#ElliiCon2022

We’re kicking off ElliiCon2022 with an informal chat about keeping things simple in the language learning classroom. Join writers and editors from Ellii’s publishing team as they take you behind the scenes and highlight some of the tools and techniques they use to make teachers’ lives easier. Bring a beverage along with your favorite simplicity hack to share with our global teaching community.

Join Ellii (formerly ESL Library) founder and CEO Ben Buckwold in reflecting upon the importance of what English language educators do every day. This session offers a glimpse into how Ellii creates content and courseware specifically designed to facilitate opportunities for engagement and meaningful discussion in every class.

When students come to class, they bring their cultures, languages, belief systems, religions, values, social behaviors, and more along with them. This multiculturalism should be appreciated in the classroom, reflected in the curriculum, and seen as a benefit to the teaching and learning process. But in order to build a curriculum that respects and reflects our students’ multicultural perspectives, we first need to understand who they are by building relationships with them. With this foundation of understanding, our language learners can begin to recognize their own values and start developing global competence.

In this session, 2021 Varkey Foundation Global Teacher prizewinner Keishia Thorpe shares how you can engage your students and make learning relevant to the real world. Discover how to integrate culturally responsive practices that promote equity and inclusivity in the classroom and how you can support students in becoming global citizens.

In our increasingly polarized world, competition and confrontation have seemingly taken priority over collaboration and understanding. In this presentation, Nik Peachey shares a range of techniques you can use to help your students develop the skills they need to navigate our progressively complex society.

Discover activities that will help your students…
• empathize with others
• listen with the intention to better understand on a more emotional level
• build dialogue and find common ground with those that hold different worldviews than their own

New to the Ellii platform? Join Jen Artan, Ellii’s CLB content writer and presenter, for a quick overview on how to use the platform and navigate its features. Learn how to organize materials, teach in-person or online classes, assign digital tasks as classwork or homework, and see student progress in real time.

Assessment is critical for monitoring student progress, identifying areas that need improvement, and determining whether our lessons align with our students’ needs and the course objectives.

In this session, Dr. Ken Beatty provides quick-win strategies for how you can make assessments simpler for yourself and your primary, teenage, and adult language learners. Discover how to make your assessments…
• more agile by adapting them to students’ needs
• simpler to create, administer, and mark
• more effective by turning them into a learning opportunity

Developing 21st-century skills such as communication, collaboration, leadership, innovation, and digital literacy is increasingly vital for people of all ages around the globe. In this presentation, Karina Zew shares how you can teach these skills in the classroom and help prepare your students for success in academics, business, and more. Learn useful tips and techniques that you can implement to help your English language learners of all ages cultivate necessary real-world skills.

Connect with educators worldwide by joining a themed discussion table or participating in one-on-one speed networking. This session is an excellent opportunity to learn from other teachers and to share your own classroom experiences. The Ellii team will have tables available to answer any questions you have.

Join us in reflecting on everything we’ve learned during today's sessions. Let's discuss how we can support making English educators’ lives easier.

We’re kicking off Day 2 of ElliiCon2022 with an informal chat about creativity! What do you do to inspire creativity in your students? How do you incorporate it into your own life? Join members of Ellii's Publishing team and fellow teachers as we explore ways to be more creative in the classroom and beyond.

Join Ellii (formerly ESL Library) founder and CEO Ben Buckwold and Chief Technology Officer Eduardo Prauze for a discussion on how Ellii works to simplify teachers’ lives in the classroom. Learn about the new tools we’re creating to save you time, make teaching easier, and help you maintain a healthier work-life balance.

Drawings are a visual vocabulary and a powerful means of communication. Learning to draw simple icons can support your language learners’ understanding, vocabulary recall, creativity, critical thinking, and note-taking skills. It can also rejuvenate teaching mojos, focus reflective practice, equip teachers with a bank of zero-prep activities, and add a touch of magic to classes.

In this session, Emily Bryson shares how you can engage learners with simple facilitation techniques such as visual templates and capture sheets, graphic organizers, and sketchnoting.

From zoom fatigue and compassion fatigue to never-ending paperwork and political pressure, teaching these days can be downright exhausting! In this session, Dr. Katie Welch unpacks how sustainable self-care must go beyond bubble baths and massages and instead address the underlying issues that make teaching so challenging.

Gain practical, concrete solutions for how you can prioritize your own social and emotional well-being so that you can bring your best self to the classroom each week.

Flashcards are a useful tool for teaching all language learners—from preschool to business school! Join Jen Artan, Ellii’s CLB content writer and presenter, for ideas on how you can use Ellii’s printable and digital flashcards for assessment, classroom discussion, and vocabulary building.

Language is social, which means our classes should be full of speaking students. In this session, Shelly Sanchez Terrell shares strategies, activities, tips, and tools that will inspire even the shyest of English learners to find their voice. Attendees will learn how to motivate young learners and adults to share stories, practice vocabulary, voice their opinions, and reflect on the content. Participants will also explore examples of scaffolds and supports to enhance speaking skills and walk away with practical ideas to implement immediately.

Connect with educators worldwide by joining a themed discussion table or participating in one-on-one speed networking. This session is an excellent opportunity to learn from other teachers and to share your own classroom experiences. The Ellii team will have tables available to answer any questions you have.

Join us in reflecting on everything we've learned at this year's conference. Let's discuss how we can continue making educators’ lives more balanced.