April Newsletter

Do you want to attend the 2021 Virtual TESOL Advocacy & Policy Summit?

The only event of its kind in the world, the TESOL Advocacy & Policy Summit is an unparalleled professional development opportunity for educators to learn about U.S. federal and international education issues and advocate for policies that support English learners and the field of English language education. Last year, MinneTESOL was able to send 14 members to the TESOL Advocacy & Policy Summit! If you would like to attend this year, please complete this interest form. Email minnetesoladvocacy@gmail.com with any questions or for more information.

Minnesota EL Teachers’ Response to COVID-19

MinneTESOL members and ELM Project leaders Michelle Benegas and Amy Stolpestad recently co-authored an article about EL teacher experiences in response to COVID-19 in the Planning and Changing Journal. Their article included findings for Minnesota teachers which were presented at the MELEd 2020 conference.

Featured Article

MinneTESOL journal featured article

In “The big picture: Visualization as a tool for decoding and reading comprehension,” Holly Krech Thomas shows that the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension depend on accurate decoding. This article explains how visualization improves both comprehension and decoding, and it provides a variety of activities that encourage students of all ages to visualize both the forms and meanings of words.

MinneTESOL journal call for papers

Now is your chance to publish an article in the upcoming MinneTESOL Journal, a

practitioner academic online journal. See Writing for the MinneTESOL Journal for more information.

Journal submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.

Email the senior editors to learn more about submitting work: journal@minnetesol.org

Position at MinneTESOL: East Ce

Get to know the Executive Board

Each newsletter will profile a different Executive Board or MinneTESOL member.

Name: Valorie Arrowsmith

Position at MinneTESOL: East Central Minnesota Regional Representative. I also do this work for MCTLC (Minnesota Council for Teaching Languages and Cultures). When we have coffee gatherings, we extend the invitation net to ESL, ASL, and World Language Teachers and educational assistants

Teaching Context: ESL preK-12 at Rush City, Pine City, Hinckley/Finlayson, and East Central schools

Why you got into ESL: After a career leading non-profits and grant writing, I answered an ad in the local newspaper, in which they were seeking an ESL para. I had plenty of experience in second language contexts, and thoroughly enjoyed working with the English Learners. This prompted me to further my education and I did a lot of graduate work at Hamline and the U of M, including CARLA. Even though I have completed two licenses in ESL and Swedish, and two masters degrees, I still enjoy learning about second language acquisition processes and sharing that with others.

Current Project: (1) ESL teachers are mandated to serve pre-K children, however our training does not include that population so I am taking classes in Early Childhood Development. (2) I continue to teach Swedish through the Concordia Language Villages, both academic year programs and in the summer. Over the years I have offered many professional development workshops for my colleagues and in these instances I especially use my pedagogical training as an ESL teacher. My most current interest stems from a CARLA Institute called Creativity in the Second Language Classroom. I continue to include creative endeavors in my own practice and share that with fellow teachers.

MELEd 2021 Call for Proposals Open Soon

The annual MELEd conference will take place November 18-20, 2021, at the Saint Paul Rivercentre. We are planning to do an in-person conference this year. Look for a call for proposals for conference submissions in early March.