Engaging Very Young and Young Learners in Real Communication

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Engaging Very Young and Young Learners in Real Communication​

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DR. JODI CRANDALL

AUTHOR

OVERVIEW

Young learners respond best to natural, contextualized real communication that is meaningful, enjoyable, and relevant to their lives. They are also very social and enjoy being active users of the language, not focused on rules or grammar, but on real communication. Through songs, chants, games, role plays, projects and other activities with their teacher and their peers, young learners can be both active and interactive and motivated to participate, since these activities are also fun. These activities can also help our young learners develop into global citizens, aware of other cultures, and proud of their own.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor Emerita and former Director of the Language, Literacy and Culture Ph.D. Program, and Co-Director of the MA TESOL Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has worked in all areas of ESL/EFL including teaching, curriculum and materials development, standards development, and teacher training. She is a Series Editor of National Geographic Learning’s young learner programs Welcome to Our World, Our World, and Explore Our World, as well as the teen program Impact, and an author of the professional development title Teaching Young Learners English.

Think, Pair, Share: How to Teach Values Effectively in the Young Learner Classroom

WEBINAR LIBRARY
Think, Pair, Share: How to Teach Values Effectively in the Young Learner Classroom ​

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JODI CRANDALL

AUTHOR

Our World

OVERVIEW
One of our missions as English teachers is not only to help our students learn English, but also to develop as good local and global 21st century citizens. We can help them to better understand the world in which they live and make the world they will inherit a better place. Integrating values instruction into our language lessons is one way we can accomplish this.  Often, when learners are very young, we remind them to ‘respect their elders’ or ‘share their toys,’ but for our learners to truly develop the values of respect, friendship, or caring, they need opportunities to think critically about those values, to communicate their thoughts to their classmates, and to express themselves creatively through meaningful, values-focused activities. In this webinar, we’ll explore how values can be integrated into English language learning lessons and activities (including some that can be done in online teaching) and tips for making them meaningful to young learners.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor Emerita and former Director of the Language, Literacy and Culture Ph.D. Program, and Co-Director of the MA TESOL Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has worked in all areas of ESL/EFL including teaching, curriculum and materials development, standards development, and teacher training. She is a Series Editor of National Geographic Learning’s young learner programs Welcome to Our World, Our World, and Explore Our World, as well as the teen program Impact, and an author of the professional development title Teaching Young Learners English. 

 

How to Engage Teenager Learners with Projects

WEBINAR LIBRARY
HOW TO ENGAGE TEENAGER LEARNERS WITH PROJECTS

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DR. JODI CRANDALL
AUTHOR

OVERVIEW

Projects provide an active, interactive, and creative way for teenagers to use their language and express themselves. They engage learners in multi-sensory experiences that contextualize both content and language. Projects provide concrete examples of what they have been learning in other classes or experiencing in their lives, and they can share these projects with others. Projects also can help teenagers develop the 21st-century skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss the characteristics of successful projects for teenagers and describe a number of engaging projects, such as, writing and performing skits or TV sitcoms, surveying classmates, developing and conducting quiz shows, and creating comic strips or TV sitcoms. These activities appeal to a variety of learning styles and can be done individually or with others.

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she co-directed the M.A. TESOL Program and established and directed the Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy, and Culture. She is coauthor of the professional development book Teaching Young Learners English, and a series editor for the Our World suite of materials for young learners, including Welcome to Our World, Our World, and Explore Our World, and Impact, a program for teens.

Engaging Young Learners with Projects

WEBINAR LIBRARY
ENGAGING YOUNG LEARNERS WITH PROJECTS

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DR. JODI CRANDAL
AUTHOR

Our World

OVERVIEW

Projects provide an active, interactive, and creative way for learners to use their language and express themselves. They engage learners in multi-sensory experiences that contextualize both content and language. Projects provide concrete examples of what they have been learning, and they can share these projects with others (the class, their friends and families, or their school). They appeal to a variety of learning styles and can be done individually or with partners.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss the steps for a variety of successful projects including: creating family posters or photo-autobiographies, conducting surveys or experiments and sharing the results, creating brochures or posters that support academic content and involve critical thinking, planning a TV show or video, and making puppets or designing a new machine.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she co-directed the M.A. TESOL Program and established and directed the Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy, and Culture. She is coauthor of the professional development book Teaching Young Learners English., and a series editor for the Our World suite of materials for young learners, including Welcome to Our World, Our World, and Explore Our World, and Impact, a program for teens.

Ensuring Young Learners Success Through Assessment

WEBINAR LIBRARY
ENSURING YOUNG LEARNERS SUCCESS THROUGH ASSESSMENT

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DR. JODI CRANDALL
AUTHOR

Our World

OVERVIEW

When we see the word “assessment,” most of us think of formal tests, especially end-of-course exams or standardized tests required by educational institutions, or what has been called “assessment OF learning.” But we can actually assess in many ways, both formally and informally, and for many different purposes.

Some of the most important assessments involve “assessment FOR learning,” where we get an idea of how our students are truly doing in class and what we might need to review with some or all of our learners to ensure their success.

In this webinar, Dr. Crandall will discuss and demonstrate both formal and informal assessments that can be used for a range of purposes. She’ll provide:

  • examples of engaging, developmentally appropriate assessment activities
  • a set of guidelines for using informal assessments for learning
  • idea for encouraging our learners to assess themselves

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she co-directed the M.A. TESOL Program and established and directed the Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy, and Culture. She is coauthor of the professional development book Teaching Young Learners English., and a series editor for the Our World suite of materials for young learners, including Welcome to Our World, Our World, and Explore Our World, and Impact, a program for teens.

Teaching Reading and Writing in the Young Learner Classroom

WEBINAR LIBRARY
TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN THE
YOUNG LEARNER CLASSROOM

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DR. JODI CRANDALL
AUTHOR

Our World

OVERVIEW

For many reasons—class size, children’s attention span, children’s level of literacy in their native language, lack of time, etc.—we tend to focus on oral language skills in the young learner English classroom.

Listening and speaking skills are of course key areas of focus for young English learners, but it’s possible, and in fact vital, to develop their written language skills at the same time to ensure our learners have a well-rounded language skill set early on.

In this presentation, we’ll look at:

  1. activities you can use to integrate more reading and writing in your classes from very beginning levels
  2. why this is important even if you have a listening and speaking focus in your classroom
  3. and how to do this while still having fun and remembering the basic characteristics of young learners.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she co-directed the M.A. TESOL Program and established and directed the Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy, and Culture. She is coauthor of the professional development book Teaching Young Learners English., and a series editor for the Our World suite of materials for young learners, including Welcome to Our World, Our World, and Explore Our World, and Impact, a program for teens.