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The Unlocking the World community is the perfect place to ask questions, discuss ideas and exchange information with other teachers and our program consultants.
Dates set for 'How language works: Success in literacy & learning' tutor training course in the UK
June 22, 2011
The first dates for a venue to run our new course, 'How language works: Success in literacy & learning',in the UK, have been set. The course will be hosted by the Haringey Professional Development Centre in London from 2 to 8 November, 2011, with no sessions on the Saturday and Sunday.
For more details, or to enrol, go to http://www.unlockingtheworld.com/training_venues and scroll down to the venue.
Digital Literacies Blog
June 10, 2011
On 20th May, 2011 there was a one day conference on Digital Literacies in the UK. One of the outcomes was that the attendees agreed that a blog, where they could further develop the rich discussions that took place on the day, was needed. To that end a blog has been set up. An overview of the day is now on the site and makes excellent reading for anyone with an interest or need to learn how to integrate literacy in the digital age.
A new app called 'Our Story' was shown. This app allows young children to produce personalised icards and stories. Another session had a presenter delivering his presentation from Bangladesh via Skype. He discussed a gameplay model for teaching and professional development that supports students in the aquisition of traditional and multimodal literacies.
There is a lot more to intrigue and motivate educators on this blog so please visit to read and consider what is presented.
Go to http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/literacy-in-a-digital-age
New venues added to our website
May 26, 2011
Three new venues for our courses have been added in the past week.
The Taihu International School, Wuxi, China will host:
ESL in the Mainstream for the Early Learner from 22-25 November 2011
Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms from16-20 January 2012
Meanjin in Brisbane will host:
How Language Works from 26 September-1 October 2011
For further information or to enrol please go to http://www.unlockingtheworld.com/training_venues
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venuesAssessment of English Language Learners
May 26, 2011
Last week I watched a webcast on the 'Colorin Colorado' website about how English Language Learners in the USA could and are being assessed there. Much of what was said has been said before but it is always useful to have ideas reinforced. A child's native language or the one spoken at home, as well as their culture are important in scaffolding their learning of the English langauge. The linguistic level of a child in their native tongue will also affect their learning of English and examples were given of how some school districts take this into account when placing a child into the appropriate class.
Rather than assessment only being important at the end of a learning period, especially if a standardised test is used, there must be continual evaluation and assessment of students in order to drive the further planning of lessons and teaching materials for them.
Though USA centric this webcast is worth listening to to remind us of some of the things we can do to help our studentswho don't have English as their first language at home.
New 'ESL in the mainstream for the early learner' course
May 18, 2011
We have just listed a new venue for our 'ESL in the mainstream for early learners' course. It is being run at the Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning in Canberra, ACT, Australia. The timeline for enrolling is very short as the course will start on Monday, 27 June 2011.
To get more details or to enrol click on the following link. http://www.unlockingtheworld.com/training_venues
Gifted Education Website
April 28, 2011
Found a list on the internet of characteristics that you might notice in a gifted student along with some possible negative traits. A lot of the negative ones might only occur if the gifted student is not catered for appropriately.
http://www.teachersfirst.com/gifted/spot.html
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Gifted EducationCharacteristics of school districts that are exceptionally effective in closing the achievement gap
April 28, 2011
Characteristics of school districts that are exceptionally effective in closing the achievement gap
Leadership and Policy in Schools
Volume 9 Number 3, July 2010; Pages 245–291
Kenneth Leithwood
Education policy in the USA has increasingly emphasised the role of the school district and its leaders in helping schools to meet accountability demands. A literature review of 31 articles has examined the characteristics of school districts that have been successful in significantly improving outcomes for their student populations. Almost all these districts serve disadvantaged communities. The districts worked to develop a clear and consistent vision of student achievement, which was used to guide strategic planning. They established achievement benchmarks, and aligned curriculum, instruction and assessment with these standards. They made widespread and effective use of data, developing efficient information management systems and ensuring that school staff not only had access to relevant data, but had the skills to interpret them. Additional achievement data were gathered to supplement state-level accountability data; the districts also drew on evidence-based research regarding best practices when responding to data. Building a sense of collective efficacy amongst staff was seen as a key element of their reforms, with districts working to provide appropriate professional development opportunities in order to help staff develop expertise relevant to the district's goals. Effort was made to support the learning of teachers and administrators by encouraging job-embedded professional development, as well as the development of professional learning communities and positive staff relationships. The districts also worked to build close ties with the wider school community, local businesses and other local organisations. Another element of the districts' success was the investment in instructional leadership. Principals, who were largely held accountable for their school's instructional quality and academic achievement, were given training and opportunities to improve their skills and to develop ways to distribute leadership roles, and were provided with a range of external resources and expertise, such as access to coaching, conferences and buddy groups. The districts approached school improvement in phases, building on established structures and procedures in a coherent step-by-step manner. They also engaged in a strategic manner with government policy and requirements, and worked to align infrastructures such as budgetary and personnel allocations with their vision of school improvement
New 'Teaching ESL Students in mainstream classrooms' course
September 03, 2010
Once again the International School of Dusseldorf will be hosting a 'Teaching ESL Students in mainstream classrooms' course. The course will run from 13 to 17 June 2011.
The International School of Dusseldorf always does a great job of hosting and this time should not be any different.
You can find more details on our training venues pages.
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Teaching with Twitter
August 10, 2009
At this site you will find a short article on teaching Spanish using Twitter. The same ideas can be used for teaching English. If any of you have experience in using Twitter for this purpose or have some other insights re the use of Twitter in ESL teaching then please forward this onto us at Unlocking the World and we will make it available to others.