Boosting Achievement: The ESL Podcast

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."

Dr. Carol Salva (@DrCarolSalva) is joined by Christopher Hagy, Assistant Director for Multilingual Learners in Charleston County School District. They are using this show to explain the QSSSA strategy and offer his teachers a padlet full of resources to learn about this powerful technique. The show offers the resources to anyone who wants to use them. The two discuss the strategy but also the way Chris is supporting teachers with multiple entry points to learning how to serve MLs.

Larry Ferlazzo (@LarryFerlazzo) and Katie Hull Sypnieski (@KHullSyp), educators and authors of The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide 2nd Edition, join Carol Salva (@MsSalvaC) to talk about their new resource. The three discuss all the free opportunities listeners have to use content from the book and the conversation also includes inspiring messages for today's educators of MLLs.

Dr. Denise Furlong (@denise_furlong) joins host Dr. Carol Salva (@MsSalvaC) to offer tips for supporting Newcomer students. Dr. Furlong also shares about her new book, Voices of Newcomers; Experiences of Multilingual Learners. Denise is a teacher educator at Georgian Court University in New Jersey, she is a consultant and a strong advocate for Multilingual Learners.

If you want to make a difference for all the newcomers enrolling in your schools, this is a great show with lots of free resources. Carol Salva (@MsSalvaC) interviews guest iMargaret Gisala Rutaquio (@aggie_rutaquio), a Multilingual Programs Newcomer Facilitator from Garland ISD. Margaret shares her Ambassador program, intake process and ideas for newcomer leadership.

Derek Rhodenizer (@DerekRhodenizer) and Carol (@MsSalvaC) reflect on several aspects of leadership. He is about to take a new assistant principal position and will begin serving Multilingual Learners in public education for the first time. The conversation is full of reflective moments that can support the learning journey of anyone serving language learners.

SLIFE (or Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) are able to learn quickly but their degree of motivation can significantly affect their progress. This show breaks down the 4 things Carol focuses on for increasing motivation. The advice is aligned to an article by Larry Ferlazzo & the work of Dr. Lora Beth Escalante, Daniel Pink and others. Find links at bit.ly/BAPODCAST, Episode 103

Dr. Ilene Winokur (@IleneWinokur) joins Carol and Stephen to discuss her new book, Journey to Belonging. The three talk about the research, the impacts and practical ways to create a safe place for learning.