- Instructor: ies
- Duration: 3 weeks
Course Provider: Centre for Educators of Bilingual & Multilingual Learners LTD
| 348 USD | Flexible | 12 Hours | 4 weeks | Certificate available |
This 4-week, online course provides TAs with new knowledge and expertise related to BMLs, but it also focuses them on developing their practical skills in the classroom. They apply new strategies while working with their students of all ages and they gain greater knowledge about literacy and language.
As a Teaching Assistant, you work with many bilingual and multilingual learners (BMLs). Why not learn more about them and how best to support them at different ages and stages?
You spend the great majority of your day working directly with students and helping teachers deliver social, emotional and academic learning to students. In your role, you help BMLs better understand their learning tasks so that they can work more independently, and to the best of their abilities.
This course provides you with a strong knowledge base about BMLs, how they learn English and how best to help them in the classroom. You’ll learn the importance of students’ home languages and cultures and how to use them to support the teaching and learning experience. Best of all, you’ll gain experience with new teaching strategies and you’ll try them out with the students in your school and classroom. This helps to bring course material alive in the practical setting.
This online course will allow you to learn at your own pace during the week but you’ll post your learning at the end of every weekly module. You will do readings, take part in online discussions and carry out specific teaching strategies in the classroom and with your students.
You’ll gain much more knowledge of literacy and language development at different ages and stages and this will help you to break down learning for your BMLs when needed. You’ll also understand how to make concepts accessible for learners without over-simplifying their tasks. There will be a special focus on supporting learners to work independently and at their own levels, throughout the course.
This 4-week course not only provides you with important ‘theories,’ it up-skills you with the best practices, research and strategies that you need to help your BMLs thrive in school. Week-to-week, you’ll be able to start applying your new learning right away, allowing you to enhance your expertise and teaching practices.
Please Note – an ‘intermediate’ level of English is recommended in order for TAs to fully access this course
Learning Outcomes
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO LEARN…
● Why the home languages and cultures of your BMLs are important
● How English develops as an additional language in BMLs
● About the common experience of stress and anxiety for BMLs and how to help
● More about bilingualism and multilingualism
● How to help BMLs learn complex information and curriculum content, even if they are completely new to English
● How to support BMLs at different ages and stages
● How to use BMLs’ mother-tongue/home languages to help their learning in English
● How to assist BMLs with reading and writing skills
● A range of new strategies to support your BMLs
Course Commitment
Participants commitment is 3 hours of self-paced study per week, over a total of 4 weeks.
Schedule
This course is comprised of 4 weekly modules.
The Centre for Educators of Bilingual and Multilingual Learners (BMLs), is a UK-based social enterprise on a mission to spread expertise about BMLs (ESL, EAL, ELL students) to schools and teachers worldwide. Our goal is to create a world where all teachers have the knowledge, skills and expertise they need to help BMLs thrive.
We provide high-quality, online courses to educators around the globe. These courses are suitable for all educators, regardless of the age group, stage or subjects they teach. Participants come mainly from international schools across I.B., U.K. and North American curricula. With exposure to a new knowledge-base and set of approaches, educators can expect to elevate their teaching and learning methods while implementing equitable policies and inclusive practises for BMLs.
More than ever before, it’s essential for every educator to understand the complexities surrounding bilingual and multilingual learners. Since BMLs now make up large proportions of the student body in most schools, educators must understand how to reach and teach these students with confidence and skill. For instance, most teachers have never learned how long it takes a new BML to learn academic English, how to help them accelerate their language development or even how to support their access to challenging learning content with ease. We provide all of this expertise in addition to over 50 practical classroom strategies.
We offer online, blended-learning certificate courses for: Educators (8-weeks), Principals/Heads (6 weeks) and Teaching Assistants (4 weeks). Schools can organise and schedule their own courses for whole school/groups; but we also offer regularly scheduled course sessions throughout the academic year for individuals.
Schools which train 80% or more of their educators in our course immediately qualify to become a ‘Bilingual & Multilingual SMART School.’ This is an opportunity for schools to showcase their commitment to enhanced expertise with bilingual and multilingual learners.
All across the globe, our teachers are reporting transformative experiences as a result of learning about BMLs in our courses. See our testimonials below.
We support schools and teachers to:
● better understand BMLs and their needs
● eliminate inequitable practises and discriminatory policies based on common myths
● understand how they can contribute to maintenance of BMLs’ home languages
● maximise BMLs’ strengths within the educational environment
● learn relevant research and strategies that make a major contribution to the achievement and enrichment of BMLs
● learn key approaches that enable BMLs to thrive (academically, culturally, linguistically, socially)
● create culturally-responsive learning environments
Director
Francesca McGeary
Francesca is Co-Founder, Consultant and Director at the Centre. Originally from Scotland, she was also raised in Belgium and experienced first-hand what it was like to be educated in a new language in secondary school. Francesca speaks 6 languages, including Mandarin. She has been an EAL Coordinator in several international and local schools across the globe.
Francesca started the educational company, IngeniousEd, and ran it with her colleague Alison, for 9 years in Dubai. She has led high-stakes school improvement projects and created the Literacy Intervention Programme (LIP), a specialised intervention approach for accelerating students’ reading and writing skills.
Francesca now works closely with educators, teachers and parents and enjoys sharing new insights about bilingualism, multilingualism and literacy. In her spare time, she is an avid collector of modern art, Chinese costumes and enjoys traveling.
Francesca McGeary
Francesca is Co-Founder, Consultant and Director at the Centre. Originally from Scotland, she was also raised in Belgium and experienced first-hand what it was like to be educated in a new language in secondary school. Francesca speaks 6 languages, including Mandarin. She has been an EAL Coordinator in several international and local schools across the globe.
Francesca started the educational company, IngeniousEd, and ran it with her colleague Alison, for 9 years in Dubai. She has led high-stakes school improvement projects and created the Literacy Intervention Programme (LIP), a specialised intervention approach for accelerating students’ reading and writing skills.
Francesca now works closely with educators, teachers and parents and enjoys sharing new insights about bilingualism, multilingualism and literacy. In her spare time, she is an avid collector of modern art, Chinese costumes and enjoys traveling.
Louise Bott
I can honestly say it has been an amazing learning experience that I’m so glad I took. The readings and videos made things very clear to understand and the high expectations of case study tasks ensured I put new knowledge and strategies into practise. My students are delighted that their home language is being celebrated and used more in the classroom and I can see the improvement in their English language as a result. Thank you for such a positive experience.
Sarah Emberger
There were many takeaways from this course. I liked the unit on special needs and the assessment methods I can use more systematically next academic year. This course ignited fabulous conversations, established new links between teachers and it has ultimately planted seeds for organisational change within our school.
Cody Preston
This course really helped clarify some of the things I have seen in my own class but never really understood. For many years, I had children who appear to have grasped English. Then, I have been confused as to why they suddenly slow down. Now I understand why! In the past, I would also have been likely to remove scaffolding as the children begin to grow in confidence – now I know differently. Many things clicked into place for me on this course and I feel much more comfortable supporting my BMLs now.
Kate Ellicott
An excellent course which has really helped me to understand and cater for the needs of my bilingual and multilingual learners. I highly recommend it.
