About CAL

Past Presentations

National Conference on Family Literacy

Louisville, Kentucky
March 30 – April 1, 2008
Visit the NCFL 2008 Conference Web Site

Monday, March 31, 2008

Making Music the Project for ESL Parents and Children: Bridging Languages and Generations
Participants explored research and practice for project lesson planning using music to teach Adult ESL. Project tasks included parents and children creating background readings and presentations of native music and culture. Projects focused on listening, playing instruments, dancing, singing, translating lyrics, or composing music of home countries or American schools. Presentation included a bibliography and templates for developing effective projects and comparing music. The goals of this session were to provide teachers with reading and writing opportunities for ESL parents and children and to provide additional connections for parents between native culture and school culture.
Presenter: Sharon McKay
3:00 - 4:00pm

What and How do ESL Parents Write in English?
Participants used a needs-assessment tool designed for ESL parents to discover how and what they need to write for school, work, and home. The presenter demonstrated lesson planning based on the results of the needs assessment. The session included how process writing activities of various genre can cycle through the practice all four language skills. A variety of research-based writing techniques and activities were included with a bibliography. This session's goals were to demonstrate a writing needs-assessment tool for adult ESL classroom use and to demonstrate the use of process writing for ESL parents to practice speaking, listening and reading.
Presenter: Sharon McKay
4:30 – 5:30pm

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

CAELA Guide and Website for Adult ESL Trainers
ESL Instructors need effective techniques and approaches for teaching a diverse population of parents. The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA) provides techniques, bibliographies, tool kits and research from literacy to advanced levels. The Web site and print materials were demonstrated. Participants were introduced to The CAELA Guide for Adult ESL Trainers. This interactive session connected participants to these resources. In this session, participants shared challenges and solutions related to teaching adult English learners and become familiar with CAELA adult ESL resources for professional development.
Presenter: Sharon McKay
9:00 - 10:00am

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