TLTE to host UNL's first English Language Learner Day


TLTE to host UNL's first English Language Learner Day

TLTE to host UNL's first English Language Learner Day

21 Apr 2015    

CEHS’s Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education (TLTE) will host UNL’s first English Language Learners (ELLs) Day on Thursday, April 23, 2015. The event will bring more than 200 Lincoln Public Schools middle school ELL students to the UNL campus and will give more than 100 elementary education and secondary English education majors the opportunity to work directly with this underserved population.

According to TLTE Associate Profession Jenelle Reeves, one of the organizers of the event, ELL students often do not attend universities—and those who do don’t typically choose to pursue a career in education. The ELL Day is designed to encourage those students to not only see themselves as future university students, but also to recognize the opportunities they’ll gain by getting a degree in education.

Leading up to the ELL Day at UNL, ELL students created “digital stories” as part of their persuasive writing unit in their home classrooms. Students submitted these narrated video essays to a contest that is part of ELL Day. The day of the event, attendees will have the chance to view their fellow students’ stories, and category winners for each ELL level (there are four, based on a student’s language proficiency) will be announced. ELL students will also vote for an audience choice award for each level.

The event is also a unique opportunity for education students in TLTE. Elementary and secondary English education majors are assisting with the preparation and development of the day’s activities. They will also lead icebreakers and a “Flat Herbie” scavenger hunt and digital story project with the ELL students.

“This event gives them the chance to work directly with a population of students they’ll encounter in their future classrooms and to better understand how to interact with and help those students,” said Reeves.

The ELL Day event will reinforce lessons TLTE students are learning in their coursework and will allow ELLs to practice their English in an everyday setting. Though this is the first—and currently only—event planned, the hope is to secure permanent funding for an annual event.

For more information on ELL Day, please contact Reeves at jreeves2@unl.edu.


College of Education and Human Sciences
Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education