Friday, August 5, 2011

professional organizations: ELL organizations

One thing is for certain, the demographics of MN schools have been changing in exciting ways over the last 20 years. As Minnesota has become home for more immigrants and refugees, so to has grown the number of students in P-12 schools who speak a language other than English at home. MN ELL teachers are an amazing and hardworking group, helping students learn English and navigate new school experiences.

The national organization for ELL teachers is TESOL, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.  TESOL was founded over 40 years ago over the concern that there was not an all-inclusive organization to bring together teachers and administrators at all levels teaching English to speakers of other languages. TESOL publishes books, journals, and newsletters, and I've always found the information extremely helpful in the publications I've read through TESOL. The organization has some great links to issues in advocacy, research, standards, and assessment. TESOL holds an annual convention every year, next year in Philadelphia. The website has tons of links, so check it out!

The state organization for ELL teachers is MinneTESOL, MN Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.  MinneTESOL is dedicated to supporting teachers working with students learning English at all levels of public and private education.  MinneTESOL supports ELL teachers by: collecting and disseminating information pertinent to English as a Second Language, English as a Second Dialect, and Bilingual Education, promoting and assisting programs in local communities, fostering the professional development of its members, voicing the socio-political and employment concerns of its members, and establishing and maintaining contacts through affiliation with the international organization TESOL, and through cooperation with other organizations which may share similar purposes, interests, and clientele.Wow, that's a lot of good stuff. MinneTESOL has a fall conference, this year in November in Minneapolis. Members of the organization get the newsletter and access to the online journal, a network directory to connect you with other ELL teachers, and invites to lots of great events.

Next post: art organizations

0 comments:

Post a Comment