The School of Professional Studies’ American Language Program (ALP) hosted its annual Winter Conference on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at Columbia University’s Faculty House. The conference, the fifth English-language learning conference held by the ALP, provides an opportunity for New York City area TESOL professionals to share their knowledge of and experience in academic English instruction. The theme for this year's conference, co-chaired by ALP lecturers Christopher W. Collins and Brittany Ober, was “Teaching Learners how to Learn.” The event began with the plenary session “Have We Forgotten to Remember: An Exploration into Memory as a Language Learning Aptitude” by Lesley Painter-Farrell, Director of the MA TESOL program at The New School.
The presentations that followed were:
- “Using Project-Based Learning for Adult Learners and English for Specific Purposes” - Meghan Killeen, The ESL School at The New York Film Academy/The New School
- “Holding Onto Learning-Pragmatic Strategies for Storing, Retrieving and Using Language” - Mary Carpenter, NYU & CCNY
- “Progress Reports for Reflective Learning” — Maria McCormack, Columbia University ALP
- "Oppression 101”—Learning about Systemic Oppression, Racism and Sexism Before Exploring the Civil War, Suffragette and Civil Rights Movements” — Caryn Davis & Students from CLIP NYCCT
- “A Framework for Reviewing Course Concepts” - John Beaumont, Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY & Babi Kruchin, Columbia University ALP
- “Learn How to Create Educational Projects with Scratch” - Amany Alkhayat, Columbia University Teachers College
- “Pronunciation Beyond the Classroom: Helping Learners Help Themselves” - Kimberly Edmunds, Carolyn Saylor-Loof, Tristan Thorne — Tools for Clear Speech, Baruch College CUNY
- “Teaching One Another to Listen: Reciprocal Teaching for Listening Comprehension” - Abby Mack & Mary Ritter, NYU
- “Songs and Flashcards: Fun Vocabulary Practice with Lexical Chunks!” - Elke Stappert, New York Public Library
- “Facilitating Transfer from an ESL Writing Course to Other Academic Disciplines” - Anna Ciriani-Dean, Fordham
- “Integrating Dictation to Raise Grammar Awareness” - Sarah Ford, Columbia University
- “Culture, the Final Frontier” - Claire Marinello, The New School
The conference, a day-long professional development event attended by approximately one hundred and fifty educators, concluded with a social event where attendees had the opportunity to network with presenters and attendees.
Learn more about the American Language Program at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies.
