EAL 103

This nine-week online learning experience focuses on developing participants’ knowledge of language, disciplinary literacies, and pedagogy for use with multilingual learners in PK-12 international school classrooms. Participants build knowledge about how language works in various content areas and develop skills in pedagogical approaches for teaching and advancing academic language. Inclusive classrooms will be a reality when the mantra ‘every teacher is a language teacher’ is an integral part of multilingual learners’ daily learning experiences.

What will I learn?

During this learning experience we will investigate:

• comparing different theories of linguistics and their implications for language teaching and learning (e.g., structuralism vs. functionalism)

• building schoolwide systems for developing disciplinary language and literacies across curricular content areas

• utilizing pedagogical frameworks for expanding multilingual learners’ spoken and written language output in specific genres

• designing content and language integrated learning (CLIL) experiences in school discourse contexts (i.e., science, math, social studies, and language arts)

• conducting ‘analyses’ of multilingual learners’ use of language functions and forms to progress their usage to next-levels of proficiency

• exploring multiliteracies to integrate a wide range of modes of communication

• investigating learner variability and second language acquisition to reflect on ways to scaffold collectively and individually

• reflecting on the linguistic and cultural landscapes of international schools to tap into multilingual learners’ resources, identities, and sense of belonging

You will learn and practice how to:

• rethink language teaching based on SFL-informed pedagogy

• express your reflections upon the quality of explicit and intentional instruction provided to multilingual learners for the development of disciplinary literacies by all teachers 

• implement SFL language theory to design lessons using discipline-specific language, including vocabulary, sentence structures, and discourse features 

• use classroom-based assessment data to hypothesize multilingual learners’ language progressions and to design next-step lessons accordingly

• access and engage with information on second language acquisition and learner variability research as it applies to multilingual learners in international schools 

You can anticipate

• Logging in three times a week (early in the week to obtain the task, mid-week to collaborate and engage in group discussion, end of week to post weekly formative task)

• 5-6 hours of asynchronous learning (accessing information, engaging with peers, completing eight formative assessment tasks)

• Completing at least one application or culminating task (depending on whether you take this course alone, take this course to obtain the TTC EAL certificate, and/or take the course to obtain TCNJ university graduate credit)

What will it cost?

Per participants from a PTC member school: USD $1000.
Per participant from a non-member school: USD $1100.