"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles

I’ll be interviewing Dr. Marie Heath, and be joined by Carol Salva and others, at this free webinar on September 29th, 3:30 Pacific Time, webinar.

You can learn more about it – and register – here.

The research is pretty settled on the importance of students feeling a sense of belonging at school, and it’s particularly critical for our ELL students in this political climate.

You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING HOW TO PROMOTE A SENSE OF “BELONGING” AT SCHOOL.

     

Relationships With Students Can Go Wrong. How Teachers Can Right Them is a headline of a recent column in my Education Week column, and is an excerpt from our recent book.

Here are some excerpts:

     

geralt / Pixabay

I’ve previously written a couple of posts suggesting that in the age of AI, ELL teachers of secondary intermediate and advanced ELLs should seriously consider redesigning their classes (see Does Advanced Tech Mean That Secondary ELL Classes Should Be Radically Restructured? and I REALLY Think Secondary ELL Teachers Should Consider Radically Restructuring Classes, But I’m Not Sure If They Are.

My reasoning was, and is, that, since Google Translate (for Spanish, at least) is so good at this point that students who can write and read decently in their home languages can easily use it for translation.   Given that, it seems to me that a much, much higher priority should be placed on speaking and listening skills, which are critical for everyday life in English.

This suggestion doesn’t mean that I think English literacy skills not be covered at all.  However, my impression that in many U.S. high schools today, much more time is spent on reading and writing in English in Intermediate and Advanced classes and much, much less time on speaking and listening.  I am suggesting that these get “rebalanced.”

I put this question out on several social media sites for ELL educators:

If I was an Intermediate English Language Learner, it would be very clear to me why I would need to work hard at developing my oral and listening skills to better function in an everyday English-dominant environment. Help me understand though, why, in the age of AI, now that I have a basic understanding of how to write in English, why I would need to prioritize becoming a better writer in English (assuming I was already a decent writer in my home language)?

I received a fair number of responses, and few seemed very convincing to me (one responder even said it “wasn’t a serious question”).  One comment that I thought had some validity said that many college classes might start requiring only handwriting in class because of AI.  However, I would bet dollars to donuts that, except for classes like English writing classes or in fields where English writing skills are absolutely necessary (like teaching), many college instructors who move to pen-and-paper in the classroom will start making exceptions for ELLs.  There’s little reason why ELLs couldn’t also handwrite essays in their home languages and then they, or the instructor, could just upload it to Gemini or ChatGPT.   Right now AI can do a pretty darn accurate reproduction and translation of handwritten papers, and it’s only going to get more accurate.

I think there are many, many more persuasive arguments why students shouldn’t use AI to write for them than for why students shouldn’t use AI to translate for them (in reading and writing).

Now that I’ve laid out my position without much nuance, let me provide a a few more distinctions.

Again, I’m not suggesting that we stop teaching reading and writing in English to high intermediate and advanced ELLs.

What I am suggesting is that High Intermediate and Advanced ELL classes move from a more teacher input heavy instructional strategy to one that’s more student output focused with an emphasis on more independent work.

What I am  also suggesting is that, for high-intermediate and advanced ELL classes, we move closer to spending at least fifty percent of instructional time on speaking and listening in English—especially when those activities are connected to reading and writing. This can include students learning content for writing assignments, discussing and refining their ideas through structured dialogue (such as Critical Thinking Dialogues), and presenting their writing orally.

At the same time, students need explicit instruction in English academic writing patterns (such as claim–evidence–reasoning; cause–effect; problem–solution; compare–contrast; and claim–counterclaim–response). They should practice these patterns often through short, structured writing tasks in English, often with the support of writing frames, and they should read models of these patterns in English.  Though versions of these patterns are present in many other languages, it’s important for students to learn how they are expressed in English.

For longer assignments, such as essays, students can then use their home language strategically to develop and organize ideas, and they may use translation tools as part of the writing process (and for any reading they might need to do as part of it). For example, they might write drafts in their home language, translate their ideas into English, and then revise and refine their writing in English.

If this kind of process is followed, we are acknowledging the importance of their home languages AND the reality of rapidly improving translation technology.  For our students who are planning to attend college, this should all make sense.  For our students who are not planning on going to college, it’s a bit trickier.  However, it seems to me more explicitly integrating their home languages might enhance motivation for students in that situation, and reminding them that no one can predict the future and that having the writing skills to be successful in higher education creates options couldn’t hurt, either.   Making a higher priority of speaking and listening in English is likely to also engage these students more, since those two domains are so integral to everyday life.

     

Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here.

You can also see all my “Best” lists on instructional strategies here.

Here are this week’s picks:

This image from Wrong Hands could be a model for a cool classroom assignment in history class – having students create their own version for the time in history they’re studying:

Discovering My Civic Identity is from Facing History. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship.

Podcast Episode Planner is from On The Same Page ELT. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Teacher & Student Podcasting.

I’m adding this video to The Best Resources For Planning “Learning Stations” – Please Add More:

 

11 Classroom Management Tweaks You Don’t Learn in Teacher Prep is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to  Best Posts On Classroom Management.

I’m adding this post to The Best Resources About Inductive Learning & Teaching:

This trend of young men sharing their reading & reading habits is wonderful! One for English teachers to share with their classes? https://t.co/Wakv9KWGJ5

— Barbara Bleiman 🎓 Education is Conversation (@BarbaraBleiman) January 31, 2026

     

JOKUHN / Pixabay

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For Learning About Nuclear Weapons:

You will find more infographics at Statista