Welcome to the CATESOL Blog! For inquiries and submissions, send email to: blog@catesol.org
Expanding Literacy: Bringing Digital Storytelling into Your Classroom
By Brett Pierce
By Leslie Sherwood and Kara Mac Donald
Multimodal writing is commonplace in the online landscape. Articles of all kinds have print text alongside images, videos, and often links to other online resources. Students are constantly interacting with these multimodal texts throughout the day on their phones, tablets and laptops for school and leisure. It makes perfect sense to give students assignments that mirror these real-word texts. The author, Brett Pierce, advocates for middle and high school students to develop such multimodal texts to expand their literacies and share their voice. In fact, there are multimodal PhD dissertations. Although limited in number, even graduate education is embracing the practice as the academic and popular media publications are evolving. If higher education is coming on board, so should elementary and secondary education.
The Michigan Series in English for Academic & Professional Purposes, Volume 1, 2, 3 4
By John M. Swales and Christine B. Feak
By Sonia Estima and Kara Mac Donald
Academic Writing for Graduate Students (Swales & Feak, 2004), with subsequent editions, is a ubiquitous text used in/for academic research writing courses. The smaller short texts with a specific focus on particular aspects of writing a research manuscript were published a few years after (i.e. 2009). They also have been fundamental go-to-texts for academic research writing instruction. This review describes the value of the English for Academic & Professional Purposes series text as publishing educators, we have strengths and weaknesses across the different components of a research publication and a quick go-to concise source is beneficial. Also, for educators who are teachers of academic and research writing, there may not be a need based on student population to review all aspects of an academic research publication, and this series can offer an accessible engagement on particular areas of a research manuscript.
The series consists of four volumes: Volume 1: Abstracts and the Writing of Abstracts; Volume 2: Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review; Volume 3: Creating Contexts: Writing Introductions across Genres; and Volume 4: Navigating Academia: Writing Supporting Genres. The structure and content of each booklet are summarized below.
Technology Enhanced Language Learning Interest Group
CATESOL TELL-IG
Presents Friday, January 20, 10:00 am - 11:30 am Workshop:
Vocabulary Tips and Tricks using Padlet for Classroom and HYFLEX teachers
It’s 2023! Time to brush up on your tech skills for In-Class and HyFlex teachers. The focus will be on innovative Padlet techniques for low-level through high-level learners. Additionally, we'll help you problem solve technology issues in the classroom and on HyFlex. Free for CATESOL members and only $5.00 for non-members. Register by going to TELL-IG January 20 Swap Meet or by going to CATESOL and click on the TELL-IG / Hyflex January 20th date, which will take you to the registration page.
For more information: CATESOL TELL-IG REGISTRATION
Visit our Padlet Page!
Cara Lazarus
TELL-IG Co-Coordinator
clazaruscatesol@gmail.com
Johanna Gleason
TELL-IG Co-Coordinator
jgleason.sdsu.edu@gmail.com
Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens, Global Perspectives.
By Zhongfeng Tian, Laila Aghai, Peter Sayer & Jamie L. Schissel Editors
By Liza E. Martinez and Kara Mac Donald
This is part two of the review of Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens, Global Perspectives. This portion discusses Part III: Translanguaging in TESOL Classrooms of the publication. If you missed the November Blog Book Review that discusses Part I: Theorizing Translanguaging in TESOL and Part II: Translanguaging in TESOL Teacher Education, please check it out at the November Book Review.
Book Review – Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens, Global Perspectives
By Zhongfeng Tian, Laila Aghai, Peter Sayer & Jamie L. Schissel Editors
By Liza E. Martinez and Kara Mac Donald
Translanguaging is a somewhat new concept in linguistics and ELT, establishing presence in the early 2000s as means to discredit the notion in many western monolingual communities that the brain processes different languages separately. The term has been used to describe the use of multiple languages in a single situation. For ELT, translanguaging describes teaching students to become bilingual or multilingual through the use of two or more languages. This is a departure from former ESL paradigms that focused instruction on one language and excluded any other/s. This edited volume truly explores the practice of translanguaging in the ESL/EFL classroom across the global context, with contributions from authors in a multitude of instructional contexts and countries.
Book Review – Teacher Burnout Turnaround, Strategies for Empowered
Educators
By Patricia A. Jennings
By Siyi Gao and Kara Mac Donald
Teaching has always been a stressful profession, but the extended year of teaching online due to
COVID-19 brought new and unexpected challenges. Now predominantly back in the face-to-face
classroom, we do not find ourselves in a return to the previous normal. The post-COVID-19
situation has generated additional and new challenges and stressors. Teachers often have a hard
time maintaining motivation, engagement with instructional practice and relationships with
students. With an increased level of teacher shortage and minimal funding for schools, there may
be even less time for professional development and self-care. This recently published text in
2021 is highly relevant for teachers who feel overworked, stressed out and less engaged in the
field, as the author shows readers, as teachers, how they can grasp the power to empower
themselves as educators.
Book Review – English and Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education
By Luis Javier Penton Herrera, Editor
By Jun Li, Lorine Erika Saito and Kara Mac Donald
Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) and Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) has been a topic of growing interest in ELT. Work around these subgroups of ELLs raises awareness of these learners’ specific needs, offers effective instructional approaches and interventions for language learning, supports students social acculturation, and emotional wellbeing, and advocates for policy reform. Three CATESOL members, Judy O’Loughlin, Brenda Custodio and Jose Franco, who have worked extensively in this area, are contributors to this edited volume. The volume showcases their academic engagement in support of SIFEs/SLIFEs, as well as many other well-known ELT researchers and professionals.
Book Review – Language Program Evaluation, Theory and Practice
By Brian K. Lynch
By José Franco and Kara Mac Donald
Conducting assessments of language programs whether for administrative quality control, program accreditation or action or institute research purposes is often a large endeavor composed of various forms of data from numerous stakeholders. This book is a great piece, offering an overview of program evaluation and applied linguistics a historical lens through which to see the evolution of the practice, different research frameworks and designs, and steps for conducting a context-based language program assessment.
Book Review – Listening in the Classroom, Teaching Students How to Listen
By Marnie Reed and Tamara Jones, Editors
By Natalia Barley and Kara Mac Donald
Listening comprehension for most learners is a struggle. There are the small handful of learners that just seem to find listening in a foreign language as an easy skill, yet that isn’t the case for most learners. Many teachers too also find teaching listening a challenge as despite doing pre-listening activities and vocabulary preparation, many learners often grasp little of the listening passage. Teachers go back and use a variety of strategies to unpack the details of the passage for students, but they can feel less in control of the process compared to other skills. This book offers both novice and experienced teachers effective approaches to teaching listening, whether the information sheds new insight on instructional practice or simply is a refresher to refine classroom instruction.
Book Review – Effective Second Language Writing By Susan Kasten, Editor
By Sonia Estima and Kara Mac Donald
Learning to write well is a challenging task, even in one’s own first language, and it can be much more intimidating in a second language. Also, writing, and second language writing, are not one monolithic skill, but have many distinct sub-skills, like paraphrasing, synthesizing, mastering different registers and so on. The chapter discussions are highly accessible and based within the described context of the author and each ends with a Reflection on the particular information shared with respect to why something was popular with students, change was implemented, and other reasons related to the chapter’s focus.
Book Review – Using Home Language as a Resource in the Classroom, A Guide for Teachers of English Learners
By Kate Paterson
By Unsoon Won and Kara Mac Donald
Many teachers have English learners (EL) in their classrooms, not only in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs and/or classes but also in mainstream content classes across all levels of instruction (e.g. K-12, university). It is important for teachers to know how to appropriately support ELs for them to be successful. The book is short and very accessible, making it ideal for busy teachers who want to know how to better meet ELs needs in the classroom.
Book Review – Language Learning Environments, Spatial Perspectives on SLA (2021) by Phil Benson
By Federico Pomarici and Kara Mac Donald
The book is slender and with only six chapters in the table of contents, it could be assumed that the author attends to the content superficially and that it is a brief discussion of spatial dimensions regarding SLA. It is far from that. It is a book that has been jammed full of content from theory to application into one short volume that both informs readers and provokes thoughtful reflection based on experience/s with the content discussed.
Book Review - A New English Grammar: American Edition (2021) by Andrew Rossiter
By Lisa Fischler
Utilizing a form-meaning-function (FMF) approach to language learning is important because “grammar is not merely a collection of forms but rather involves the three dimensions of (morpho)syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Grammatical structures not only have a morphosyntactic form, they are also used to express meaning (semantics) in context-appropriate use (pragmatics)” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p. 109). The reference book, A New English Grammar: American Edition, by Andrew Rossiter contains the elements of such a tri-dimensional approach to learning English grammar. This book is made up of four chapters that are entitled “Verbs,” “The Noun Phrase,” “Other Parts of Speech,” and “Sentences and Clauses.” This reference book is organized somewhat differently than most English as a Second Language (ESL) textbooks, but will work well as a companion to most textbooks designed to teach American English grammar.
Book Review – And Justice for ELs, A Leader’s Guide to Creating and Sustaining Equitable Schools
By Ayanna Cooper
By Aylin Atilgan Relyea and Kara Mac Donald
Both new and veteran educational leaders are faced with providing more equity and inclusion for marginalized groups in their diverse school populations. Ayanna Cooper’s book underlines ELs’ civil rights to English language education and presents practices to deliver and sustain an environment for their academic success. Although geared towards district and school leaders, chapters address a broad range of topics and suggested practices that can also be informative for classroom teachers, as a metric of sorts to see how well their school is meeting the civil rights and educational needs of ELs.
Book Review – Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, High-Leverage Teaching Practices – Vol. 2
By Eileen W. Glisan & Richard Donato
By Kara Mac Donald
This review examines the second volume in the Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, High Leverage Teaching Practices series. The first volume was reviewed in the November issue of CATESOL’s Blog Book Review column. As a recap the first volume Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, High-Leverage Teaching Practices (HLTPs) – Volume 1, was published in 2017, and was followed by Volume 2 just this past year (2021) and adds four additional HLTPs to the initial six offered in the first book.
Book Review – Empowering the Community College First-Year Composition Teacher, Pedagogies and Policies
By Meryl Siegal and Betsy Gilliland
By Sonia Estima & Kara Mac Donald
For community college education in California, there was a significant shift permitting students to earn course credit eligible for transfer to a four-year university with the passing of AB 705 in 2017. The objective is to increase graduation rates from community college and transfer to complete a four-year degree, and initial data is suggesting this is so for California. This book is highly relevant within the larger discussion of equity and inclusion across the country, not only within California, as the role of community colleges serve an important access to further education and professional skills.
Book Review - Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, High-Leverage Teaching Practices – Vol. 1
By Eileen W. Gusan & Richard Donato
By Chia-Ning Jenny Liu & Kara Mac Donald
Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, High Leverage Teaching Practices consists of two volumes. Both books provide a set of practices that prepares teachers in training, new teachers, and veteran teachers to offer effective instruction, which have been used in numerous pre-service and in-service teacher training programs. The first book, Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, High-Leverage Teaching Practices – Volume 1, was published in 2017, and was followed by Volume 2 expanding the focus of practices in 2021 due the popularity of the first volume. Due to the relevance of both volumes for ELT and supporting learners, the November book review offers a review of Volume 1 and Volume 2 is reviewed in the December issue.
A Closer Look: Careers in Supporting ELLs
This Thursday, November 18th at 5:00 pm, the CATESOL Orange County Chapter and the CSU Fullerton TESOL Club will co-host a virtual career event called, "A Closer Look: Careers in Supporting ELLS." Our experienced panelists will offer career advice for those starting out or hoping to find new opportunities in the ESOL field. The event is open to all students and teachers in our field, and no prior registration is needed. Attendees can simply join the Zoom link. More details below.
TESOL Guide for Critical Praxis in Teaching, Inquiry, and Advocacy
By Jennifer Crawford & Robert A. Filback, Editors
By Erin Kourelis & Kara Mac Donald
The book responds to the highly diverse population served by ELT and the TESOL field’s need to examine its rooting in the hegemony of the English language, the perpetuation of practices that favor some learner populations and disadvantage others, and the inherent bias in many instructional practices and curriculum content. The chapters are many and address a broad range of topics that will permit teachers to better support the diverse learners in ELT classrooms by discussing research and literature surrounding instruction, equality and social justice matched with example practical pieces for application in the classroom as a guide for readers. The book review is quite lengthy, as the edited volume is both fat (i.e. thick and dense) and phat (i.e. excellent), and to do the content justice, each of the twenty-five chapters need more than a few sentences to reflect the value presented in each of them.
The Interest Group Council is Looking for You!
As we plan for our Fall 2021 conference, we are looking for members who might be interested in getting involved in our 2021-2022 operating year as part of CATESOL's Interest Group Council (IGC).Our interest groups are managed by people like you, who are interested in a particular aspect of language education and wish to share their experiences and bring content and opportunities to our membership.
Currently, we have 12 different areas that might be of interest for you to consider. We are looking for coordinators and assistant coordinators in the following IGs (see list below). If you are interested or would like to find out more information, please contact the specific IG Coordinator or the IG Chairs. All of us will be delighted to provide you with more information about our IGs and how you can become a part of the IGC for 2021-2022! We look forward to getting to know you!
Bentley Cavazzi
IGC Chair 2020-2021
Daniela Lup
IGC Assistant Chair 2020-2021, IGC Chair 2021-2022
Marsha Chan
IGC Chair 2019-2020
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Critical ELT in Action, Foundations, Promises, Praxis by Graham V. Crookes (2013) Routledge
By Sonia Estima & Kara Mac Donald
The book addresses the topic of critical pedagogy, where issues of social justice and democracy are incorporated in teaching and learning, with the goal of a critical consciousness to bring change to the world through critique and action. The topic is distinct from the current focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and social justice in ELT, but it most certainly intersects with it. In some ways addressing DEI in the classroom, critical pedagogy can inform instructional practice, envision the curriculum and syllabus and the role of the teacher and learners. So, it seems like a relevant text to review at this time, as we as an association address the trends of making English language learning more equitable and accessible.
Book Review – Mindfulness in the Classroom; Strategies for Promoting Concentration, Compassion, and Calm
By Thomas Armstrong (2019) ASCD
By Michelle Omidi & Kara Mac Donald
A year plus of classroom instruction being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in many cases heightened the need for mindfulness in the classroom to build resilience among teachers and students. As we transition back to the new normal of f2f instruction, there will be continued uncertainties and anxiety and this book is a guidebook of sorts on how to better care for us and our students, and foster awareness and resilience.
Hybrid Language Teaching in Practice; Perceptions, Reaction, and Results
By Berta Carrasco & Stacey Margarita Johnson (2015) Springer
By Sue Shanley & Kara Mac Donald
Hybrid instruction was a common model for language courses prior to the pandemic, and in some educational contexts, its use may increase as we enter the new reality, post-pandemic. The authors wrote the book for secondary and postsecondary teachers responsible for hybrid instruction, but teachers in other contexts may benefit from its accessibility and relevancy as it focuses on how to design a hybrid course, technology considerations with pedagogy in mind, learner feedback, the authors’ perspectives on hybrid language teaching, and advice for teachers and students.
RW-IG Webinar Report: Action Research; Getting Your Feet Wet in Academic Publications
Sonia Estima & Kara Mac Donald
Introduction
Many teachers would like to publish their work but may not have sufficient experience to navigate the process independently. Other teachers may not yet be familiar with how to carry out a large-scale research project and write it up for publication. However, teachers are constantly engaging in reflective practice and further formalizing reflective practice into action research is an accessible way to improve instructional practice and enter the world of academic research publishing. The webinar is one in a series offered by the Research Writers Interest Group (RW-IG) to introduce CATESOL members to what action research consists of and how it can be drafted for publication.
Book Review – Rituals for Virtual Meetings, Creative Ways to Engage People by Kursat Ozenc & Glenn Fajardo (2021) Wiley
Supporting the Journey of English Learners after Trauma by Judith B. O’Loughlin & Brenda K. Custodio, (2020) University of Michigan Press
By Erika Saito and Kara Mac Donald
With the CATESOL Spring Virtual Conference on May 7th and 8th with a focus on transformation, inclusion, diversity and engagement, it seemed appropriate to feature a book addressing these focus areas for ELLs. Supporting the Journey of English Learners after Trauma, by Judy O’Loughlin, a CATESOL member, and Brenda Custodio, her longtime colleague and friend, engages with ELLs’ diversity and challenges to include them in the larger discussion to make an impact on addressing their specific needs and transform the field and the learners’ journeys. Since this group of learners is diverse, they define various terms related to learners intersecting with the experiences of immigration and trauma in the introduction to set the stage for coming discussions.
Book Review – 101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online, Practical Ideas for ESL/EFL Teachers by Jackie Bolen
By Leslie Sherwood and Kara Mac Donald
Teachers have continually sought ways over the last year to make online language learning more dynamic, incorporating engaging activities. The topic of sharing and engaging with resources for online learning activities is still relevant, even with the availability of a vaccine and lock-down restrictions being loosened as online learning for many students will continue as the situation is fluid across the state and nationally. There will be forms of hybrid instruction, some learner groups continuing full virtual instruction, while others may be returning in some form to the f2f classroom. The dynamic nature of what is to come requires teachers to continue to think outside the box for hybrid instruction and ongoing virtual teaching. 101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online, Practical Ideas for ESL/EFL Teachers is a super accessible, lesson activity tool kit with online teaching ideas and suggestions arranged across 7 sections with numerous activities offered within each section, and with a resource section at the end. Since each section offers so many activity ideas, with little to no textual discussion associated with each section, the book review will provide a brief overview of each section and a description of a few activities that stood out to give the reader a feel for the types of engaging activities offered.
Social Justice in English Language Teaching
Christopher Hasting & Laura Jacob, Editors (2016), TESOL Press
By Nancy Kwang Johnson and Kara Mac Donald
With the CATESOL Spring Virtual Conference just around the corner in early May with a focus on transformation, inclusion, diversity, and engagement, it seemed appropriate for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion panel coordinator, Nancy Kwang Johnson, to be invited to contribute to featuring a publication on advocacy for diverse student population for a book review leading up to the Spring Virtual Conference. There are numerous books on social justice in the classroom, but the desire to highlight a book specifically addressing English Language Teaching was a principle criterion. Moreover, CATESOL Education Foundation Diversity, Equity and Inclusion grant recipients will be using the book in their workshops. Social Justice in English Language Teaching (ELT) (Hasting & Jacob, 2016) was selected as it closely aligns with membership needs and is also a TESOL Press publication. However, it is valuable to note that this publication was reviewed in the CATESOL Blog, Book Review column in April of 2020 by Kara Mac Donald with Kristen Arps. Some CATESOL Blog readers may recognize it. Nonetheless, it is featured again in light of the conference theme as it can provide valuable insight for those familiar with the book to revisit its content, as well as introducing a new resource for those who are not. In light of the conference focus, this review is more in depth than the prior one. Additionally, as is the structure of the books to some degree, where at the beginning of the book conceptual issues are presented and addressed regarding practice-based responses with a more applied focus later in the book, with case studies, curriculum approaches and instructional suggestions. The book review language and style of the chapter reviews reflects more in-depth conceptual reflection of the content early in the review and a more tangible practitioner language style towards the end.
Virtual Team Success, A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance, by D. M. DeRosa & R. Lepsinger
By Mirna Khater and Kara Mac Donald
Effective team interaction in the online environment has been a prominent topic in business and in education for more than a decade. However, with the mandatory mass move to online teaching by educators across the globe, many teachers who were not familiar with leading and/or interacting as a team in the virtual environment were forced to learn how to do so. The summer book review series addressed online teaching approaches, the fall series of short text reviews considered teachers’ needs in the online instructional environment, and the new year January book review continued with the online teaching focus. This February issue of the CATESOL’s Blog book review also emphasizes the online context, but shifts the focus from pedagogical and student-focused content to the leadership needs of teachers operating in the virtual environment.
Grit in the Classroom, Building Perseverance for Excellence in Today’s Students, Laila Y. Sanguras
By Robb Hill and Kara Mac Donald
Grit in the Classroom in many ways builds on Duckworth’s 2016 Grit: The power of passion and perseverance, discussing how to develop an environment that fosters learners’ resiliency. The book isn’t new off the press, it was published in 2017 and doesn’t focus on the virtual learning environment. However, the book came to mind for the authors as teachers are wrapping up the schoolwork and going on a much needed break after delivering instruction online for the second semester. Teachers are again going to be having virtual instruction for the third time as classes resume in 2021. This short accessible text is an enjoyable reading with some ideas to further develop the resiliency teachers have built in their learners over the last year in the virtual environment, even if not specifically geared to this context. Resiliency and the factors that develop it are not context specific.
Using Corpora for Language Learning and Teaching, by Dilin Liu and Lei Lei
By Jose Franco and Kara Mac Donald
Corpus linguistics as a form of instruction is a relatively new field, due to this fact, many teachers may not be familiar with how to utilize corpora for classroom teaching (also known as data-driven learning). The authors provide an extremely accessible and practical discussion with examples for readers to understand corpus use processes and techniques. Chapters include ‘Think and Do’ activities that support the reader in applying the information read, which permit the reader to apply the content to his/her context and needs.
Supporting Newcomer Students, Advocacy and Instruction for English Learners
Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, Laura Alvarez, Katharine Davies Samway (2020), TESOL Press
By Yara Khamis & Kara Mac Donald
The authors come from distinct fields within education and utilize their extensive experience to define, embrace, connect with, and advocate for newcomer learners in the classroom and beyond. The text is highly accessible and relevant to novice as well as experience teachers working with newcomer students.
The introductory chapter helps to lay a foundational understanding for the rest of the book by defining the political, social, and economic contexts that newcomer students come into in the United States (U.S.) and more specifically schools. We learn about the newcomer experience once they arrive in the U.S, like the programs they are put into. This chapter also helps to outline the historical flow of immigrants into the U.S, the effect of current immigration policies, the difficulties faced along the journey and the effect it leaves on the students once arriving.
Classroom Interaction for Language Teachers by Steve Walsh & Language Cooperative Learning and Teaching by George M. Jacobs and Harumi Kimura
By Aylin Baris Atilgan Relyea and Kara Mac Donald
The CATESOL Blog Book Review column has provided reviews of short booklets from three development series out of the TESOL Press edited by Thomas S.C. Farrell or Andy Curtis for the CATESOL 2020 fall issues. Since teachers have been busy with the ongoing and continual changes of the online teaching environment during COVID19, the column has offered members with accessible short practice-based and pedagogical-oriented texts that are highly relevant to inform online instruction, provide support and accessible professional development to teachers in the current context. With the end of the fall semester approaching, this will be the last installment of this series. Indeed the semester continues through November and into part of December, but the intention of returning to traditional review of full-length texts in November is that members can read the conventional length book reviews in preparation for possibly selecting reading for professional development over the winter break.
Language Teacher Professional Development, By Thomas S.C. Farrell (2015), Series Editor Thomas S. C. Farrell, TESOL Press
By Erin O’Reilly and Kara Mac Donald
In the Introduction, Chapter One, the author places teachers in three categories, with no value on the category one may self-assign or be assigned. He explicitly stated that each teacher, regardless of the category at any point in time, are doing what they understand best and the book is aimed at all educators across such categories, because he believes in teachers’ sincere intent.
Resiliency is a term that we associate with hardship, challenge or even trauma, while simultaneously symbolizing strength, adaptability or possibly a return to our core purpose. Within the context of our professional lives, resiliency allows us to continue to teach and support our students, adapt our classrooms and pedagogy and seek out opportunities for networking and engagement with publishers, exhibitors, and the content itself. The conference committee has come together under these circumstances and with great single-mindedness in an effort to support you and further deepen the professional resiliency in all of us.
English Language Teachers as Program Administrators by Dan J. Tannacito & Language Teacher Professional Development by Thomas S.C. Farrell
By Erin O’Reilly and Kara Mac Donald
An installment of the CATESOL 2020 FALL Book Review Sequence for Busy Teachers – Featuring TESOL Press ELT Development Series & English Language Teacher Development Series, Editor Thomas S.C. Farrell and ELT in Context Series, Editor Andy Curtis
Quick Recap to the 2020 Fall Book Review Sequence for Busy Teachers
The CATESOL Blog Book Review column is offering reviews of short booklets from three development series out of the TESOL Press edited by Thomas S.C. Farrell or Andy Curtis for the CATESOL 2020 fall issues. The goal is to provide members with accessible short practice-based and pedagogical-oriented texts that are highly relevant to inform online instruction, provide support and accessible professional development to teachers in the current COVID19 teaching environment.
CATESOL Book Review: Project-Based Learning by Erin Knoche Lverick (2019), Series Editor Thomas S.C. Farrell, TESOL Press
By Viktoriya Shevchenko and Kara Mac Donald
Challenge your students and create a collaborative classroom environment with project-based learning. Explore the benefits of using project-based learning with English language learners and learn techniques for every step of the lesson, from rubric design to assessments and reflection. Discover how to create an enriching teaching and learning experience for you and your students! - TESOL
CATESOL Book Review: Teaching Adults in a Digital World by Glenda Rose (2016), Series Editor Andy Curtis, TESOL Press
By Viktoriya Shevchenko and Kara Mac Donald
The Introduction frames the context of online learning as unique to many language learning settings, as students are often in class spread across many countries and highlights the importance of the diverse factors in online teaching. The format of the book, distinct from other books in the series, is described based on the nature of online learning as not constrained by a particular context.
CATESOL 2020 FALL Book Review Sequence for Busy Teachers - Featuring TESOL Press ELT Development Series & English Language Teacher Development Series, Editor Thomas S.C. Farrell and ELT in Context Series, Editor Andy Curtis
By Viktoriya Shevchenko and Kara Mac Donald
Overview to 2020 Fall Book Review Sequence for Busy Teachers
With the swift transition to online teaching, many instructors were not only figuring out how to navigate the online delivery platform, but also how to apply language acquisition and pedagogical principles to online lesson delivery on the fly.
With face-to-face (f2f), as well as some hybrid and online, educators grappling with the hasty switch, the reality is teachers may likely have little time to invest in reading full length professional development books, even though of interest, in the current constantly changing educational and social contexts.
Consequently, the CATESOL Blog Book Review column will offer reviews of short booklets from three development series out of the TESOL Press edited by Thomas S.C. Farrell or Andy Curtis for the CATESOL 2020 fall issues (August to November). The goal is to provide members with accessible short practice-based and pedagogical-oriented texts that are mighty1 and highly relevant to inform online instruction, provide support and accessible professional development to teachers.
Book Reviews from the ELT Series
The books were selected, among many in the ELT series, with the COVID19 online context in mind. The first text addresses a seemingly lesser focus of discussion on teaching adults online, as the K-12 context has somewhat prominent. The second text responds to the enormous screen fatigue experienced by students, regardless of educational context, who can benefit from the organization of off-screen in-class activities through project-based learning while being held accountable through communicative final products.
CATESOL 2020 State Conference: Join the Conversation by Margi Wald and Amy Pascucci
Resiliency. This is the theme of the CATESOL 2020 State Conference. If you’re new to CATESOL, our state conference is an annual event where educators from up and down the state and beyond come together in one place for four days to learn, collaborate, and enjoy the company of passionate colleagues. Knowing this, you can imagine why we decided to center this year’s conference around resiliency. We, the conference organizers, hope that this year more than any other year in CATESOL’s recent past, conference attendees walk away from the four days with renewed passion and resolve, and sharpen their skills so that they may continue to show up for their students and colleagues amidst the many obstacles that we currently face.
CATESOL Book Review: Pedagogy & Practice for Online English Language Teacher Education
By Kara Mac Donald and Suzanne Bardasz
Pre-service and In-service teacher education in increasingly being offered and accessed online. It may be the delivery of training and professional development for teachers, and informs their delivery of language instruction to students virtually. Therefore, pedagogy needs to be the underlying source for development, design and delivery, not technology. The authors share principles and examples the how to accomplish this.
Online ESL Instruction in the Time of COVID
By Liza E. Martinez
Spring 2020 began as any semester. On our first week back, teachers came to campus to prepare for the upcoming semester; this culminated with the Faculty start-up meeting. The next two months progressed as usual. During that time, we heard of COVID-19 increasing and spreading, but we were not alarmed. It was still far away and not a part of our daily lives. Everything changed during the week of March 9. We heard that ASU, our sister institution, would be abandoning face-to-face classes and switching to online instruction. “We need to get ready,” advised Dr. Susan Salminen, a fellow ESL professor. “Since we share two classes, I can get them Zoom accounts,” she continued. I meekly agreed hoping it would not come to this.
Advocating for English Learners: Are You Ready to Take Action for Learners, Their Teachers, and Their Programs!
By Judith B. O’Loughlin, CATESOL Advocacy and Policy Advisor (joeslteach@aol.com)
From June 22-24 I attended the 2020 TESOL Annual Advocacy and Policy Summit representing CATESOL. This year the Summit was delivered virtually for advocates from all over the U.S. and internationally representing TESOL Affiliates. Days one and two were dedicated to providing attendees with updated information about what was happening related to upcoming legislation about English learners, their programs, and their teachers. There were speakers from 9 AM – 5 PM PT. Much of the first day was devoted to understanding what is happening for K-12 programs and the second day focused on the adult learner both nationally and internationally.
Steinbeck Chapter: Looking Towards the Future
By Amber Paluszynski and Ondine Gage // Originally published in July 2019
As we come to the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the landscape for TESOL professionals has changed dramatically. From a burgeoning profession in the 1980s, we now find fewer and fewer viable graduate programs. Since 9/11, the intensive English industry has largely moved to other countries. As many of us have repurposed our TESOL training, the situation has led us to consider what unique skills do TESOL professionals provide to other areas of society? In response, the Steinbeck Chapter has shifted our focus to providing professional development which considers the ways in which we bring our unique set of TESOL knowledge, skills, and attitudes to a variety of social contexts. For our spring 2019 event, we offered a presentation and panel titled, “Education and Social Justice; The Role of Civic Engagement, Service Learning and Interculturality."
Teacher-Leadership for School-Wide English Learning
By Kara Mac Donald and Sonia Estima
The importance of language for survival regardless of the context is raised at the beginning of the Introduction with an example among animal species. This is linked to the importance of English Learners (ELs) having the appropriate language skills to participate in the English-speaking communities in which they live. However, the concern is raised that ELs spend much of their instructional day with teachers that are not trained in working with learners of English. The argument presented is that educators in ESL need to be trained to not only teach ELs language, but also serve a guides and mentors of general subject matter content teachers. The Introduction moves the discussion of how investment in one U.S. state EL legislation (i.e. English Learners in the Mainstream [ELM]) relevant to the author/s, then developed into a school-wide English learning (SWEL) model that offers guidance for teacher leading other educators.
Moving Online: Challenges and Lessons Learned by Lily Lewis and Nairi Issagholian
As two ESL instructors teaching adults in a university Intensive English Program (IEP), we decided to conduct timely action research early on in this transition process. We collected data by keeping a teaching journal, recording all online courses we taught, comparing course syllabi/learning outcomes with actual instruction that took place online, and gathering informal input from our students regarding their perspectives on online instructional practices. Next, we analyzed the data to identify patterns of obstacles we faced and specific ways we overcame them. In the following sections, we will share the challenges we encountered and the practical strategies we found useful in five relevant areas: technology, students, teachers, program
requirements and support, and pedagogy.
TESOL Statement on Racial Injustice and Inequality
"Alexandria, VA – (1 June 2020) Over the last week, we at TESOL International Association have joined with the rest of the world in our feelings of sadness, disgust, and anger at the senseless killing of George Floyd. With this most recent incident of police brutality involving a person of color in the United States, it seems undeniable that while the fear and pain caused by one epidemic has upended our lives, another equally menacing epidemic of racism continues to tear apart our communities and threaten the ideals of freedom, peace, and prosperity to which we so tirelessly aspire." // FULL STATEMENT
US Department of Education - English Services to English Learners
"This fact sheet outlines States’ responsibilities to English learners (ELs) and their parents1 during the extended school closures and, in some cases, the move to remote learning2 due to the national emergency caused by the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)."
US DOE - FACT SHEET // MAY 2020
By Kara Mac Donald and Hanan Khaled
The book is divided into three sections, Part I: The Game, Part II: The Players and the Playing Field and Part III: The Playbook, with four to five chapters in each part. From the get-go, the tone is so accessible and friendly as if the authors were chatting with you in a lecture hall, across a table in a faculty meeting or in the campus or school cafeteria. This is one essential component of the whole text.
by Kara Mac Donald and Jose FrancoStatistics for Linguists: An Introduction Using R (2020) by Bono Winter takes a unique approach towards introducing statistics of linear models for linguistics, in that it builds model-based thinking instead of test-based thinking. Winters explains that he takes this approach to basic linear modeling as it provides the researcher a foundation of theoretical understanding of the statistical model they choose to use. He also describes why he structured the book around R, opposed to utilizing SPSS. The text do not concentrate on mathematics, but aims to provide the researcher with practical and relevant information using extremely accessible language.
Tips for Teaching Online with Margi Wald
CATESOL to Postpone Upcoming Conferences Due to COVID-19
As you know, we are facing a pandemic with COVID-19. In line with the actions of TESOL and other organizations to postpone or cancel large gatherings to reduce risk of virus transmission, the CATESOL Board voted today to postpone all Chapter and Regional face-to-face events until the fall of 2020. We feel that the safety of our membership far outweighs the risk of a face-to-face gathering. We are still planning on having our Annual Conference in October of 2020, provided this crisis is contained by then.
Since many classes are moving to an on-line format, at least temporarily, CATESOL wants to help teachers who don’t feel ready. We are planning two online events in April and May, starting with workshops on how to teach with Zoom and other online platforms. We will get back to you with details on this very soon. We will be updating our website to reflect the physical event postponement and the upcoming online teaching support as soon as possible.
We thank you for your consideration as we do what we can to continue professional development for teachers in non-face-to-face formats. Stay healthy, everyone. The board will be meeting on March 23rd to decide on how to handle the finances of this postponement.
Book Review: Wordless Books: So Much to Say (2015)
By Kara Mac Donald featuring Erin O'Reilly
The book is divided into two sections, Stories with Easy Pictures to Follow and Stories with More Complicated Pictures to Follow. Each section is grouped on proficiency levels, with guidance on which skill/s development is targeted. In each section are lesson plan descriptions, assessment guidance and rubrics, additional resources and which TESOL PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards and Common Core State Standards ELA Suggested Connections are met.
Social Justice in Language Teaching (2016) Book Review
By Kara McDonald and Kristen Arps
Social Justice in Language Teaching, edited by Christopher Hastings and Laura Jacob consists of 22 chapters, divided into 7 sections that address specific topics around social justice in ELT. Part I: Social Justice and English Language Teaching: Setting the Stage, Part II: Peacebuilding and English Language Teaching, Part III: Positioning for Advocacy, Part IV: Language Rights, Privilege, and Race, Part V: Gender and Sexual Orientation Justice, Part VI: Working Across Borders/Advocating for Students. Part VII: Classroom Practices.
What do Members of CATESOL TOP-IG Want from their Interest Group?
By Marsha Chan and Jaydene Elvin
In Spring 2019, 2018-19 TOP Co-coordinators Marsha Chan and Ellen Lange, along with Assistant Coordinator Jaydene Elvin, polled the Teaching of Pronunciation Interest Group. An online Google survey was announced via (the now-defunct) TOP-IG Google Groups, and TOP members were encouraged to participate. The survey was designed to gather information regarding how members would like to engage in TOP-IG platforms.
CATESOL Los Padres Chapter Event - February 8, 2020
The CATESOL Los Padres Chapter invites you to join them this weekend at UC Santa Barbara for their annual spring conference.
By Kara Mac Donald and Sun Young ParkGet involved, meet new friends, and contribute to making this conference a memorable event.
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”
~Elizabeth Andrew (1882–1960) was the first woman organizer Labor Party in Wales.
Why Volunteer?
Volunteers...
Plans for CATESOL’s 50th Annual Conference, “Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future,” are underway! The Annual Conference will take place from October 3 to 6 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. Please take a look at the CATESOL Annual Conference website for...
TESOL is currently recruiting application reviewers for the Ron Chang Lee Award. Sign up today!
About the Award: Sponsored by Ron Chang Lee, this award was created in 2018 to honor three TESOL members who have achieved excellence through the implementation of technology...
by Kara Mac Donald and Federico PomariciStillwell begin Chapter 1 by describing the wealth of experience teachers often have as many began careers in other fields or have taken courses in other disciplines as part of their teaching degrees. He preps the reader for the coming chapters, written by a variety of...
“I actually made friends in this class,” Leeza Stavinkov said wistfully, waving her slender arms in the air for emphasis. “Like in my other classes we just kinda sit there but in this class we actually like talked to each other.”
I smiled at her. You know that famous l...
CATESOL's history! Check out a fabulous piece by past CATESOL President, Kathleen Flynn on the history of CATESOL.
One of the great features of CATESOL’s Annual Conference is the opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the state and plant the seeds for future projects to bloom. Such was the case this past December in Anaheim in a meeting between the CATESOL President-Ele...
The Teaching of Pronunciation Interest Group (TOP-IG or TOP) is for teachers, tutors, and future teachers of all levels of experience teaching or researching pronunciation instruction, who teach or wish to teach students at any level to speak and understand oral English...
At this year's conference, I learned and appreciated many wonderful new ideas, teaching strategies, practical classroom activities, and cool tech tools. I am also grateful that CATESOL provided me the chance to promote my topic on gamification and game-based learning t...
I am a graduate student in TESOL program of Pepperdine University and I had the opportunity to attend the CATESOL 2018 Annual Conference. I am glad that I went because I learned a lot about language-teaching methods, designing activities that foster community in the cl...
Educators across California, and the United States (U.S.), often serve students that are recent arrivals as well immigrant students that have been long term residents in the U.S. and therefore, see the impact of these students’ immigration experiences and personal jour...
In October of 2017, AB 705 (Irwin) was chaptered into California state law and became effective on January 1, 2018. The historic law made changes to many things, but chiefly, it altered how colleges place students into English, mathematics, and academic English as a Se...
I came to America as an English language learner. When I was still a student in an ESL intensive program, I volunteered at a CATESOL conference. That was my first time at a CATESOL event and my very first memory of attending a professional conference.
I vividly rem...
As a person who loves English and strives for being an outstanding ESL instructor, I cherish this opportunity to attending this year's CATESOL conference--Oceans of Opportunity--and learning from other professionals in the TESOL arena.
I studied English as a second lang...
CATESOL Position Statement in Response to proposed legislation AB 705 (Irwin) May 2017
The background: 2017 proposed California legislation AB 705 (Irwin) requires community college districts or colleges “to maximize the probability that [a] student will enter and co...
Are you looking for ways to make a difference professionally? Then become involved in the CATESOL Board of Directors! It is never too soon to consider joining the CATESOL Board of Directors, and it's easier than you think! 
Authors: Bette Empol and Judith O’Loughlin were CATESOL Representatives at the 2015 TESOL Advocacy and Policy Summit, June 20-21, 2015.We were asked to write a blog about our experiences. Part of this blog was featured on the TESOL website.
John Segota Asso...
In this week’s Federal Flash, we cover U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s harsh words for the U.S. Department of Education on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), an update on congressional plans to rewrite the Higher Education Act, and the latest on President Trump’s nomin...
There is a new Migrant Policy Institute commentary (see link below) which examines the characteristics of DREAMers and the similarly aged U.S. millennial population. The MPI report finds no evidence to support concerns about job competition between millennials and DRE... 
Safe Schools for Immigrant Students – AB 699The California Assembly has passed Assembly Bill 699 on October 5, 2017
The full wording of the bill can be found here:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB699
Key aspects of the bill...
You might know me as your President-Elect. You might know me as the "tech guru". But you probably don't know the influence that CATESOL has had on my life. My first CATESOL conference was in 1978 in San Francisco. At that time I was a grad student at San Francisco Stat...
Have you ever gone to a teaching conference and come home with inspiring ideas about revolutionizing your classroom? Have you actually done it? Most of us love great ideas, but find we don’t have the time or energy to reinvent how we teach once we come off our conferen...
On March 29, 2018, Gwendolyn T. Schwabe, known to all as Tippy, passed away peacefully at the age of 91 in Haverford, Pennsylvania, where she had been living in retirement. The TESOL profession in California has much to thank her for, in her roles as a Senior Lecturer...This is the President's Quarterly Message
The ESL industry is facing major disruptions, from shifts in international student mobility trends, to reductions in state budgets, to the rise of contract work. As educators in this ever-changing, competitive employment market, both novice and experienced CATESOL prof...
Pivot Point is a four-part series on 21st Century Employment Resiliency for ESL teachers marketing their skills beyond the classroom.Have you ever thought of Becoming a Language Program Administrator (LPA)? At some point during your career, you may have witnessed a col...
Pivot Point is a four-part series on 21st Century Employment Resiliency for ESL teachers marketing their skills beyond the classroom. This is the third post in the series on breaking into ESL publishing and commercial products and services marketing.Did you study commu...
Pivot Point is a four-part series on 21st Century Employment Resiliency for ESL teachers marketing their skills beyond the classroom. This is the fourth post in the series on Exploring Overseas Teaching Opportunities. The ability to teach overseas may seem like a logist... 
By Judith O’Loughlin, CATESOL Conference Services AdvisorEach year the CATESOL Annual Conference is generally scheduled for October or November before Thanksgiving. Contracts with hotels and conference centers are planned up to three years in advance and dates are set...
The following interview was part of a daylong Steinbeck Chapter of CATESOL event on Advocacy.As teachers, we are often moved by the stories of our students--especially our immigrant students. Many of us have participated in CATESOL because the organization’s mission has been to improve learning opportunities for our multilingual students. This interview of a pre-service teacher’s experience as a “Realistic Dreamer” explores the ways in which he navigated an educational system, which sometimes supported him but at other times created roadblocks. His story allows us to consider a student’s unique longitudinal perspective and to understand the challenges he faced at different junctures in life. For those of us who come from or have participated in immigrant communities, the story may be familiar. For those who serve students at any juncture within this journey, we hope that this story will provide a portrait of your students’ potential. As teachers, we have the power to expect the most in every student, and to see potential in students when they may not see it in themselves.
The Loebner Prize Contest is the oldest Turing Test, which is named after Alan Turing, a famous English computer scientist who worked as a codebreaker in World War 2. This annual competition chooses the most human computer of the year. This year Ron Lee's chatbot "Tu... 
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office HoursAB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
This bill requires each community college district to report the total part time
AFFILIATE REPORTSWHAT'S HAPPENING INSIDE CATESOL?
Danielle Pelletier, President, CATESOL, USA
CATESOL has been working on several legislative initiatives to advocate for English language learners and educators, three of which are Assembly Bills 705 and 2098, and DACA.