In order to learn something, we need tools that address the way we learn as people as well as help us develop ways of thinking. In recent years, terms like neuroscience and neuroplasticity have become very popular in all fields, including education. What do these terms mean exactly? Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, including the brain and the neurons, and neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt throughout life. Sounds simple enough. Right? And when you think about it, this is exactly where the idea of the growth mindset comes from. But in reality, to consciously notice our own behavior patterns and to adjust when something is not working takes effort and willingness to create new habits. And this is exactly what my guest, who also happens to be a repeat guest, Meeghan Carter and I talk about in today's episode.


Show Notes:
Episode 131 - How Neuroscience Can Transform Your ELL Teaching with Guest Meeghan Carter

Today’s episode:
Digital Masterclass Library “Light the Way to EL Teaching Success”

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers.
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 130 - Beyond Buddies: How Peer Pairing Empowers ELs
• Episode 74 - Why Teachers Should Embrace Meditation as Part of Their Daily Routine

Guest info:
Meeghan Carter LinkedIn

Let’s connect!

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• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

Over the past several weeks, I have been sharing with you three simple accommodations every classroom teacher can make to reach ELs, even newcomers. We talked about why using visuals is essential when working with ELs, as well as what types of visuals to include. We dove into simplifying our language for directions, lesson delivery, and feedback, and why it actually promotes higher order thinking and expression in English. You can listen to those episodes by clicking the links underneath this episode. And in today's episode, I want to talk about the 3rd component that can be confusing, but if executed properly can be a true game changer. I am talking about peer pairing, partnering ELs with supportive peers. You will hear 4 ways you can utilize partnering your English learners with peers, whether native speaking or not, as well as the benefits of this strategy.

Show Notes:

• Episode 130 - Beyond Buddies: How Peer Pairing Empowers ELs

Digital Masterclass Library “Light the Way to EL Teaching Success”

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers.
• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 128 - Seeing is Understanding: 5 Visual Strategies for Supporting ELs
• Episode 129 - Why Simplifying Your Language for ELs Leads to Effective Higher Order Thinking

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

I am bringing you a series of episodes … 3 simple accommodations every classroom teacher can make to reach ELs, even newcomers. They are very targeted and easily digestible so that the tips you hear today and in the previous and coming episodes, you can implement right in your next lesson. We have identified 3 very simple, yet extremely effective accommodations that any teacher can include in any lesson, so that the lesson becomes more accessible to our English learners. Last week, we talked about why using visuals as well as what types of visuals can be included. Today, I want to talk about the second accommodation, simplifying your language for ELs. What does it mean, simpler language? Won't it impede the students' language development? What about higher order thinking that we require our students to engage in daily? I will answer all these questions, as well as provide 6 ways that you can simplify your language in a way that is effective not only for content, but also for language learning. 

Show Notes:

• Episode 129 - Why Simplifying Your Language for ELs Leads to Effective Higher Order Thinking

Today’s episode:

Digital Masterclass Library “Light the Way to EL Teaching Success

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers.
• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 97 - How teachers can harness the power of language acquisition when working with ELs
• Episode 98 - A journey through proficiency levels
• Episode 64 - How to pre-teach vocabulary to ELs in the mainstream classroom

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn

Support the show

How can I help an English learner in a regular education classroom? This question is right there at the top of all questions asked by teachers along with what to teach EL newcomers. We all know that teaching is complicated and consists of a lot of moving parts that are sometimes hard to juggle. And since my mission is to bring you EL teaching tips in a practical and digestible way, so you can implement them in your next lesson, let's talk about what teachers can do to reach ELs, even newcomers, in their classroom. In today's episode, I will go over simple yet powerful accommodations that can and should be included in every lesson. You may have heard about them before, but I wanted to record a series of episodes that will help clarify how they actually look in real life. And in today's episode, I'm breaking down what it actually means to use visuals strategies for supporting ELs. There's so much more to using visuals than just the surface, so you won't want to miss this.


Show Notes:

• Episode 128 - Seeing is Understanding: 5 Visual Strategies for Supporting ELs

Today’s episode:
 www.simplyieva.com 

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers.
• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• 4 ways to use students’ first language in teaching English

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

Let's talk about translation in the world of multilingual teaching. It is a bigger topic and covers both the translation of materials in the classroom and translation of school communication with EL families. Today, I wanted to focus on the other side of translation, namely best practices for communicating with EL families of our students who do not speak or understand English, but with whom we need to keep in touch. In this episode, I will review the laws and requirements that the schools must follow when considering hiring a translator, as well as an overview of 4 mistakes that can present very clearly if we decide to use just the bilingual staff instead of professional translators for this purpose.

What you will hear about in this episode:

• Importance of Translation in Communicating with EL Families
• Laws Governing Translation Services in Schools
• Common Mistakes in Using Bilingual Staff for Translation and Interpretation
• When to Use Bilingual Staff Effectively

Show Notes:

• Episode 127 - When to Use Professional Interpreters vs. Bilingual Staff for Communicating with EL Families

Simply Ieva Offers:

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers.
• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 5 - 4 ways to use students’ first language in teaching English

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

I work closely with content area teachers, and I frequently receive questions from them about how they can help English learners in their classroom. The questions about teaching ELs, frankly, are the same every year. How to help a newcomer? How to assess EL students in the classroom? What activities work well with ELs, especially those at lower proficiency levels? How to engage students, and so on. 

It is interesting because I wanted to know if there are any other questions that EL teachers get asked. So I polled my Instagram and Facebook communities, and it appears that the general education teachers ask the same questions across the board. What can we do? They ask. How can we help our lovely EL students? So, today, I am re-airing my answers to a few of the most frequently asked questions. While there is no magic bullet to teaching and reaching ELs in a regular education classroom, I hope that you find these answers helpful, especially regarding first language usage in the classroom, translation, and how to help newcomers with reading.

Show Notes:

• Episode 126 - The Top 5 Questions We Get about Teaching ELs - And Here Are the Answers!

Simply Ieva Offers:

• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. Back-to-school sale - join for 20%off!

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• The Four Roles of an ESL Teacher: What Do They Actually Do?
• The Two Most Important Soft Skills for Teachers of English Learners

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

Teaching grammar can be a topic that raises many questions for teachers of English learners, but it doesn't have to be. And as we discussed last week about how to teach grammar to younger English learners, we talked about strategies that work with that age group and answered questions about why we need to teach grammar in general. Today, I wanted to share how you can incorporate effective and meaningful ways to teach grammar to English learners who are teenagers and adults.

Show Notes:

• Episode 125 - 3 Meaningful Ways to Teach Grammar to EL Teens and Adults

Today’s episode:

• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. Back-to-school sale - join for 20%off!
• Short story The Last Leaf for grammar practice (descriptive adjectives)
• Short story Lamb to the Slaughter for grammar practice (simple present tense)
• ESL songs

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 15 - How to teach grammar to English learners (the grammar teaching sequence)
• Episode 124 - How to Teach Grammar to Younger English Learners

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

Whether you teach young English learners or teenagers and even adults, teaching in language involves teaching the grammar of that language. At the same time, it raises many questions for us. What is grammar exactly? Do we need to teach grammar explicitly when working with English learners in English speaking settings? Or do we let the students absorb it through content? If we do teach explicitly, do we have them practice with worksheets or are there any other ways that would make it stick better? How can I teach if I myself am not comfortable with grammar rules and haven't learned them that well? What if I don't know anything about it? Do I still have to teach it? These are just a few questions I have heard regarding teaching grammar. So I decided to record a couple of episodes that will help put you at ease whether you work with younger English learners and teenagers or adults. And today's episode is all about how to teach grammar to younger learners, kids in elementary grades. So let's talk about strategies that will help you teach grammar to them.


Show Notes:

• Episode 124 - How to Teach Grammar to Younger English Learners

Simply Ieva Offers:

Today’s episode:

• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. Back-to-school sale - join for 20%off!

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 15 - How to teach grammar to English learners (the grammar teaching sequence)

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group

Support the show

Today we're diving into a crucial topic for every ESL teacher as we approach a new school year—how to set the stage for success during the first five days in the ESL classroom. In this episode, we'll explore essential strategies for building trust, setting expectations, understanding student backgrounds, establishing routines, introducing content, and fostering a positive classroom community. Whether you're a new or veteran teacher, these insights will help you create a welcoming and effective learning environment for your students right from the start. Stay tuned as we break down each day with practical tips and activities to ensure a smooth and productive start to your school year. 

Show Notes:

• Episode 123 - Kicking Off the School Year: The First Five Days in the ESL Classroom

Simply Ieva offers:

• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – EL curriculum and coaching membership for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. Back-to-school sale - join for 20%off!

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles: 

• Episode 78 - Starting strong: easy and fun icebreaker activities for all EL levels

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 

Support the show

Recently, I talked about the roles of the EL teacher, what our jobs entail, and how we can explain, in short, about what we do to our colleagues and administrators. Today, I wanted to go a step further and talk about a mission statement. This short, clear statement packs so much information and might be just the ticket for EL teachers and departments to feel seen and heard. In this episode, I will talk about why it is important to have a mission statement for your EL program and 3 steps to create a stellar one.


Show Notes:

• Episode 122 - Why Your EL Program Needs a Mission Statement and How to Create One

Simply Ieva offers:

Professional development opportunities:

• 🥳The Enlightened EL Educator - 5-week virtual program for classroom teachers with ELs🥳

Free resources - sign up and keep in touch:

• Accommodate and Modify Your Lessons for ELs with Less than 1 Hour of Planning a Week - classroom teacher and admin checklist 
• Free Audio Training - 3 Mindset Shifts for Instilling and Living Out a Belief that All Teachers are Teachers of Language.
• ESL Newcomer Teaching Checklist

Save time and build confidence in your EL teaching with these resources:

• Book a $0 Consult Call - Lead ELs to Progress without Overwhelm
• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. As a thank you for listening, use code ESLPODCAST for 10% off when you join. 
• EMBARK™ Newcomer Curriculum
• Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
• My TpT store
• Record a comment for us - click HERE. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Related episodes and articles:
Episode 120 - The Four Roles of the ESL Teacher: What Do They Actually Do?

Let’s connect!

• Follow me on Instagram
• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group

Support the show