo;I have personally walked through a season of burnout in my teaching journey and had to learn the hard way how to prioritize my own well-being,&quot; she admitted.&nbsp;&quot;I look forward to sharing some of those hard-won lessons with the Ellii conference participants&nbsp;as well as some practical ways that teachers can bring their best selves to the classroom each&nbsp;day. I hope attendees will leave feeling refreshed and encouraged!&rdquo;

<blockquote>
Join us at ElliiCon2022!

Want to attend Dr. Welch&rsquo;s presentation?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airmeet.com/e/0ee877b0-e369-11ec-b1b2-394b94cc9521" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2022</a>&nbsp;(it&#39;s free!).

To learn more about Dr. Welch, visit her <a href="https://www.welcheducation.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>. You can also follow her on <a href="https://twitter.com/drkatiewelch" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.
</blockquote>

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Dr. Katie Welch

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<div class="white-box">
This September 15 and 16, 2022, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>, a free, two-day virtual conference to explore simple, effective, and practical strategies that will help you build stronger relationships with your students and engage them in a more meaningful way. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference&nbsp;speakers.
</div>

Karina Zew was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in New Jersey, United&nbsp;States.

&ldquo;My passion for languages occurred to me while I was looking the other way,&rdquo; Karina said. &ldquo;As a bilingual child, I had always taken languages for granted. Learning how to speak English was something that just happened to&nbsp;me.&rdquo;

After high school, Karina moved back to Argentina. Like most young adults at this age, she was trying to figure out what she wanted to&nbsp;do.

&quot;In the meantime, I needed a job . . . ,&quot; said Karina. &quot;So that&#39;s how I started to teach.&quot;

Over the years, she&rsquo;s taught Business English classes at international companies and general English to young&nbsp;learners.

<h2>The beginning of a new chapter with&nbsp;Bridge</h2>

Today, Karina works at <a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge&nbsp;Education&nbsp;Group</a>.

She&#39;s a tutor for Bridge&rsquo;s online TEFL/TESOL courses and&nbsp;an ESL instructor for BridgeEnglish in Latin America. In these roles, she interviews and recruits teachers, observes classes and provides feedback for teachers, and tutors online TEFL students from around the&nbsp;globe.

&ldquo;I really enjoy being able to share with others what I have learned throughout these years, both from experience and from academic training,&rdquo; she said.

Karina&#39;s also spoken at many TEFL/TESOL conferences, sharing the knowledge she&rsquo;s gained from over 30 years in the field of English language teaching. She&rsquo;s lectured on a variety of topics, from teaching methodologies and lesson planning to scaffolding and using technology in the&nbsp;classroom.

&ldquo;Before COVID, online classes were quite frowned upon,&quot; said Karina.&nbsp;&quot;However, nowadays, they&#39;re actually many people&#39;s preferred method of learning. This opens up a whole new world! For example, our students who live in Chile have the possibility of taking lessons from teachers who live in South Africa. They exchange cultural experiences and share their views. This is beneficial not only for language learning but for life in general. It also forces us to become more familiar with new technologies, of&nbsp;course!&rdquo;

<h2>Learn about fostering 21st-century skills with Karina at&nbsp;ElliiCon2022</h2>

On September 15, Karina will be joining us at ElliiCon2022 to talk about fostering 21st-century skills for academic and business&nbsp;success.

She&rsquo;ll share how you can teach 21st-century skills&mdash;like communication, collaboration, leadership, innovation, and digital literacy&mdash;in the classroom and help prepare your students for success in academics, business, and&nbsp;more.

You&rsquo;ll also&nbsp;learn useful tips and techniques that you can implement to help your English language learners of all ages cultivate necessary, real-world&nbsp;skills.

<blockquote>
Join us at ElliiCon2022!

Want to attend Karina&#39;s presentation? <a href="https://www.airmeet.com/e/0ee877b0-e369-11ec-b1b2-394b94cc9521" target="_blank">Registers&nbsp;for&nbsp;ElliiCon2022</a>&nbsp;(it&#39;s&nbsp;free!).
</blockquote>

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Karina Zew

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<div class="white-box">
This September 15 and 16, 2022, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>, a free, two-day virtual conference to explore simple, effective, and practical strategies that will help you build stronger relationships with your students and engage them in a more meaningful way. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference&nbsp;speakers.
</div>

Readers of our blog will surely recognize this speaker! Emily Bryson is one of our Ellii bloggers. She writes&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/emily-bryson" target="_blank">educational ELT articles</a> where she shares tons of insightful teaching tips, advice, and inspiration.&nbsp;We&#39;re thrilled to have her join us at ElliiCon2022 on September&nbsp;16.

Emily&rsquo;s teaching journey began in Poland where, during her summer break in university, she taught at a summer&nbsp;school.

&ldquo;I loved it so much that when I graduated, I took a job teaching young learners in Daegu, South Korea,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Emily.

In addition to being one of Ellii&rsquo;s bloggers, Emily is now an ESOL lecturer, ELT author, teacher educator, and graphic&nbsp;facilitator.

Her favorite part about being an ESOL lecturer? The&nbsp;students.

&ldquo;I&#39;ve taught some really wonderful people from all over globe,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;We&#39;ve had a lot of fun, and I&#39;ve learned a lot about things I could never have&nbsp;imagined.&quot;

<h2>The importance of literacy, diversity, equity, and inclusion in&nbsp;education</h2>

Emily is particularly interested in literacy, accessibility, graphic facilitation, and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/support-english-learners-from-refugee-backgrounds" target="_blank">supporting learners from refugee&nbsp;backgrounds</a>.

She spoke at length&nbsp;about the importance of adult ESOL&nbsp;literacy.

&ldquo;It&#39;s an underfunded area,&rdquo; said Emily. &ldquo;There must be so many learners in the world whose first script is not Roman, yet publishers mostly overlook things like phonics, handwriting, and very&nbsp;basic punctuation. So many of my learners have jagged profiles. Even at the intermediate level, I&rsquo;ll find students writing letters from right to left, struggling to read, or putting capital letters in the middle of words as they haven&#39;t had this explained. It&#39;s not covered in so many courses. I&#39;d love to see learners whose first script isn&#39;t Roman having the support they&nbsp;need.&rdquo;

She&rsquo;s also incredibly passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the language&nbsp;classroom.

&ldquo;It&#39;s important that our lessons reflect the reality of our learners and give them a voice,&rdquo; said Emily. &ldquo;Talking about global issues in the classroom such as female empowerment, [LGBTQ+] rights, and refugee matters can lead to positive change and students who can advocate for&nbsp;themselves.&rdquo;

<h2>Graphic facilitation is a powerful teaching&nbsp;tool</h2>

Emily&rsquo;s workshops and training courses in graphic facilitation for ELT professionals have received rave&nbsp;reviews.

&ldquo;Graphic facilitation is my passion and my superpower,&rdquo; Emily said&nbsp;proudly.

&ldquo;When I did my first GF course, I&#39;d been teaching for years. I was in a bit of a slump,&quot; she admitted. &quot;But it rejuvenated me and reactivated the excitement I felt when I first started teaching. I realized how powerful [graphic facilitation]&nbsp;was as a teaching tool. A simple drawing can make everything instantly clearer. It makes learning more accessible, fun, engaging, inclusive, interesting, and creative. It helps learners remember and reduces processing&nbsp;load.&rdquo;

Graphic facilitation uses&nbsp;simple drawings to provide a template or prompt for&nbsp;learning.

Emily explained that this can support reflection, planning, ideation, or focus students&rsquo;&nbsp;thoughts.

&quot;The drawings are not art&nbsp;but a visual vocabulary which can be learned just like any other language, so anyone can draw to communicate,&quot; she&nbsp;said.

<img alt="A schetch note with a list of nine accessible teaching tips for ADHD, autism, digital skills, dyslexia, dyscalcula, literacy, sensory impairment, mobility, and study skills." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2651/content_Accessible_Learning_Tips_EmilyBrysonELT-com.jpg" />

One of Emily&rsquo;s sketch notes is pictured&nbsp;here.

<h2>Learn more about graphic facilitation for ELT with Emily at&nbsp;ElliiCon2022</h2>

On September 16, Emily will be joining us at ElliiCon2022 to talk more about how you can use simple drawings to engage learners. You&rsquo;ll learn about simple facilitation techniques such as visual templates, capture sheets, graphic organizers, and&nbsp;sketchnoting.

&ldquo;I&#39;ll be showing some&nbsp;basic GF techniques and tools which can save teachers time and make lessons engaging and accessible,&quot; said Emily.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;ll be demonstrating some simple drawings too, so it&#39;ll be a really practical and fun&nbsp;session.&quot;

<blockquote>
Join us at ElliiCon2022!

Want to attend Emily&#39;s presentation?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airmeet.com/e/0ee877b0-e369-11ec-b1b2-394b94cc9521" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2022</a>&nbsp;(it&#39;s&nbsp;free!).

To learn more about Emily, visit her <a href="https://emilybrysonelt.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>. You can also follow her on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/emilybrysonelt/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Emilybrysonelt" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brysonemily/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.
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VIEWING POSTS BY

Melissa Bender

4 Tips from BridgeUniverse on How to Correct Pronunciation Errors in the Classroom

3 Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Building a Connection in the Online Environment

Teacher Feature: Nancy Lorenz-Vega

Celebrating & Looking Back on 20 Years of Ellii

3 Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Fostering Independent Learning

Teacher Feature: Fernando Varaschin

World Teachers’ Day 2022 Giveaway

How Jubilee Partners Supports Refugees

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Keishia Thorpe

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Dr. Katie Welch

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Karina Zew

ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Emily Bryson