The ESL Teaching Podcast

Release Date

All Episodes

Episode 172. Why Your EL Lessons Feel Scattered (and How Backward Design Fixes It)

In this episode, I’m diving into lesson planning and introducing a process called backward design, which is a truly great way to plan for our English Learner (EL) students. You will hear how backward design differs from the traditional, “build-as-you-go” approach that often leave ... Show more

. 18min 10sec

Episode 171. Stop Planning Everything: A Simpler Way to Plan for Multilingual Learners

In this episode, I dive into a common source of overwhelm for EL teachers: overplanning. The pressure to adapt content-area lesson plans for multilingual learners often leads us to try to plan everything, including both content and detailed language support. I explain that the go ... Show more

. 27min 22sec

Episode 170. The 30–60–90 Minute Planning Framework for ELL Teachers

Today, I’m sharing a simple but powerful structure—the 30–60–90 Minute Planning Framework—to help EL teachers stop the spiral of overplanning and find clarity, even during busy seasons like testing. In this episode, I am unpacking why planning often feels so heavy for teachers of ... Show more

. 21min 16sec

Episode 169. How to teach listening (not just speaking) to ELs

Today I'm diving into a topic I believe is foundational to everything we do in our classrooms: listening. Communication breakdowns are often about what wasn't fully heard. In the first part of the episode, I break down why listening is an active, intentional skill—not passive—and ... Show more

. 25min 57sec

Episode 168. When “You’re the Expert” Becomes Too Much: Decision Fatigue in EL Teaching

In this episode we tackle the pervasive issue of decision fatigue among educators, specifically focusing on teachers of multilingual learners (ELs). We redefine decision fatigue not as a result of being disorganized, but as a rational response to working within a system that dema ... Show more

. 25min 33sec