I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. For those of you that have finished the year, Congratulations!! To the rest of you, you are almost there you can do it.
Today, I am sharing the scope and sequence of my summer workshop. With current trends moving schools towards faster language acquisition and literacy development, now is the perfect time to improve listening and speaking instruction for your ELLs, and this program will empower educators to boost language development from day 1!
Educators who adopt an intensive approach to listening and speaking instruction, modeled after successful language programs, will see an increase in academic achievement, language acquisition, and overall engagement. Please contact Treetop Polyglot if you have any questions or require further information.
Treetop Polyglot’s Listening and Speaking Workshop
Format: Online
Dates: Every Wednesday at 10:00 am from June 18th to July 23rd, 2025
Price: 350 per person/multi-person discount
Overview
Treetop Polyglot’s Listening and Speaking Workshop offers educators and educational leaders the instructional framework necessary to enhance their school’s listening and speaking programs, thereby improving language acquisition in multilingual learner populations and promoting greater academic success.
Listening and speaking skills are the foundation of language acquisition, literacy development, and academic engagement for multilingual learners (MLLs) in public schools. Improving communicative abilities through targeted, intensive listening and speaking instruction is the foundation for all language acquisition.
This program guides practitioners and educational leaders through the instructional pedagogy and methodology employed by intensive language programs worldwide, which aim to develop communicative competence within one to two years. Public schools can easily adopt these strategies immediately by implementing intensive targeted instruction.
This workshop will consist of six online sessions, divided into two parts. First, participants will cover the session topic, followed by a collaborative workshop. The workshops will provide educators with the opportunity to work with Treetop Polyglot and develop a personalized listening and speaking program, including instruction techniques, pacing, assessment, and collaborative planning tools. Structured this way, participants will walk away with a complete listening and speaking plan ready to implement at the start of the next school year. In addition, participants will be provided with resources for material development and instructional coaching, compiled over the years through extensive research and practice in intensive programs.
At the end of this workshop, participants will:
- Understand the theoretical applications of language acquisition through applied linguistics and instruction.
- Learn to rapidly develop ELL oral intelligibility and pronunciation.
- Develop strong foundational language skills that ELLs need to communicate effectively quickly.
- Create and implement comprehensible input as an essential tool for language acquisition.
- Acquire ways to boost acquisition through practical methods and applied theory quickly.
- Access an abundance of resources for intensive language instruction and practice.
- Plan listening and speaking instruction for the coming school year, maximizing acquisition and communicative ability.
Communicative competence in the target language has countless benefits for schools and ELLs alike. For example, a strong communicative foundation enhances comprehension, reduces anxiety, fosters oral fluency, and serves as the foundation for literacy development.
Participants will conclude this workshop equipped to develop a comprehensive listening and speaking instruction plan that enhances language acquisition, fosters student engagement, and reduces long-term English Language (EL) classification.
Scope and Sequence
| Session 1 | Theory to Practice |
| This session will cover: | -Krashen’s Language Acquisition Models -Vygotsky -Applied linguistics and methods -Communicative Language Teaching -Proficiency timeline -Intensive language program models |
| Workshop: | Participants will analyze various language acquisition models and reflect on how they align with their current classroom practices. They will begin outlining their personalized implementation plan. |
| Session 2 | Oral Intelligibility and Pronunciation |
| This session will cover: | – The foundation of pronunciation – Developing Oral Intelligibility quickly – High-frequency sentence frames – Targeted practice using visual and phonemic support |
| Workshop: | Participants will develop activities that target pronunciation and oral clarity, including role plays, sentence repetition routines, and sound discrimination exercises. |
| Session 3 | Language Foundations |
| This session will cover: | -The first 5000 words -Only essential grammar -Focus on meaning -Differentiation for SLIFE |
| Workshop: | Participants will prioritize vocabulary and grammar for early production and develop leveled activities that provide high success with minimal error. |
| Session 4 | Comprehensible Input |
| This session will cover: | – What is comprehensible input? – Techniques to adjust language input -Vocabulary in context -Making content standards comprehensible. -Using AI for creating comprehensible input |
| Workshop: | Participants will modify a content lesson and generate scaffolded materials using AI tools, visuals, and leveled language to support learning. |
| Session 5 | Boosting Acquisition |
| This session will cover: | -Leveraging students’ native language -Common Mistakes and how to avoid them -Drama for listening and speaking -Review and Practice |
| Workshop: | Participants will develop interactive speaking routines using drama, native language scaffolding, and content-based oral tasks. |
| Session 6 | Listening and Speaking Resources |
| This session will cover: | -Vocabulary -Practice -Language partner -Listening and speaking resources -Cultural connection -Progress monitoring |
| Workshop: | Participants will compile a complete toolkit of listening and speaking resources, plan their instructional sequence, and design a system to monitor oral language growth. |