Teaching ESOL to Adults with Limited Literacy (TEALL) Certificate 

With the support of the Office of the Mayor, the New York City Council, and the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Literacy Assistance Center plans offer the TEALL Certificate Program at no cost to all participants who are selected for 2020.

Course Description 
This certificate program provides insight into the needs of adult English Language Learners who have minimal first language literacy. The course addresses questions such as:
  • Where do you start?
  • How are these learners’ needs different from other adult learners?
  • How can you create engaging activities when their skills are so minimal?
  • What does the research say about best practices in teaching adult English language literacy learners?

Format 
Participants attend 27 hours of in-person classes, in addition to 80 hours of study and reflection online as part of a professional community of practice. 

Course Objectives & Outcomes 
By the end of the course, participants will be able to identify the needs of literacy learners and will be able to create evidence-based instruction for learners in both literacy and multi-level English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classrooms. The course features a range of activities including classroom discussion, hands-on activities, and observations of ESOL literacy classes, as well as an online component that allows participants to reflect on assigned readings and material presented during in-person meetings.  

Participant Expectations
To receive a certificate in this course, participants must attend all in-person sessions, participate in online forums, and complete all required activities and assignments. One component of the course will be developing and implementing a project with their ESOL literacy learners. Those not currently teaching literacy learners will be assigned to co-teach in a literacy level classroom for 15 to 20 hours.

Class Sessions
March 21, 2020 11:00 - 3:00
March 28, 2020 11:00 - 3:00
April 11, 2020 11:00 - 3:00
April 18, 2020 11:00 - 3:00
May 2, 2020 11:00 - 3:00
May 16, 2020 10:00 - 5:00

Note: The LAC is offering two courses this Spring, Advanced Strategies in ESOL and TEALL. We ask that all applicants only apply to one of these courses. 

Instructor Bios 
Judy Trupin is the director of the TESLA Certificate program and lead ESOL professional developer for the LAC. She has been teaching in the TESLA certificate program since 2009 and created the TEALL program in 2014.  An ESOL adult educator for more than 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, curriculum developer, teacher educator, and administrator. She has taught all levels of ESOL from basic literacy through advanced.  A nationally certified trainer for the BEST Plus assessment, she holds New York State K-12  ESOL certification and an M.S. in Teaching ESOL. 


William Linn has been teaching ESOL in community organizations since 2008. He earned his MA in TESOL from SIT Graduate Institute in 2011 and he has worked as a teacher trainer since 2015. William has also taught English Applied Linguistics in the SIT Graduate Institute's MA in TESOL program. William is currently the ESOL Professional Development Associate at the LAC and is an instructor in the TESLA certificate program.

To learn more about the content of the TEALL course, please contact Judy Trupin at judyt@lacnyc.org

Apply for TEALL

The application will open on December 2nd. On that date, you will be able to access it from this page.  In the meantime, you are welcome to participate in an informational webinar: Click on the date you'd like to register November 21st at 4pm or December 3rd at 1:30pm

Digital Literacy

The LAC Academy's online learning platform, Moodle, offers participants the opportunity to build on their digital literacy skills. Skills covered in Modules 1, 2, and 4 of this assessment are particularly important in an online learning environment. Each module begins with very basic tasks, but stick with it, they get more challenging! Assess your Digital Literacy skills here