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Welcome!
This resource is to help you support ESL learners in our classrooms. It has links about technology and strategies to support ESL learners in our district, school, and educational community. Try out some of the ideas and if you find any of the activities or information useful, please share them with others.This wiki is to support you in supporting ESL learners. 

Who are ESL learners?
ESL learners are each a world to themselves. They come to Canada from around the world and arrive with a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. Some want to be here and some have been sent here by their parents. Talk to your ESL students and get to know their culture and background as it will help you teach them better.



Why do ESL learners need extra support from teachers?
Research shows that it can take up to 7 years for ESL students to achieve bilingual status and at first they will perform stronger orally and then in written text. ESL students often say that it was the support that one teacher gave them that make the difference in their life at school. If we give them the support that they need, they will become successful.

What do ESL learners bring to our classrooms?
ESL learners come to our classroom with the unique status of being bi-cultural as they live in one culture at home and with their friends and in another when they get to school. They bring with them everyday a special take on Canadian society and world politics and they allow students to get to know the reality of a teenage from another country and to build understanding and tolerance. Since they have left their countries to come to Canada, they have developed coping strategies to deal with change that other students can benefit from. When they graduate, ESL students have an advantage over uni-lingual students as they have the language and intercultural skills to adapt to a changing global market.

How can I do all of this when I don't have time to do my other work?
This wiki introduces you to a series of web2.0 applications that can help you support ESL learners in our classrooms. It is not meant to be obligatory rather as a series of ideas to find inspiration. Perhaps we can try one idea a semester to augment what we are already doing well in our classrooms. The idea is to collaborate as staff together to pool our resources and share ideas. As departments and across departments, we can each develop resources to support ESL learners to make their education time here more successful.

Why use technology to support ESL learners in our classrooms?
Our ESL students are already living in a world full of technology. Last year, I watched a new student in our school who could barely say hello in English access his email in his home language on the Internet in the library. ESL learners can transfer their skills in using technology in their home language into English. The idea of this wiki is to engage students with creative projects and strategies instead of enraging them with learning that is static and ho hum. Content remains at the heart of all learning so it is essential that we choose new ways of teaching that meet our teaching objectives. To use technology just to be flashy betrays what we already do as teachers, teach well!

I would love our library to be like David Egger's 826 Valencia! Listen to this TED talk and see how one person can have a profound effect on students.
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http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/233