TESOL-Ukraine Teacher Development Fall 2025: Digging Deeper!
- Instructor: Lucia Shelley, PhD
- Contact: lshelleymaluy@gmail.com
- Course dates: October 15, 2025 – December 17, 2025
- Course description: A 10-week course will cover effective teaching methodologies, strategies, and ideas to support the English as a Second Language students (ESL) and/or English as a Foreign Language students (EFL) in their learning process and proficiency.
Learning objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Analyze different ESL teaching methodologies used throughout the USA educational system to enhance the ESL students’ proficiency.
- Analyze the elements of classroom management and the positive impact in the ESL classroom, to enhance the students’ knowing and understanding levels, according to Bloom’s taxonomy.
Week 1: All hands on Deck! (October 15, 2025)
Guest Speaker Mrs. Maribel Vilchez National Education Association Foundation’s top honors in 2025, (2025 Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence).
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): Sheltered Instructional Observational Model (SIOP)
- Readings/Resources:
SIOP In Ukraine (Research)
- Assignments: Participants will analyze the SIOP Model used in different public schools in the United States and decide what parts of it would benefit their own teaching.
TESOL-UKRAINE 2 Fall 2025
- Key Learning Outcomes: Participants will analyze how their own students’ learning proficiency in English can benefit from the SIOP model of instruction.
Week 2: Engaging Hands, Hearts, and Minds (October 22, 2025)
Guest speaker and Presenter: Ms. Beth Olshansky, https://picturingwriting.org/
& Guest: Mrs. Rebecca Engelman, former Arts in Education Director for North Dakota Council on the Arts. Current Art Consultant.
- Topic(s): Picturing Writing
- Readings/Resources:Teaching the Art and Craft of Writing (articles)
Writing portion of the multidisciplinary project (video)
- Assignments: Participants will analyze the steps for the picturing writing process: research an animal’s characteristics and habitat, and its predators. Also, how to publish their own book via StoryJumper
- Key Learning Outcomes: Participants will learn that their students can develop a non-fiction book through reflection, reading, writing, and art. The main purpose of this method is to develop their students’ second language skills.
Week 3: Color Vowel Chart | American English (October 29, 2025)
Guest Speaker and Presenter: Ms. Karen Taylor, Color Vowel Co-Founder and Director
- Topic(s): Speaking, Listening, Communication, Proficiency
- Readings/Resources: https://www.colorvowel.com/interactive-chart
- Assignments: Through “The Color Vowel Chart,” participants will analyze the different sounds in the USA English language and use those sounds to help their own students improve their speaking and listening skills in the process of learning a foreign language.
- Key Learning Outcomes: Participants will acquire a broad perspective of “The Color Vowel” teaching methodology to support their own students’ learning process.
Week 4: Formative Assessment. Are the students really learning? (November 05, 2025)
Guest Speaker: Ms. Arlette Rivera Faul, Mandan Public Schools – School/Family Liaison
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): Levels of Proficiency, Teaching Strategies, Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Readings/Resources:
Formative vs. Summative Assessment
- Assignments: Participants will analyze several education scenario videos. Then, they will split into several groups to determine the best strategies to support the students’ learning.
- Key Learning Outcomes: Research shows that students that experience self-check stations, structured peer feedback, and timely teacher feedback during their ESL/EFL instruction,can increase proficiency in their second language.
Week 5: Houston: We Have a Problem! (November 12, 2025)
Guest Speaker: Ms. Claudia Maluy, Principal – Popham Elementary School Austin, Texas USA
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): Expectations, Strategies, Routines, Procedures, Community Building
- Readings/Resources:
Apollo 13 (1995) Houston, TX USA ” Houston, We Have a Problem” VIDEO
Classroom Management -pre-service teachers
- Assignments: After group discussion and conversations regarding classroom management, participants will take an online test to analyze their own classroom management style and determine if it is effective, or if there are changes that need to be made. We will discuss the advantages of each style.
- Key Learning Outcomes: Participants can use classroom management as a means to enhance student learning, as opposed to improving student behavior.
Week 6: Using Data for Differentiation (November 19, 2025)
Guest Speaker: Ms. Talia Sierra, MA, NCC – Counselor Los Ranchos Elementary School Albuquerque, NM USA
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): Quantitative Data, Teaching differentiation strategies
- Readings/Resources:
Inclusive Frameworks
Bar Graph Rubric
- Assignments: As a group, we will discuss the importance of having accurate student data and how to use it to direct lesson planning and strategies. Following the discussion, participants will analyze student data and group students according to level of proficiency, as well as planning strategies to support the students where they are.
- Key Learning Outcomes: Data-driven instruction, data rubric instead of students’ grades.
Week 7: Walk the Walk (November 26, 2025)
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): [Lesson Planning, Standards, Expectations, Organization, Differentiation
- Readings/Resources:
Great ESL Lesson Plan – TESOL
- Assignments:
- Key Learning Outcomes: Regarding lesson planning, teachers’ actions speak louder than words. Participants will reflect on the components of the lesson plan, as well as the reflection (thought process) necessary to transform a lesson plan into an actual, successful lesson.
Week 8: Project-Based Learning (PBL) (December 03, 2025)
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): Collaboration, Problem Solving, Curricula, Teaching
- Readings/Resources:
PBL publications
- Assignments: Participants will analyze PBL videos of ESL beginning students. Then, participants will be divided into two groups to determine the advantages they see in this teaching approach. The other group will analyze how the traditional teacher-led classroom could cover the summative assessment and/or learning objectives effectively.
- Key Learning Outcomes: PBL data proves that this method helps students outperform students who are in traditional teacher-centered classrooms.
Week 9: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary
(CAFE Literacy System) (December 10, 2025)
Presenter: Lucia Shelley
- Topic(s): Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Vocabulary
- Readings/Resources:
https://www.thedailycafe.com/cafe
- Assignments: Participants will analyze the different components of the CAFE Literacy System and evaluate organizing a classroom into working stations to promote students’ proficiency.
- Key Learning Outcomes: Participants can maximize students’ understanding of the four key components of successful reading through the use of the CAFE Menu.
Week 10: Wrap-up Session (December 17, 2025)
- Topic(s): Show us the gems you found through digging deeper!
- Readings/Resources: (Provided throughout the course)
- Assignments: Final Project Submission.
Participants will have two options for their final project:
- Option A) Write an essay about the “gems” they are taking back to the classroom, as well as how they will use those “gems” to benefit their own students.
- Option B) Participate in the TESOL-Ukraine Symposium 2026