LESLLA Coffee Breaks

May 2024 Spring Coffee Break

We look back to a wonderful Spring Coffee Break
on May 17th, 2024.

Franziska Förster
(Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, Germany) talked about:

‘How to not be confused - contrastive phonology in the Arabic-German context’

Contrastive approaches are often said to be helpful especially for LESLLA learners. Yet they are not standard in the range of teaching methods in adult language and literacy teaching. Therefore, we were very happy to welcome Franziska Förster (University Jena, Germany) in our Spring Coffee break. During her presentation she shed more light on the contrasts between Arabic and German phonology and the impact – both negative and positive – on the language learning process. We thank Franziska for this cross-linguistic comparison. Especially valuable to the LESLLA-community was the contrastive chart that acknowledges what learners bring from their L1 literacy to the L2. 

You can read more about the contrastive approach in education programs German as a second language on the page of the ELIKASA project at the University of Jena. Franziska Förster is doing doctoral research as part of this project.

Did you miss the coffee break? Then please visit our:

Resources

Do you have any suggestions for subjects for the next Coffee Break? Please let us know on our padlet

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

November 2023 Autumn Coffee Break

We look back to a wonderful Autumn Coffee Break on November 20, 2023, with Suzie Beaulieu (Université Laval) and Véronique Fortier (Université du Québec à Montréal).

RESOURCES:

Suzie Beaulieu and Véronique Fortier: "In this Coffee Break, we will report on the implementation of a series of input-based tasks in an intact French L2 language and literacy classroom (N=13) in Quebec City, Canada. We will first have the attendees pilot the tasks used in our classroom-based study. We will then present the materials designed in partnership with a LESLA teacher and selected video excerpts showing how participants engaged with the tasks. We will conclude with a discussion on how the intervention allowed the participants to enhance their knowledge of housing vocabulary, singular and plural marks and prepositions of place."

Do you have any suggestions for subjects for the next Coffee Break? Please let us know on our Padlet.

March 2023 Spring Coffee Break

We look back to a wonderful Coffee Break on March 23th, 2023. Lorenzo Rocca talked about:
‘Assessing Low Literate Migrants within the Learning Environment. The LAMI – LASLLIAM Assessment Tools (LLAT)’

This was our first bilingual Coffee Break. It was divided in two parts: first an explanation about the development of LASLLIAM and the LLAT in English and then a presentation in Italian about the elaboration of the LLAT for this language. More bilingual Coffee Breaks are to be expected in the future.

Do you have any suggestions for subjects for the next Coffee Break? Please let us know on our Padlet.

Resources:

January 2023 Winter Coffee Break

We had a wonderful Coffee Break last Friday January 27th, 2023. Andrea DeCapua talked about: The Quest to Develop Culturally Responsive Teaching. Slides from her presentation are available and the session has been recorded.

Resources:

July 2022 Summer Coffee Break

At the Summer Coffee Break of 2022, we had the pleasure of receiving Cydnee Sanders as our guest. Cydnee gave a fantastic Coffee Break which is now available for you to check out here. She showed us how the study circle is designed and implemented learning about the motivation and content of her Antiracist Praxis Study Circle and its corresponding Facilitator’s Guide that is available for Adult English Educators. A great discussion followed and useful resources were shared which you can find in the notes.

Here are the slides for you to check out!

Cydnee is interested in tracking different programs that are using the guide for potential future research. Thank you for filling out this survey.

April 2022 Spring Coffee Break

If you missed LESLLA's 2022 Spring Coffee Break, the recording is now available here. And here are the slides from the gathering. A big thank you to Heide Spruck Wrigley, Marisa Parshotam, and Cristina Vasquez for sharing your work on using learners' home languages to support digital literacy!



April 2021 Spring Coffee Break

For our second Spring Coffee Break of April 2021, we traveled to Australia! Margaret Corrigan of Victoria shared teacher training videos they use to prepare adult educators at Carringbush Adult Education. These videos were so well produced and will be of great value to those involved with teacher education and tutor training. Skye Playsted of Queensland discussed how a dialogic approach with adult emergent readers builds confidence, promotes critical thinking and cultivates relationships.

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March 2021 Spring Coffee Break

At our Spring Coffee Break on March 10th, 2021, Joanna Davidson-Hajto from the Hounslow Adult & Community Education (HACE) in London presented on some flexible indefinite planning maps with the interactive and differentiated speaking, listening, reading and writing tasks, which you can use in your live video sessions. We were also joined by Nan Frydland of the Mercy Learning Center in Connecticut, USA. Nan shared insights on how she converted her in person approaches to culturally responsive teaching into effective practice for the virtual classroom. Below you’ll find links to slides and a recording of the session. We also invite you to contribute to this Padlet to let us know what topics you’d like to see discussed at future coffee breaks.

Resources:

  • Slides from gathering

  • Recording of gathering

  • Google Doc record of the chat during the session (not a pretty format, but readable!)

January 2021 Winter Coffee Break

At our Winter Coffee Break on January 6th, 2021, Monica Leong (Calgary, Canada) shared resources for teaching health literacy, and Ginger Kosobucki (Indianapolis, USA) shared a new assessment tool and forthcoming curriculum. All materials from both LESLLA educators and their respective organizations are free to all. Below you’ll find links to resources, as well as slides and a recording of the session. We also invite you to contribute to this Padlet to let us know what topics you’d like to see discussed at future coffee breaks.

Resources:

December 2020 Winter Coffee Break

We enjoyed a much needed break over coffee & tea in December, 2020. In an otherwise busy, stressful time, the LESLLA community took a pause to connect for a warm conversation on a winter day! While there was no formal presentation, leaders from EU Speak told us about their work and provided resources for LESLLA educators.

Resources:

Publishing in the LESLLA Symposium Proceedings

Publications Coordinator Nicole Pettitt provided an informative webinar for LESLLA Symposium presenters who wish to publish an article based on their session in the LESLLA proceedings. The resources below include a recording of the session, the slide deck, and helpful resources for potential authors.

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