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

Announcements

<h1>Introducing Individual Student Assignments</h1>

Great news, teachers!

As of today, you can now select which individual students receive specific assignments within any class.&nbsp;

<h3>Here&#39;s how it works:</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Click on a lesson, video, or flashcard set in your Prepping or Teaching lane within any of your classes</li>
	<li>A modal will open with your assignment preferences for that lesson&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Click the &quot;Students&quot; tab in the top navigation of the modal</li>
	<li>Switch the setting from &quot;All students&quot; to &quot;Some students&quot;</li>
	<li>Select the students you want to assign the lesson to&nbsp;and remember to hit &quot;Save&quot; inside the modal before closing it</li>
</ul>

Only the selected students will see the assignment inside their class dashboard.

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We know that a lot of you have been asking for this feature for a while now. So thanks for your patience, and we hope it&#39;s a big help!

All the best, 
Ben :)

Founder, CEO at Ellii

Introducing Individual Student Assignments

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

Conferences

Social-emotional well-being was a major theme throughout the ESL&nbsp;Library&nbsp;Virtual Conference that took place on September 17 and 18. Day 2&nbsp;began with a Coffee Talk devoted entirely to social-emotional well-being.

We started the session by checking in with each other and sharing how we manage our mental health throughout the day. Tanya&nbsp;Trusler, our Director of Language Development, said that she likes to take a walk after work while Ann&nbsp;Dickson, our US Editor, practices <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/practicing-mindfulness-in-the-classroom" target="_blank">mindfulness</a>. Tara&nbsp;Benwell, our VP of Publishing, explained how the <a href="https://www.donut.com/" target="_blank">Donut app</a>&mdash;an app that pairs co-workers up for a virtual chat and coffee&mdash;gives her a fun and relaxing break every couple of weeks.

Our wonderful community of teachers also shared their own thoughts and insights about building emotional resilience in our students and ourselves. Some of these amazing ideas were:

<ul>
	<li>Movement breaks</li>
	<li>Yoga breaks</li>
	<li>Breathing exercises</li>
	<li>Singing and dancing breaks</li>
	<li>Game breaks&nbsp;(scavenger hunt, I Spy, Simon Says, or Tic-Tac-Toe)</li>
	<li>Critical thinking session where students can share a reflection with no comment from others</li>
	<li>Thought jar where students can anonymously express how they feel</li>
</ul>

After exploring our new <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning" target="_blank">Social-Emotional Learning collection</a>, the session ended with an optimistic closure:

<blockquote>
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first.&rdquo;
</blockquote>

Later that morning, we continued the conversation with <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/meet-the-esl-library-virtual-conference-speakers-dr-katie" target="_blank">Dr. Katie Welch</a>. Katie discussed how to incorporate social-emotional learning into adult ESL classrooms. When it comes to incorporating social-emotional learning into the classroom, there are three signature practices:

<ul>
	<li>Welcoming ritual</li>
	<li>Engaging practices</li>
	<li>Optimistic closure</li>
</ul>

The welcoming ritual takes place during the first five minutes of class. This ritual should welcome your students, set the tone, and build community. Katie recommended greeting students by name and pronouncing their names correctly. After greeting students, Katie also recommended using a feelings wheel to do an emotion check-in and connect with students.

Next up is engaging practices. According to Katie, engaging instruction can foster collaboration, cultural responsiveness, and self-efficacy. Engaging practices should engage the brain but should also include &ldquo;brain breaks,&rdquo;&nbsp;which are short mental breaks that help students stay focused and attentive. Brain breaks are especially necessary with virtual learning. Zoom fatigue is a real thing, so be sure to take breaks to breathe, stretch, and move. Crossing the mid-line can also energize the brain!

Lastly, there is the optimistic closure. Whether it&rsquo;s affirmations, a quote, or just a word, it&rsquo;s important to conclude with something positive and uplifting.

Katie stressed that it&rsquo;s also important to take care of yourself first! As we mentioned above, you can&rsquo;t pour from an empty cup!

Teachers, what does self-care look like for you? How do you incorporate social-emotional learning into your classroom? Let us know in the comments below.

For more highlights and takeaways from our first-ever conference, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/esl-library-virtual-conference-2021-highlights-takeaways" target="_blank">this blog post</a>.

If you missed either of these sessions, be sure to <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">check out the recordings</a>.

ESL Library Virtual Conference: Social-Emotional Well-Being

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Our first-ever ESL&nbsp;Library Virtual Conference took place September 17&ndash;18 with 800+ attendees from more than 81 countries. The theme for our inaugural event was Empowering Teachers in the Digital Age.

As per tradition, I always try to make time for a post-conference reflection with a few highlights and takeaways. I love having a summary to look back on as well as something to share with those who were unable to attend.

<h2>3 Highlights</h2>

<h3>1. Social Networking</h3>

Improving communication around the world has always been ESL&nbsp;Library&#39;s core mission. Based on the feedback we&#39;ve received about the conference, it&#39;s safe to say that attendees, speakers, and ESL&nbsp;Library staff all appreciated the opportunity to connect in this welcoming space at this challenging&nbsp;time.

We used the chat, the Q&amp;A, raised hands, direct messages, speed networking, and virtual theme-based tables to check in and learn from each other. There was an overwhelming feeling of positivity and optimism that I think we&#39;ve all been craving. Did you feel&nbsp;it?

<h3>2. Speakers</h3>

Our invited speakers and ESL&nbsp;Library staff covered a wide range of topics including publishing trends, blended learning, the flipped classroom, social-emotional health, assessment, and the rise of EdTech.

We were grateful to learn from&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/meet-the-esl-library-virtual-conference-speakers-russell-stannard">Russell Stanndard</a> (Teacher Training Videos),&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/meet-the-esl-library-virtual-conference-speakers-fely">Fely Garc&iacute;a L&oacute;pez</a> (Flipgrid), <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/meet-the-esl-library-virtual-conference-speakers-dr-katie">Dr. Katie Welch</a> (Welch Education), <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/meet-the-esl-library-virtual-conference-speakers-robyn">Robyn Lockwood</a> (Stanford University), and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/meet-the-esl-library-virtual-conference-speakers-dr-margaret-e-malone">Dr.&nbsp;Meg Malone</a> (ACTFL).

Our CEO, Ben Buckwold, also shared behind-the-scenes stories and industry insight while our conference host,&nbsp;Tammy Wik, led demonstrations of our own platform and features, including an interactive <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres">flashcard</a> workshop that left us all bursting with ideas. Representatives from our Publishing team (Ann, Tanya, and Tara) also enjoyed leading our two morning Coffee Talks, where we chatted with attendees about the evolution of grammar materials and the importance of <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning">social-emotional health</a> for teachers and learners.

<h3>3. Storytime</h3>

Our CEO, Ben&mdash;a natural storyteller&mdash;finally got the&nbsp;chance to share ESL&nbsp;Library&#39;s origin story. If you weren&#39;t able to hear it live, be sure to grab a coffee and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgeVgruJ6OA&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmaFPrxnBSMRLuLGL8l6GpWZ&amp;index=11">watch the recording</a>. While we listened to Ben, we admired the new art on his wall, courtesy of our talented&nbsp;in-house illustrators, featuring topics from our popular <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a> section.

<img alt="ben-buckwold-esl-library-conference" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1755/content__ben-welcome-conference.png" />

<h2>10 Takeaways</h2>

This was a single-strand conference, and it soon became clear&nbsp;that&nbsp;I couldn&#39;t&nbsp;miss a minute of it! After coffee breaks and social hours, attendees and speakers automatically bounced back into the next session, so it always felt inclusive and we got to know each other.&nbsp;Here are some of my top takeaways from the speaker sessions.

<ol>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t feel you need to start class by taking up the homework. A&nbsp;pre-class task should be&nbsp;a springboard for the class activity. (Russell&nbsp;Stannard)</li>
	<li>According to language learners themselves, 85% of what they learn is from independent learning. Extramural learning is learning that&nbsp;takes place <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ESLlibrary">outside the walls</a> (or screens) of a classroom and is not necessarily related to the class content. Let&#39;s encourage our learners to be active learners. (Russell Stanndard)</li>
	<li>The pandemic has inspired us to use tech differently, even now that some of us are back in a traditional classroom. We use tech for announcements,&nbsp;for sharing examples, for leaving live-time feedback, and for real-world speaking and writing practice. (Dr.&nbsp; Meg&nbsp;Malone)</li>
	<li>When it comes to assessment, it helps to find out what students&#39; expectations are of themselves. Compare these to your expectations and consider meeting them in the middle. (Dr. Meg Malone)</li>
	<li>When creating your own Flipgrid prompt, try to incorporate the four domains (listening, writing, reading, and speaking). Don&#39;t forget to include&nbsp;lingustic supports.&nbsp;(Fely Garc&iacute;a L&oacute;pez)</li>
	<li>Flipgrid&#39;s <a href="https://admin.flipgrid.com/discovery/partners">Discovery Partners</a> make it easy to find useful content fast. They can also inspire you to get involved and create your own prompts.&nbsp;(Fely Garc&iacute;a L&oacute;pez)</li>
	<li>Design Thinking (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test ), a trend teachers are grativating to,&nbsp;has a background in business. It&nbsp;shares a lot of elements of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/111/lessons">project-based learning</a>, which focuses on a central question that the teacher chooses. (Robyn Lockwood)</li>
	<li>It&#39;s important for teachers to stay active in the industry in order to help publishers develop the materials students and teachers want and need. Teachers can raise their voices by joining local (e.g., TESL London)&nbsp;and international organizations (e.g., TESOL or ACTFL). Join a SIG and get active on a social channel, such as LinkedIn. (Robyn&nbsp;Lockwood)</li>
	<li>Social-emotional learning is not just about the skills we teach. It&#39;s also about the educational culture and setting. (Dr. Katie Welch)</li>
	<li>Provide students with alternative sentence stems&nbsp;to &quot;I don&#39;t know,&quot; such as &quot;May I have more time to think?, May I ask a friend for&nbsp;help?, I&#39;m not sure about that, but I can tell you...&quot;. (Dr. Katie Welch)</li>
</ol>

<img alt="3 signature SEL practices" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1748/content_Tara_ESL-Library-Virtual-Conference-2021-Highlights-Takeaways_Speaker.jpg" />

<h2>Related Resources</h2>

Looking for recordings of our sessions?&nbsp; The&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021">recorded sessions from the ESL Library Virtual Conference</a> are now available!

<h2>Summary</h2>

At a conference follow-up meeting with the organizers and staff, we all came away with a similar feeling. Our first-ever ESL Library Virtual Conference turned out to be much&nbsp;more than any of us expected. With virtually no&nbsp;technical glitches to worry about, our organizers and moderators were able to ensure that everything ran smoothly. The speakers were all well prepared and&nbsp;the attendees were extremely engaged. In fact, so&nbsp;many ideas were shared, we don&#39;t know where to start!

Thank you to Airmeet for a great platform, and thank you to all of the speakers, organizers, staff, and attendees for helping make this event such an enriching and uplifting experience. We hope you feel empowered to go out and do your best work and also to take care of yourself and your students! And yes, we will do this again!

<img alt="You can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1749/content_Tara_ESL-Library-Virtual-Conference-2021-Highlights-Takeaways_Quote.png" />

<h2>Comments</h2>

Did you attend our first-ever ESL Library Virtual Conference? If yes, you&#39;re part of the history books! Please share a highlight or takeaway in the comments.

ESL Library Virtual Conference 2021: Highlights & Takeaways

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

Articles

On September 17&ndash;18, 2021, we will be hosting a <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">free two-day virtual conference</a> to explore current teaching trends and the future of education technology. At this conference, you&rsquo;ll connect with organizations and teachers, share your experiences and expertise, and help shape the future of English language education. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.

Meet Russell Stannard, an educational technology consultant and the Founder of <a href="https://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/" target="_blank">TeacherTrainingVideos.com</a>. Russell is a multi-award-winning educational technologist known for his work in using technology to enhance feedback, online teaching, and blended or flipped learning.

The idea for <a href="https://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/" target="_blank">TeacherTrainingVideos.com</a> began when Russell was writing about technology and feedback for an English language teaching magazine. People wanted to see what Russell was talking about so he started creating videos. Today, the website is still popular but Russell has expanded the initiative to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/teachertrainingvideo" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a> with over 60,000 subscribers.

Russell also gets excited about student creativity and independence, as well as technology that helps teachers in a positive way.

<blockquote>
&ldquo;Anything that encourages students to be creative and encourages students to be more independent. Anything that helps teachers be able to do their jobs quicker, easier, and more effectively. Some technologies I really like because they do that but others I don&rsquo;t like because they actually make our job harder.&rdquo;
</blockquote>

Russell is also interested in digital literacy.

&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a big shift towards these competencies that will allow students to be able to study more effectively and allow citizens to survive in the 21st century.&rdquo;

Russell&rsquo;s work mainly focuses on how technology can enhance feedback. When giving feedback, Russell is a big believer in using screen capture technology to record his computer screen and voice as he marks, and then sending the video with this feedback to students.

&ldquo;They can see their work on the screen, see me going through their work and hear me as I mark.&rdquo;

On September 17, Russell will be joining us to discuss blended learning and how to make lessons more connected. He will explore how to make lessons more interactive, how to get students to engage more with the material, and how to encourage learning outside of the classroom.

To hear Russell speak, be sure to <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">register for our virtual conference</a>. 
&nbsp;

Meet the ESL Library Virtual Conference Speakers: Russell Stannard

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On September 17&ndash;18, 2021, we will be hosting a <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">free two-day virtual conference</a> to explore current teaching trends and the future of education technology. At this conference, you&rsquo;ll connect with organizations and teachers, share your experiences and expertise, and help shape the future of English language education. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.

Meet Dr. Margaret E. Malone, the Director of Assessment and Research at ACTFL. Margaret holds a PhD from Georgetown University and has more than three decades of experience in language education. Her expertise includes the development of language tests and materials, teacher training, data collection, and program evaluation. Her current research focuses on language assessment literacy, the influence of the Seal of Biliteracy on language teaching and learning, and the development of shortcut proficiency measures.

Margaret entered the English teaching world in university. When Margaret was an undergraduate student, she took a class on language teaching methods and volunteered at a middle school where she provided support for English learners.

These days, Margaret gets excited about assessment and research.

&ldquo;I love seeing how assessment and research can be used to improve education and make language education available to more students. Reading about ways that language programs serve learners from pre-k to adults reminds me that we are all lifelong learners and language is necessary to learning.&rdquo;

Margaret is also passionate about equity.

<blockquote>
&ldquo;We need to consider what tools our learners need and have and how we can best support them where they are. We also need to remember that people learn differently, and that we need to help all our learners.&rdquo;
</blockquote>

On September 17, Margaret will be joining us to discuss assessment in the digital age and maximizing technology to improve relationships.&nbsp;

&ldquo;During the pandemic, I focused a great deal on relationships and how to strengthen such relationships through online teaching and assessment. I think of assessment as a communication tool, and we need to use our tech tools to foster these relationships.&rdquo;

To hear Margaret speak, be sure to <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">register for our virtual conference</a>.

Meet the ESL Library Virtual Conference Speakers: Dr. Margaret E. Malone

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On September 17 &ndash;18, 2021, we will be hosting a <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">free two-day virtual conference</a> to explore current teaching trends and the future of education technology. At this conference, you&rsquo;ll connect with organizations and teachers, share your experiences and expertise, and help shape the future of English language education. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.

Meet Fely Garc&iacute;a L&oacute;pez, an Educator Innovation Lead at <a href="https://info.flipgrid.com/" target="_blank">Flipgrid</a>. Fely will be joining us on September 17 to talk more about Flipgrid and the four language domains.

Fely has always wanted to be a teacher. She grew up in Mexico and learned some English in high school. After her high school graduation, she moved to the United States with her parents.

&ldquo;I went straight to the university to ask what I needed to be a teacher in this country. I was met with countless obstacles. I was told&mdash;by an English teacher&mdash;that I was never going to make it in college, much less be a teacher. I struggled with the language and with the culture. Because of that, I decided to help others who were &ldquo;labeled&rdquo; as limited English proficient and empower them to overcome their obstacles. I was going to be the voice of the oppressed, the voice of those who couldn&rsquo;t speak&mdash;yet.&rdquo;

Before her current role, Fely taught ELAR and ESL for 15 years. For her first teaching job, she was a 6th grade ELA teacher.

&ldquo;More than half of my students were English learners, some recent immigrants. I was supposed to be teaching reading comprehension and inference skills, but the curriculum wasn&rsquo;t tailored to my students&rsquo; needs; my students couldn&rsquo;t connect to the literature. So, I did what any other teacher does: improvise, adapt, and overcome. I began to find local stories and texts that appealed to my students, and still targeted the state&rsquo;s student expectations. I found literature and photographs with characters and people that my students could connect with and had great success. I taught 6th grade for a couple of more years and then I went to teach 8th grade language arts,&nbsp;reading, and ESL to recent immigrants. I found ways to connect with my students and found ways for my students to connect to texts using real life experiences. I was always my students&rsquo; loudest cheerleader and biggest supporter.&rdquo;

Fely gets excited about technology integration in bilingual education, English as a second language, and dual language classrooms.

<blockquote>
&ldquo;I feel that technology, when made part of daily learning practices, can knock down many barriers and obstacles as it helps lower the affective filter. I am excited about being bilingual and about promoting bilingualism! I am a fan of Spanglish, for I feel it&rsquo;s part of my identity as a Mexico-Americana! Being bilingual vale por dos!&rdquo;
</blockquote>

Fely is also incredibly passionate about equity and inclusion.

&ldquo;Sadly, there are many students who do not have access to the resources to help pave their way into higher education. There is not only a learning gap between the different socio-economic groups, but also an opportunity gap. For this reason, I feel that it is imperative that we find means and resources to level the playing field for all students, regardless of skin colour, culture, ethnic background, or social status.&rdquo;

In 2015 and 2017, Fely went to a few different conferences. At all of these conferences, Fely saw a pattern.

&ldquo;Educators would highlight amazing things that their students would do with all the technology they had. In all these fantastic presentations, there was not a single student of colour, not a single student who looked like or talked like the ones that sat in my classroom. My students could do the same things and create similar projects with similar impacts, but with much less resources. Since then, I&rsquo;ve worked to highlight my students, their creativity, their veracity, and most importantly, their resilience as they fight battles that many can only dream of&mdash;well actually, nightmares! If my students can accomplish great things with limited resources, imagine their impact on the world if we provide them with the same opportunities!&rdquo;

Fely also believes in &ldquo;relationships before curriculum.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I always made it a point to learn about my students before they learned the content. Every child has a story to tell and to me it was, and still is, very important to listen to those stories. Students do academically and socially better when they know that their teacher cares about them and values them. That&rsquo;s why I always spent time at the beginning of the school year building relationships before language acquisition started.&rdquo;

To hear Fely speak, be sure to <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">register for our virtual conference</a>.

To learn more about Fely, you can connect with her on Twitter at @FelyTeachnology and on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/349304680156539" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. 
&nbsp;

Meet the ESL Library Virtual Conference Speakers: Fely García López

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On September 17&ndash;18, 2021, we will be hosting a <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">free two-day virtual conference</a> to explore current teaching trends and the future of education technology. At this conference, you&rsquo;ll connect with organizations and teachers, share your experiences and expertise, and help shape the future of English language education. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.

Meet Dr. Katie Welch, an Educational Consultant for Welch Education. In this role, she provides professional development to language educators through partnerships with institutions like the US Department of State and Cambridge University Press.

Katie originally enrolled in a master&rsquo;s program in counselling, but after teaching ESL in Chile and providing ESL support to newcomers, she decided to pursue a Ph.D. in linguistics instead. Second language acquisition was the focus of her dissertation.

These days, Katie is interested in and passionate about multilingualism.

&ldquo;There is a significant shift happening in the field in how students&rsquo; home languages are viewed and used in the English language classroom. Significant theoretical conversations about translanguaging are beginning to trickle down into English classrooms, and we are seeing teachers more fully embrace students&#39;&nbsp;full linguistic repertoires.&rdquo;

Katie also gets excited about differentiation, technology in language teaching, and social-emotional learning.

&ldquo;I tend to be a very reflective practitioner and am constantly thinking about how to be a better teacher to my students. I particularly enjoy making theory-practice connections so that teachers can feel confident that their instruction is grounded in solid research.&rdquo;

<img alt="A woman speaking in front of a powerpoint presentation" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1719/content_Melissa_Meet-Our-Speakers_Katie.jpg" />

Here, Katie is pictured presenting at a TexTESOL conference.

On September 18, Katie will be joining us to discuss how to incorporate social-emotional learning into adult ESL classrooms.

&ldquo;Social-emotional learning, or SEL, seeks to engage learners as whole beings with not just academic needs but with social and emotional needs as well. This is a topic that is especially timely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as teachers have grappled with how to meaningfully connect with learners in online and/or socially distanced environments. In the session, we will identify three signature SEL practices that can be used in classrooms with adult learners. While practices can be used with any curriculum, I will specifically highlight some ESL Library tools and lessons that utilize a social-emotional framework.&rdquo;

To hear Katie speak, be sure to <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">register for our virtual conference</a>.

To learn more about Katie, you can visit her website at <a href="http://www.welcheducation.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.welcheducation.com</a>. You can also connect with her on Twitter at @drkatiewelch.

Meet the ESL Library Virtual Conference Speakers: Dr. Katie Welch

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<blockquote>
&quot;ESL Library (now Ellii) was founded in 2002 as a resource site for English teachers. The materials are designed to enhance, complement, or supplement curriculum. New materials are added every month. The lessons include relevant, thought-provoking materials that focus on real-world issues, historical events, and natural dialogues geared toward teens and adults. There are also kid-friendly lessons for young learners and middle schoolers as well as lessons for literacy classrooms.&quot;

&mdash;<a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2448/ESLLibrary__1__2.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WIDA PRIME Correlator</a>
</blockquote>

Does your school follow the <a href="https://wida.wisc.edu/">WIDA Standards Framework</a>? If yes, you may be wondering if Ellii (formerly ESL Library) is a good fit for your school.

WIDA uses a special correlation process called PRIME, which stands for Protocol for Review of Instructional Materials for ELLs. The main purpose of PRIME is to help educators in the K&ndash;12 space understand the relevance of materials that are available for their language programs.

In early 2021, a WIDA&nbsp;PRIME&nbsp;V2 correlator spent a week reviewing Ellii&#39;s (formerly ESL&nbsp;Library&#39;s) offerings. They looked at our&nbsp;correlation to WIDA&#39;s Standard Framework as well as connections to the ELD Standards.

You can view the full <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2448/ESLLibrary__1__2.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WIDA Correlation for ESL&nbsp;Library</a> on WIDA&#39;s PRIME inventory page (with referenced examples taken from a variety of materials and sections on&nbsp;our site).* Here is an abridged&nbsp;summary:

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">Materials are asset-based.</li>
	<li class="correct">Materials feature academic language.</li>
	<li class="correct">Materials address language features appropriately and consistently at the discourse dimension for all proficiency&nbsp;levels.</li>
	<li class="correct">Materials address language features appropriately and consistently at the sentence dimension for all proficiency&nbsp;levels.</li>
	<li class="correct">Materials address language features appropriately and consistently at the word/phrase dimension for all proficiency&nbsp;levels.</li>
	<li class="correct">Differentiation of language is addressed throughout the materials and is developmentally and linguistically appropriate for the proficiency&nbsp;levels.</li>
	<li class="correct">The four language domains are targeted and integrated throughout the&nbsp;materials.</li>
	<li class="correct">Social and instructional language are&nbsp;included in the&nbsp;materials.</li>
	<li class="correct">Materials encourage language learners to engage in higher-thinking skills at all&nbsp;levels.</li>
	<li class="correct">Materials cover a range of language functions that are incorporated into a communicative&nbsp;goal.</li>
</ul>

<img alt="WIDA PRIME V2 Correlation Seal" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1731/content_WIDA-PRIME-v2-seal-TM.png" />

As you review the official <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2448/ESLLibrary__1__2.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WIDA Correlation</a>, please note that Ellii (formerly ESL&nbsp;Library) is not currently licensing WIDA terminology, which means we cannot explicitly reference WIDA standards and descriptors in our materials. In addition, Ellii, which services teachers all over the world, does not yet assign specific grade bands to materials. We do hope to add WIDA proficiency levels to our <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies">Equivalency Scale</a> later this&nbsp;year.

<h2>2021&nbsp;Updates</h2>

We&#39;re always striving to make improvements! A new Young Learner filter has been added to the site since WIDA&#39;s correlation. Other <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-updates-2021">recent developments</a> include teacher discretion labels, digital speaking tasks, and <a href="https://ellii.com/collections">collections</a>. Ellii&#39;s (formerly ESL&nbsp;Library&#39;s) new collections make it easier for teachers to sort and filter relevant content by theme, function, and academic subject&nbsp;as well as by age-appropriateness and proficiency level. Finally, our new <a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published">Ellii Folders</a>, curated by the publishing team, support the progression of language development and have been popular with our K⁠&ndash;⁠12&nbsp;teachers.

A special thank you to the folks at WIDA for your careful consideration of our materials and&nbsp;site!

*If the link does not open a PDF, please visit <a href="https://www.widaprime.org/correlated-instructional-materials">WIDA&#39;s PRIME inventory</a> and type ESL Library as a search term.

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects">Academic Subjects Collection</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/wida-conference-2018">WIDA Conference 2018: Highlights &amp; Takeaways</a></li>
	<li class="external-link"><a href="https://www.casas.org/qs/Publisher/Show/805" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CASAS Quick Search</a> (New CASAS Collections coming soon!)</li>
</ul>

WIDA Correlation: A Seal for Ellii (formerly ESL Library)

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On September 17&ndash;18, 2021, we will be hosting a <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">free two-day virtual conference</a> to explore current teaching trends and the future of education technology. At this conference, you&rsquo;ll connect with organizations and teachers, share your experiences and expertise, and help shape the future of English language education. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.

Meet Robyn Brinks Lockwood. Robyn is a Lecturer in English for the Foreign Students Program at Stanford University. She teaches academic listening, speaking, and writing courses to graduate students. Robyn will be joining our panel discussion on September 18 about elevating teachers&#39; voices and the future of English language education technology.

<img alt="A woman smiling and standing next to a column" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1717/content_Melissa_Meet-Our-Speakers_Robyn.jpg" />

Robyn got into the world of ESL by accident. Back when she was in graduate school, she was originally supposed to work as a Teaching Assistant for a Comp 101 class when the department asked her to work with second-language learners instead.

<blockquote>
&ldquo;My start in ESL was accidental&mdash;what I now call serendipity. From the first moment, I loved it. I haven&rsquo;t looked back since.&rdquo;
</blockquote>

Robyn loves researching and teaching speaking. In social situations, she likes to observe and let others talk in order to find patterns.&nbsp;

&ldquo;For example, introducing yourself, asking for and giving advice or compliments, and even greeting others, follows a certain pattern. We often even say the same phrases when we perform those functions. My students often fear speaking with native speakers because they can&#39;t control it. They feel they don&#39;t know what the other person will say. While that is true to some degree, these patterns in structure and common phrasing actually make my students feel they have some level of control when you can somewhat predict what someone is going to say. These observations led to some of my course content and eventually to a textbook called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Social-Contexts-Communication-Study/dp/0472037161/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=robyn+brinks+lockwood+speaking+in+social+contexts&amp;qid=1630080601&amp;sr=8-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Speaking in Social Contexts</a>.&rdquo;

Robyn also likes to research, discuss, and use the flipped learning approach.

The flipped learning approach gives more power and responsibility to the students. In it, homework is assigned before the class. This homework activity allows students to learn at their own pace beforehand and prepare questions ahead of time. During class, students can then practice what they&rsquo;ve learned and get more timely&nbsp;feedback.

&ldquo;There are many benefits to flipping. My main reasons are for the interactive nature of the classroom, the student-centered nature, and the relationship I build with students. The pandemic has made online teaching even more important, which means interactivity, student-centered rooms, and relationship-building is even more important since we can&#39;t be in a physical classroom. Flipped learning is a fantastic way to not lose these things despite teaching online. I&#39;m not sure what the &#39;new normal&#39; will hold for education in the post-pandemic world, but I don&#39;t think online, blended, and flipped learning will disappear.&rdquo;

While there are many benefits associated with flipped learning, there are many myths too. Robyn wrote about some of those myths in an e-book called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flipping-Classroom-Every-Teacher-Should-ebook/dp/B07B6QVS9N/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&amp;keywords=robyn+brinks+lockwood&amp;qid=1630080332&amp;sr=8-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Flipping the Classroom: What Every ESL Teacher Needs to Know</a>. She has also recorded a <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Podcast/B08K55KGNC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog about flipped learning</a> as well and is in the midst of recording another blog too.

To hear Robyn speak, be sure to <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021" target="_blank">register for our virtual conference</a>.

To learn more about Robyn, you can visit her <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robyn-brinks-lockwood-35639a2" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> and her <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/robyn-lockwood" target="_blank">Stanford Profile</a>. You can also check out more of her books at the following links:

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-link"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Academic-Discussions-University-Student/dp/0472037951/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&amp;keywords=robyn+brinks+lockwood&amp;qid=1630080367&amp;sr=8-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leading Academic Discussions</a></li>
	<li class="external-link"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Office-Hours-Every-University-Student/dp/0472037609/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&amp;keywords=robyn+brinks+lockwood&amp;qid=1630080400&amp;sr=8-16" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Office Hours</a></li>
	<li class="external-link"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Point-Speaking-Academic-Purposes-Introduction/dp/047203670X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&amp;keywords=robyn+brinks+lockwood+speaking+in+social+contexts&amp;qid=1630080725&amp;sr=8-2-fkmr0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Speaking for Academic Purposes</a></li>
	<li class="external-link"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/THE6PRINCIPLESFOREXEMPLARYTEACHINGOFENGLISHLEARNERS-14139/dp/1945351683/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&amp;keywords=robyn+brinks+lockwood&amp;qid=1630080400&amp;sr=8-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The 6 Principles of Exemplary Teaching</a></li>
</ul>

Meet the ESL Library Virtual Conference Speakers: Robyn Brinks Lockwood

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

People learn new languages in order to share&nbsp;ideas and opinions. However, communicating effectively in another language can be&nbsp;challenging for low-level students&nbsp;who don&#39;t yet have confidence in their ability to express their thoughts. But why not turn that challenge into a game?

One of my favorite lower-level&nbsp;activities is something I like to call the &quot;Silent Film Challenge.&quot;&nbsp;This is a great activity for practicing both speaking and listening skills. Here&#39;s how it works:

<h2>Preparation</h2>

Choose two short videos or films that contain little or no dialogue. The videos should be no longer than five minutes. (YouTube is a treasure trove for&nbsp;short clips.) Make sure you don&#39;t choose something well known that the students will already be familiar with&nbsp;or the activity will be too easy.&nbsp;The activity works&nbsp;best if the two videos are completely unrelated to each other.

<h2>The Activity</h2>

<ol>
	<li>Divide the class into pairs (Student A and Student B). Have all the Student Bs step into the hallway. Make sure they can&#39;t see or hear what&#39;s happening in the classroom.</li>
	<li>Play the first video for the remaining students in the classroom. Students can request to watch the clip again, if needed, but they should not take notes. The idea is to rely entirely on their memories&nbsp;as well as their speaking skills.</li>
	<li>Bring the Student Bs back into the classroom and tell them to find their partner. Now, it is each Student A&#39;s job to explain the video clip to their partner. Give them a few minutes to do this.</li>
	<li>After the Student As have described the video&nbsp;to the Student Bs, choose a Student B at random to describe the clip, which&nbsp;they haven&#39;t seen themselves, based on their partner&#39;s description.&nbsp;After they&#39;ve explained a small chunk of the clip, point to&nbsp;a different Student B and have them continue the explanation&nbsp;until all the Student Bs have had a chance to add to it.</li>
	<li>Play the video again with&nbsp;all the students&nbsp;present. (Student Bs tend to particularly enjoy this part&nbsp;since they can compare their understanding with what actually happens in the video.)</li>
	<li>Have partners switch roles. Repeat the activity using the second video, but this time, have the Student Bs stay in the classroom while the Student As wait outside.</li>
</ol>

I like to end this activity with a little self-assessment. Ask your students which parts of the videos they found easy to explain or describe. Which parts were difficult? Ideally, you can repeat the activity several times throughout the term and ask students if they see any improvement in their own skills.

The Silent Film Challenge

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On August 15, the world watched in horror as the Taliban entered Kabul and took governmental control. Since then, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3770">thousands have tried&mdash;and are still trying&mdash;to flee the country</a>. Civilians fear that interpreters will be killed and that women&rsquo;s rights will be restricted. Under the previous Taliban rule, women were forced to wear burqas, could not travel by themselves, and were not allowed to work or go to school.&nbsp;

<h2>An Update from AIWR</h2>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/building-an-alliance-for-international-women-s-rights" target="_blank">Back in April</a>, we wrote about the&nbsp;<a href="https://aiwr.org/" target="_blank">Alliance for International Women&rsquo;s Rights</a> (AIWR), a volunteer-run organization that provides an online English language learning program and a mentorship program for women and girls in Afghanistan. Due to the heartbreaking situation in Afghanistan, AIWR has had to pause their programs.

Lisa and the AIWR team wrote about the crisis in their <a href="https://mailchi.mp/78db5275cf57/crisis-in-afghanistan?e=f438d22c72" target="_blank">recent newsletter</a>.

<blockquote>&ldquo;The women and girls in AIWR&rsquo;s programs are terrified and panicked and fear for their lives. Many of the women&rsquo;s rights advocates and women professionals in AIWR&rsquo;s mentor programs were already targets of the Taliban and are in imminent danger.&rdquo;</blockquote>

<h2>How You Can Help</h2>

Afghan women and girls&rsquo; lives are at risk. Here are some ways that you can help:

<ul>
	<li>Write to your political leaders asking that Afghan women&rsquo;s rights advocates and professionals be evacuated. You can send <a href="http://aiwr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AIWR-Petition-to-US-government-081421.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AIWR&#39;s letter</a> or write your own, using their letter as an example.</li>
	<li>Send the link to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/afghanistan/how.html#family" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Canada&rsquo;s visa program</a> to women you know in Afghanistan.</li>
	<li>Donate to the following organizations:
	<ul>
		<li><a href="https://www.vitalvoices.org/2021/08/vital-voices-statement-on-the-women-of-afghanistan/?mc=afghanistan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vital Voices</a></li>
		<li><a href="https://secure.unicef.ca/page/88400/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=21DIEM11GSE&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwyIKJBhBPEiwAu7zll_laGUy0lx3QDdv2O_OXtha_zp8lw23OGd_Nynmd-_PDM8uUfvIzlRoCKrAQAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Unicef</a></li>
		<li><a href="https://give.unhcr.ca/page/86611/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=SEM21_AFG&amp;utm_campaign=CA_PS_EN_AFS&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwyIKJBhBPEiwAu7zll83VnvIkDQNXOJ3T4VO-3PeO5djrpbGbyrLpnpG9xbsejgpQMcHraBoC2-AQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UNHCR</a></li>
		<li><a href="https://www.islamicreliefcanada.org/emergencies/afghanistan-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Islamic Relief Canada</a></li>
		<li><a href="https://tooyoungtowed.salsalabs.org/afghanistan-donations/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Too Young to Wed</a></li>
	</ul>
	</li>
</ul>

If you have other ideas for how to help Afghanistan, please let us know in the comments below.

How to Help Afghanistan + An Update from AIWR

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<h2>Do You Use Flipgrid?&nbsp;</h2>

<a href="https://info.flipgrid.com/">Flipgrid</a> is a popular EdTech tool that encourages students to speak out&nbsp;on all sorts of topics they&#39;re learning about at school. With Flipgrid, teachers and students become their own content creators. The best part about Flipgrid is that everyone gets to use their creativity to the fullest including curators, teachers, and students.&nbsp;It&#39;s no wonder the language teaching community loves Flipgrid!&nbsp;

<h2>ESL Library Is a Flipgrid&nbsp;Partner</h2>

Flipgrid recognizes the importance of designing activities that target both academic and language needs. We&nbsp;were thrilled when Flipgrid invited ESL Library to become an official Discovery Library Partner.&nbsp;Each quarter, our publishing team&nbsp;adds several prompts for&nbsp;Flipgrid teachers to use with their students. ESL Library&#39;s Flipgrid prompts&nbsp;includes photos, videos, quotes, discussion questions, and more! These prompts integrate with full lesson plans and activities on ESL Library. 
 
Find&nbsp;<a href="https://admin.flipgrid.com/discovery/partners/ellii">ESL Library</a> in Flipgrid&#39;s <a href="https://admin.flipgrid.com/manage/discovery">Discovery Library</a>, and be sure to check out all of the other great educational partners too. You can filter by Language Learning to find the best prompts for your students.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NtnFYKZOYpg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

<h2>Learn All about Flipgrid at the ESL Library Virtual Conference</h2>

This September, ESL Library is hosting its first-ever conference for English language teachers! On Friday, September 17, 2021, from 11:30 am to 12:15 pm (CDT),&nbsp;Fely Garc&iacute;a L&oacute;pez&nbsp;will show teachers&nbsp;how to get started with Flipgrid and how to create discussion topics that incorporate best practices for second language acquisition. Learn more and register&nbsp;for <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2021">ESL Library&#39;s Virtual Conference</a> today. It&#39;s free!

<h2>Share the Love&nbsp;</h2>

The first thing we discovered when partnering with Flipgrid is that this company truly cares about learners and the learning journey. They are helpful and welcoming, and you can tell right away that the staff at Flipgrid love what they do. If you love Flipgrid as much as we do,&nbsp;please leave a comment telling teachers why&nbsp;you love it and how you use it with your language learners.&nbsp;

ESL Library Partners with Flipgrid

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Have you heard about the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ESL Talk podcast</a>? As described on their Apple Podcast page, ESL Talk 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 specifically pertaining to ESL teachers. Here are some key takeaways from their episode on effective speaking strategies.

<h2>Incorporate more small group discussions</h2>

Whether it&rsquo;s for a warm-up exercise, a comprehension check-up, or an end-of-class discussion, try to incorporate discussion-based pair work and group work as often as possible.

<h2>Don&rsquo;t give the answer immediately</h2>

When your students ask questions, don&rsquo;t immediately give them the answer. Instead, ask your class what they think the correct answer is or put students into pairs to discuss what&nbsp;the right answer might be. If you&rsquo;re teaching a student one-on-one, you can first ask your student what they think the answer is. Giving your students the opportunity to discover the right answer on their own will get them talking and will help them to become more independent.

<h2>Provide students with positive feedback</h2>

After a speaking task, be sure to provide both constructive and positive feedback. Encouragement will increase your students&rsquo; confidence which will lead to chattier, happier students!

<h2>Give students options and choices</h2>

When assigning a speaking task, provide your students with choices. If your students can choose topics that they are interested in and passionate about, they will feel more comfortable to speak about that topic.&nbsp;

<h2>Create a friendly and safe environment</h2>

Create an environment where students aren&rsquo;t afraid to make mistakes. Lead by example when you make a mistake and remind your students often that they don&rsquo;t have to be perfect. Use humor too! Jokes will help to put your students at ease.

<h2>Speak as little as possible</h2>

At first glance this may seem odd, but try to speak as little as possible. As a teacher, you are the language facilitator. Your job is to check, clarify, and empower.

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3608">Speak Up (Beg)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3594">Speak Up (Int)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3611">Speak Up (High Int)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3351">Conversation Questions (digital)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3087">Conversation Questions (printable)</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-speaking-tips-for-students">5 Recording Tips for Students</a></li>
</ul>

Teachers, what speaking strategies do you use in your classroom to get your students to talk? Let us know in the comments below!

Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Speaking Strategies

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