Teaching the 2020 Census? Start with Messaging Basics

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Pre-HSE
2020 Census Messaging Basics: What Students Need to Know, Understand, and Share
· Appropriate for: Use in class · Available: Lessons, Texts/Readings, Problems, Videos · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

Census forms are in the mail! It’s time to start talking to our students about the Census.

Census 2020 wants to make it clear that you “count” and you need “to be counted”. This is no small claim, and it is one of the central messages that is repeated in the resources and materials published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and by many adult literacy educational, advocacy and social justice organizations. There have been many resources collected by the National Coalition for Literacy and the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) .

Quick tip: Find quick messages and resources to share with your students in Census Messages and Resources for Language and Literacy (doc). Copy/paste messages and links that can be shared through Twitter, Instagram, Google Classroom, Whatsapp, etc.
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Reading Fluency, Anyone?

ABE, ESOL, Reading
ESL-Bits
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Texts/Readings · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

One of the main barriers to students’ progress as readers is fluency. If you have ever taught a class in which some students finish a reading selection at lightning speed while others labor along sounding out the text word by word, you have experienced the fluency gap. The comprehension of students who read slowly and laboriously often suffers. These students are putting so much effort into decoding the words, they cannot focus on the overall “message” of the text.

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Science Videos You Can Understand and Use in Class

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Pre-HSE, Science
Stated Clearly
· Appropriate for: Building teacher background knowledge, Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Videos · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 2 = engaging

Short videos can be a great way to introduce or review content learned in the classroom. One of the problems I always face as a teacher, though, is finding videos that are simple, clear, and adult-friendly. In my experience, websites like Khan Academy are too technical and move too quickly to be very helpful to students unless they already know the material quite well and just need a quick brush-up. On the other hand, some of the videos from other sites, such as the Amoeba Sisters, are just too juvenile to appeal to adults.

So I was thrilled to stumble upon the Stated Clearly series of videos on YouTube. These videos are generally short (3-5 minutes or so) and, true to their name, do state concepts very clearly. When it comes to science, my rule of thumb is to teach students what they really need to know, and leave out extraneous information when possible. Stated Clearly videos do just that. The content is served in bite-sized, digestible chunks, and the videos they have put out are nicely aligned with the Life Science concepts tested on HSE tests–cells, DNA, chromosomes, natural selection, evidence for evolution, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, etc.

Stated Clearly: check it out!

Actively Learn

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Pre-HSE, Reading, Science, Social Studies
Actively Learn
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Lessons, Texts/Readings, Videos, Assessments · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

Move over, Newsela. Move over, Commonlit.org… There is a new website in town, and it is devouring the competition. Shout out to Katti Wachs at the LaGuardia Community College Adult Learning Center for calling my attention to Actively Learn.

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Blame Canada for these Excellent ESL Literacy Readers

ESOL, Low Level ESOL
Bow Valley College ESL Literacy Readers
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Lessons, Texts/Readings, Hands On Activities · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

Lien Buys Food and Inge Cuts Hair are two of the 40 theme-based Bow Valley College Readers available for free to ESL literacy teachers.

Bow Valley College has produced wonderful free literacy readers at seven different levels of increasing difficulty, A – G. There are 40 themed readers in all, covering a range of relevant topics and themes of high interest to immigrant learners. These readers are available in two formats: written and audio at https://globalaccess.bowvalleycollege.ca/esl-literacy-readers.

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