Monday, April 17, 2017

April #ELLEdTech Twitter Chat: Tech Tools for Newcomers

How does your school district define newcomer students?  Are they immigrants who don't know any English?  Are they students from foreign countries who know some English already but are not yet proficient?  Do SLIFE (students with limited formal education) fit in this category or are they a separate group of learners?  How about students who are born in the U.S. but grow up speaking a different language than English -- would you classify them as newcomers?

In my former district, newcomers were ELLs who arrived from other countries knowing very little, if any, English.  In my years of working there, I taught only a few students who were newcomers by that definition: an 8th grader from Turkey, a Russian girl adopted by an American family, a 5th grade girl from Poland, a Brazilian kindergartner, 2 elementary-aged Kurdish siblings from Turkey.  The vast majority of my students were born in the U.S. to parents who spoke a language other than English at home. 

There are probably as many ways of teaching newcomers as there are types of ELLs themselves!  What role can technology play in helping these students learn English and academic content?  Join Laurah and me this Sunday, April 23, 2017 as we discuss Technology Tools for Newcomers (postponed one week due to the Easter holiday).  We look forward to seeing you at 7:00pm Eastern to talk about how we can support newcomers in the classroom with technology.

Schedule and Questions
7:00 = Introductions: Tell us your name, location, level and subject taught #ELLEdTech
7:05 = Q1: How does your district define a newcomer ELL & are there special programs for them? #ELLEdTech?
7:13 = Q2: What tools do you recommend for teaching newcomers? #ELLEdTech
7:21 = Q3: How do these tools help newcomers? #ELLEdTech
7:29 = Q4: Are there any disadvantages to using these tools with newcomers? #ELLEdTech
7:37 = Q5: What advice do you have for teachers using technology with newcomers? ELLEdTech 


Join the #ELLEdTech Twitter chat on April 23, 2017 at 7pm EDT to discuss favorite tech tools | The ESL Connection
Join us on April 23rd to discuss your favorite tech tools!
Directions for Joining the Chat
1. Log into Twitter on Sunday; the chat runs from 7:00 - 7:45pm Eastern.

2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #ELLEdTech in the search bar.  Make sure to click “All tweets.”

3. The first five minutes will be spent introducing ourselves.

4. Starting at 7:05 @ESOL_Odyssey or @The_ESL_Nexus will post questions every 8 minutes using Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. to identify the questions and the hashtag #ELLEdTech.

5.  Answer the questions by prefacing them with A1, A2, A3, etc. and use the hashtag #ELLEdTech.

6.  Follow any teachers who respond and are also using #ELLEdTech.

7.  Like (click the heart icon) and post responses to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your answers to the questions in advance by using an online scheduler such as TweetDeck or HootSuite (and remember to use A1, A2, etc. and #ELLEdTech).  Links are encouraged, but use tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly to shorten your link so it can be included in your tweet.  Just click one of those links, paste the longer link in the app's box to shorten it for Twitter, then paste the shortened link into your tweet. If you have relevant images, we encourage you to post them, too.



Is this your first Twitter chat?  Here are our rules:

1. Please stay on topic.

2. Please do not post about paid products unless explicitly asked. 

3. If you arrive after the chat has started, please try to read the previous tweets before joining in.

4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet if you prefer -- we know the first time can be a little overwhelming!

5. Always use the hashtag #ELLEdTech when tweeting.

6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to "public." (And do remember that Twitter is completely public; that means anyone--students, parents, administrators--may see what you tweet.) 



You are welcome to let any of your teacher friends who might be interested in joining us as well know about it. We look forward to chatting with you on Sunday evening!

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