Boosting Achievement: The Esl Podcast

How should newcomer teachers approach this school year when there are so many challenges for our immigrant families?  What are the best activities for the first days of school?  Dr. Carol Salva discusses these questions with award-winning educator and author, Larry Ferlazzo.  Find extensive show notes with links here: BIT.LY/BAPODCAST Episode 128

What questions do educators have right now about serving SLIFE and other new arrival Multilingual Learners?  Maybe you're feeling overwhelmed?  Or perhaps you want to know how to manage multiple student perspectives in this challenging climate. I received some very thoughtful questions from some outstanding educators who are using Boosting Achievement of SLIFE at Georgian Court University in their graduate program.  Thanks to Dr. Denise Furlong, we all get to reflect on the questions and our answers.   All episode notes with links are at BIT.LY/BAPODCAST

Dr. Carol Salva interviews award-winning professor and author, Dr. Francisco Jiménez.  Full show notes at bit.ly/BAPODCAST. This show offers inspiration to anyone teaching Multilingual Learners with interrupted education, students who may be fearful of deportation, and any students who may be struggling due to difficult circumstances. Dr. Jiménez was deported as a migrant farm worker when he was in school.  But his life is proof that a challenging event is not the end of a person's story.  His autobiographical books are listed by the American Library Assn's 50 best young adult books of all time.  They are so important for our empathy and our mindset.  Now we can add this podcast to our toolbox!  

Yes, we need to show students what to do to become more fluent.  They can make their language acquisition go so much faster. Dr. Carol Salva shares tips for that in the "What to do Right Now" part of this episode.  But these ideas fall flat if you are not helping learners reflect on how far they have come, and show them where they could be in a few months, years.. and beyond.  Find the links at bit.ly/BAPODCAST, Episode 125

Show notes are at bit.ly/BAPODCAST. If you are feeling distraught right now, Dr. Carol Salva has a process that might help you.  Many teachers of immigrant students are feeling distraught due to the results of the 2024 election. So this show is drawing on what Dr. Salva learned while teaching newcomers during difficult times.  Perhaps they can support you too. 

Based on the last 12 months of working with newcomer teachers, Carol (@DrCarolSalva) creates a short list of what Newcomer teachers can do to best serve new arrival learners and support their own self care.  The reflections in this show are for the beginning of the school year but can be done at any time.   

@DrCarolSalva offers ideas for getting the most out of time with Newcomer students. The show covers research and practical ideas for Newcomer Learners, Newcomer Teachers, and Content Area Teachers.  Some of the things mentioned in this show are KEY to receiving higher numbers of newcomers throughout the year in a way that makes sense for the teacher and the students.  Show notes can be found at bit.ly/BAP_122.  

In this episode Dr. Carol Salva interviews Khalil El-Saghir about supporting the educators of Multilingual Learners. His background is extensive! In the first half of this episode, we get to hear about where his passion comes from. The second half of the show ended up being a blueprint for an effective Language Assistance Program as he shares specific, essential elements every program should have.

Has your class grown?? Behavior getting off the rails a bit? It's a great time to hit the reset button if things have gone off track in the newcomer classroom. Mid-year was always the time of year that Dr. Carol Salva needed to think about doing a hard stop to reset things. Find the show notes at Bit.ly/BAPODCAST

Show notes are at the short link: bit.ly/BAPODCAST. This is a quick show that should resonate with SO MANY educators. Dr. Salva reflects on a quote by Voltaire, "Perfect is the Enemy of Good." Listeners may find it helpful to reflect on what they are not doing or not appreciating in their own work as they strive for perfection.

The wonderful Jessica Lander (@Jessica_Lander) is here to share about her book, Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education. Dr. Salva highly recommends the book but you can get lots of the ideas for free by listening to this episode. All show notes are at BIT.LY/BAPODCAST. Find episode 118 for links to what was discussed on this show.

Dr. Carol Salva shares about how any teacher can differentiate and lift up the voices of their students with co-created text. This technique does not require planning but has quite a bit of research on its effectiveness. Find links in the show notes at bit.ly/BAP117

Our guest for this episode is world-renowned educator, Larry Ferlazzo. He joined Dr. Carol Salva to talk about his new book, The Student Motivation Handbook: 50 Ways to Boost an Intrinsic Desire to Learn. This is not a book exclusively for teachers of Multilingual Learners but it DEFINITELY is imporantt for the teacher of newcomers. Find the show notes at bit.ly/BAP116

Dr. Salva recommends co-creating text with newcomer students. It is no-prep and high return on investment. Key for accelerating language acquisition is to reuse that text! This episode is full of ideas for what teachers can do to support language acquisition through the re-purposing of co-created text.

How can foundational literacy skills be taught to older Emergent Bilingual students? This show is in direct response to educators and education leaders asking Dr. Carol Salva about phonics instruction (based on what we are hearing from the Science of Reading) and how that makes sense for our Multilingual Learners. I have lots of resources and practical ideas for you! Full Show Notes are at bit.ly/BAP114

Kim Thyberg (@KimberlyThyberg) joins Carol (@DrCarolSalva) to talk about how we begin teaching again after a traumatic event. This show focuses on new arrival students but the messages would apply to any classroom. The notes are at bit.ly/BAPODCAST and include several resources to dealing with trauma and Social-Emotional Learning.

Emily Francis (@EmilyFranESL), author of If You Only Knew: Letters from an Immigrant Student joins Dr. Carol Salva (@DrCarolSalva) to discuss Free Voluntary Reading with Newcomers and her own journey.

Dr. Salva reflects on holding our nSewcomers in high regard and teach them what to day when they don't know what to say. Language is not a cognitive issue. We need this important strategy so that everyone can be included and participate. But some things can go wrong when they don't speak the target language yet.

Dr. Salva revisits the top 5 things she always recommends for starting the school year but this show is mostly about the MINDSET we need as we serve our most marginalized students. @DrCarolSalva #BoostingAchievement

Dr. Carol Salva (@DrCarolSalva) is joined by author, trainer, and instructional coach, Nancy Motley (@NancyMotleyTRTW). Nancy shares several tips and strategies from her new book, "Small Moves, Big Gains: Teacher Habits that Help Kids to Talk More, Think More and Achieve More."