Constructive Classroom Conversations: Teaching English Language Learners

Pepper has released another set of courses focusing on English Language Learners. These courses are developed by the Understanding Language Initiative at Stanford University. The most recent release, Constructive Classroom Conversations, is available at 3 different levels: Elementary, Middle, and High, which allows for differentiation of content. Each course is designed with the belief that in order to improve the quality of student discourse, educators need to listen closely to existing talk. Additionally, the course asks participants to gather, analyze, and share examples of student conversations from their classrooms.

Participants will engage in four distinct sessions:

1. Constructive Conversations
2. Teaching, Facilitating, and Reflecting on Conversation Skills
3. Modeling and Scaffolding Conversation Skills
4. Cultivating Conversation Expertise

It is suggested that teachers taking this course currently work as classroom teachers or have access to students in order to successfully participate in coursework and complete practical application assignments.

You can watch a course overview video to meet the instructors and gain a better understanding of course content.

You can get more information and a full course outline by visiting the appropriate course section below:

• Constructive Classroom Conversations - (K-5)
• Constructive Classroom Conversations - (6-8)
• Constructive Classroom Conversations - (9-12)

The overall goal is for participating educators to better understand student-to-student classroom discourse and use what they learn to facilitate higher quality interactions that build disciplinary knowledge and skills.

Be sure to check out all our Pepper course offerings.

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