Adult
Leader: Amy Dinkel Van Valkenburg
[email protected]

Favorite online resources for Adult Interest Section members!

  • Dave’s ESL Café www.eslcafe.com
    • Many activity ideas and links to other sites. Extensive job postings and discussion boards.
  • The Internet TESL Journal http://iteslj.org
    • Lesson plans, activities, links, research articles and more. Popular “Conversation Questions” page.
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt graphic organizers www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
    • A variety of downloadable and printable graphic organizers for both adults and children.
  • Discovery Education Puzzlemaker http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/
    • Make puzzles using vocabulary you choose. Fast and easy.
  • Breaking News English www.breakingnewsenglish.com
    • Current news stories written with ELLs in mind and recorded for use in listening lessons. Complete with pre-reading/listening activities, reading/listening activities and follow-up.
  • Mpls ABE Online Computer Lab  http://mpsabe.mpls.k12.mn.us/abe_computer_labv2.html
    • Links by level and theme that learners can self-navigate.
  • Classroom Assessment Techniques www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/active/strategies/index.html
    • Active learning strategies that double as formative assessment techniques.
  • New American Horizons www.newamericanhorizons.org
    • NAH is a foundation with the goal of producing professional quality teacher training videos for dissemination at no cost to the consumer. There are two core lesson videos available for viewing, six more are slated to be available soon. Extra footage will be made into “themed videos”, ones in which a particular technique is highlighted.
  • ESL Library www.esl-library.com
    • You must pay for a membership to this site (roughly $40/year), but you will have access to scads of lesson plans and flashcards.
  • Wordle www.wordle.net
    • Wordle creates word clouds out of text you provide. Use it for pre-reading, discussions, word-finds or just for fun.
  • Jennifer ESL www.youtube.com/user/JenniferESL
    • YouTube page. Jennifer has over 170 video lessons that are excellent for both students learning English and teachers / education students.
  • English with Jennifer www.englishwithjennifer.com
    • Same Jennifer as above. This site has lesson plans, study tips and a blog.
  • Bow Valley College’s extensive resources for teachers of low-literacy adult ESL: http://www.esl-literacy.com/
  • ALLESL  (http://allesl.com)
    • Supports English learning for adults and children
College
Leaders:

David Atterberry, [email protected]
Troi Ferguson,  [email protected]

Elementary
Leaders:

TBD

Secondary
Leaders

Krista Schweppe, [email protected]

Heather Walseth, [email protected]

For the most up-to-date information about what’s happening and when we’re meeting, please follow this interest section on Facebook! facebook.com/MinnetesolMiddleAndSecondaryInterestSections

Teacher Education
Leaders

Karla Stone, [email protected]

Allison Spenader, [email protected]

A Position Statement from MinneTESOL Teacher Educators Regarding the Minnesota Teacher Licensure Exam, September 2012

Minnesota Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (MinneTESOL) is a professional organization that supports English Language teaching professionals and that partners with organizations that support World Language teachers for the common goal of developing multilingualism in Minnesota. In light of this goal, we are concerned about the problems that surround the new MTLE licensure tests, particularly the Basic Skills tests, and especially about accessibility of licensure in all subject areas for teacher candidates who are not native speakers of English. While we recognize the need for highly qualified teachers, we ask that the Minnesota Department of Education consider how this test can be re-examined to remove barriers to developing a culturally and linguistically diverse teaching force. Some areas for consideration are: potential cultural bias of reading passages focused on U.S.-specific topics, the need for more testing time even beyond the current non-native speaker accommodations given the length of the tests, limited and expensive pre-test preparation, and the lack of feedback on any of the tests for those who do not pass. We encourage less reliance on a multiple choice standardized assessment and more attention given to comprehensive, classroom based performance assessments such as the Teacher Performance Assessment. We view non-native speakers of English as having the potential to contribute greatly to the goal of developing multilingual and culturally competent Minnesotans through their teaching of languages as well as other subjects in our schools, and we urge the Minnesota Department of Education and the Board of Teaching to give urgent attention to the problems of the current tests.

Retired Educators
Leaders

Susan Ranney, [email protected]
Debbie Hadas, [email protected]