ESL/ELL Additional License

Offered: Fall

Credits: 4

Description: Through a balanced and integrated approach, students will learn to develop literacy in early childhood/elementary schools. Class members will learn about emergent literacy, diagnosing language needs, integrating phonics skills in a literature-based program, the teaching of process writing, children's fiction and nonfiction literature, and a variety formative and summative ways to assess learning. Course required for spring semester practicum students. Course evaluation is based on written and oral work done individually and in groups. Requires a pre-practicum.

Restrictions: This course is limited to Mount Holyoke MAT, MAMT, and MATL students only

Advisory prerequisites: Requires a field-experience in an educational setting.

Comments: Pre-practicum required

Offered: Fall and Spring

Credits: 4

Description: This course is designed to support K-12 teachers in designing curriculum, instruction, and assessments for the growing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) assigned to content area classrooms in American Schools. There is a need for all teachers to develop a critical ability to teach disciplinary literacies to all students, including ELLs, former ELLs, and speakers of non-dominant varieties of English in the context of high stakes school reform. To achieve this goal, students will: learn about language and literacy development from a sociocultural perspective (including how this perspective contrasts with other views in the field); observe and reflect on the schooling experiences and literacy practices of ELL students; learn about critical language-based pedagogies; and develop a curricular unit that supports students’ academic literacy development as part of content teaching. This course is designed to be in compliance with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s RETELL standards (Rethinking the Teaching of English Language Learners), and students who successfully complete this course will be recommended to the state for SEI endorsement.

Advisory prerequisites: Requires a field-experience in an educational setting.

Offered: January Intersession  

Credits: 2

Description: Brief introduction to theory and practice in assessing students' academic English proficiency. Students will learn about purposes of and types of language assessments (e.g., large-scale standardized tests like WIDA ACCESS, alternative assessments like portfolios, formative assessments) and practice designing oral language assessment tasks and using rubrics  to evaluate student writing.

Description: This course will a) introduce students to theories of second language acquisition (cognitive, social, and linguistic influences) and how these inform teaching practices, and b) introduce teaching methods and approaches to teaching ELLs so students can begin to make informed context-sensitive decisions about language teaching methods, techniques, lesson planning, materials, classroom management, etc.

Credits: 2

Offered: Summer 2  

Format: online

Offered: Fall  

Credits: 2

Description: Students pursuing an additional license in teaching English language learners are expected to complete a supervised field experience of at least 60 hours in an approved ELL program in a public school setting (e.g., ELL content classroom, push-in teaching, pullout to separate classroom). In addition to the field experience component, students attend biweekly course meetings, during which they will have the opportunity to learn more about ELL program models and policy trends, English language development standards (e.g., WIDA, Next Generation ESL), tracking student development, advocacy, professional collaboration, and leveraging an additional license on the job market.

Offered: January Intersession or Spring  

Credits: 3

Description: Students pursuing an additional license in teaching English language learners are expected to complete a supervised field experience of at least 100 hours in an approved ELL program in a public school setting (e.g., ELL content classroom, push-in teaching, pullout to separate classroom). In addition to the field experience component, students attend weekly course meetings, during which they will have the opportunity to learn more about  language development in the four domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing), planning curriculum for effective English language instruction in K-12 standards based settings, and ELLs and technology.

Description: This course is offered for teachers seeking SEI endorsement. It serves as the ReTELL course that provides an overview of pragmatic pedagogical strategies for including English Language Learners in content area classroom instruction. Readings in language acquisition theory, language learning and teaching, effective lesson design and assessment, Sheltered Instruction Observation  Protocol and knowledge of intercultural learners are covered. Students will have experience developing and adapting lessons and curriculum to address the needs of students in their pre-practicum settings.

Advisory prerequisites: This course is offered for licensed Massachusetts teachers and teacher candidates seeking SEI endorsement

Credits: 3

Offered: Summer 1  

Format: on-campus