CATESOL24

Is this your first CATESOL Conference? Join CATESOL President Song Hong for a sense of how to make the most of your first state conference. Hear suggestions from experienced conference-goers and meet other newcomers. Get your questions answered!

New Member Orientation Presentation

In an increasingly globalized world, effective intercultural communication is essential. Graphic design tools are now readily available for everyone to learn and use. Empowering multilingual learners to learn design skills in order to communicate their messages across social media platforms is one way to create opportunities for intercultural communication. Come to this lightening talk to learn innovative approaches to elevate English instruction, encourage social media use for good, empower students with 21st century skills, and create opportunities for enhancing language learning, critical thinking skills, and global citizenship via technology-mediated social interactions.

EL student writers come to believe writing (especially in the target language) to be demonstration of mechanics. As EL student writers shift from noncredit ESL (or secondary ELD) to college classes for credit, transitioning the purpose of writing from demonstration of language comprehension to authentic communication is often under-considered and disadvantages transitioning EL student writers. This lightning talk will review a writing task which focuses on this shift to a communicative writing focus via centering student experience (schema) and the civic value of this experience for the writing's audience, creating an opportunity to perform writing, and reflecting on the writing process.

How can language teachers best facilitate this win-win situation: students improve their language skills and increase their knowledge of community issues, social justice strategies, and U.S. culture, while community-based organizations gain from the time and energy of student volunteers? Whether called service-learning, community-based learning, or community-engaged education, this practice has a long tradition in language classrooms. Learn strategies for crafting effective community-based learning projects that are respectful of the diverse backgrounds, needs and goals of all involved. A case study from a noncredit community college class will be described, as well as lessons learned from two semesters of implementation.

Looking for somewhere to eat lunch? Drop in and chat with other Los Padres educators. Share what you've been teaching, regional-specific challenges and successes, and whether you've been involved in Chapter activities before! Whether you're new to the Los Padres area or are interested in helping revitalize the Chapter, we're happy to have you here!

Los Padres Chapter serves the following regions:
- San Luis Obispo County
- Santa Barbara County
- Ventura County

Are you on the Los Padres Chapter message board? Take this opportunity to log into your catesol.org member profile and join the Los Padres Chapter message board -- we're working on getting this Chapter back to its former glory!

Interested in helping revitalize the Chapter? Message catesolmerve@gmail.com, our Chapter Council Chair, and she'll get you connected.

Immigrants often experience verbal, behavioral, or environmental actions that communicate hostility. Teachers can support their adult English language learners with direct instruction in the language learners need to address these microaggressions at school, work, and in the community. Participants interact with the strategies, scaffolds and routines that enhance students' ability to manage these difficult conversations.

In Spring 2024, presenters piloted an academic remote writing class for Afghan students to address challenges with AI-generated content.
Emphasizing student voices over form, the class faced cultural and situational hurdles, including limited internet access and Taliban rule.
In this session, participants will understand the context and develop strategies to address AI usage in a context where challenges include a lack of resources and gender apartheid. All class resources will be shared.