CATESOL24

Academic writing often confines students to a rigid approach that stifles creativity. This session introduces an innovative approach using stories from The Players' Tribune blog as mentor texts. By fostering personal voice and multimedia expression, students learn to challenge academic norms. Participants will explore strategies for encouraging 'rule-breaking' within academic contexts, empowering students to find their unique voices and build community through multimedia and digital literacy.

Adult learners in California have benefited in so many ways by participating in the EL Civics program. From civics lessons to workforce prep as part of Integrateed English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE), the EL Civics program has offered a flexible and culturally responsive framework to meet the needs of students as needs arise. Agencies have developed civic objectives and addtionally assessment plans (COAAPs) to address the great digital literacy divide exacerbated by the pandemic and an entrepreneurial COAAP to empower ESL learners to start their own businesses. This session will inform about cutting-edge ideas developed by your colleagues, how agencies might expand Integrated Education and Training (IET) beyond IELCE, and potential changes in funding.

As our world becomes increasingly digital, it is important that we, as teachers, stay on top of new developments and adjust our teaching styles and techniques accordingly. At the same time, it's important that we work with our students (newcomers to the U.S) to do the same. This panel will share latest trends in educational technology and AI and make suggestions for how teachers can keep their skills up to date and assist their students with doing the same.

Looking for somewhere to eat lunch? Drop in and introduce yourself to other San Diego area 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 San Diego area or are interested in getting involved in the Chapter, we're happy to have you here!

San Diego Chapter Serves the following region:
- San Diego County

Are you on the San Diego Chapter message board? Take this opportunity to log into your catesol.org member profile and join the San Diego Chapter message board, so you can stay up-to-date on all San Diego Chapter CATESOL events!

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

This workshop empowers educators to optimize prompt engineering in AI to create tailored educational materials for students. Participants will learn to craft precise prompts, guiding AI to generate differentiated, multilingual, and culturally relevant content. Prompt engineering skills will include building context, specifying roles, integrating key vocabulary, verifying outputs, and engaging iteratively. Through two hands-on activities, educators will develop texts and scenarios that can be used in their classrooms, in turn enhancing digital literacy and instructional practices. The session includes a discussion on ethical considerations, data privacy, and applications of when AI integration is ideal for the language classroom.

This study used a written interview format to ask several large language models (LLMs, specifically, Claude, Chat GPT, and Gemini) about their ability to write reading passages restricted to particular vocabulary lists, and with specific restrictions on text complexity. The presentation outlines the background of the study, particularly features that might be included in passage specifications, and provides options for setting specifications in a particular context and/or at a particular level of English proficiency. It outlines the various capabilities claimed by current versions of the LLMs that were interviewed.

Drawing on speculative scenarios and narratives crafted by Ukrainian students, this presentation examines emerging visions for higher education in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Students highlight both opportunities and challenges, expressing concerns over privacy and autonomy while acknowledging AI's convenience. These narratives reveal a tension between efficiency and traditional educational values like critical thinking and creativity, and illustrate the changing roles of universities, teachers, and students. This method empowers students' voices, offering insights into their aspirations and informing educators how to adapt teaching practices. Attendees will gain practical strategies for integrating student narratives to enhance civic learning and educational outcomes.

Although teacher preparation programs expose future teachers to a wealth of ideas, the transition from training environments to real classrooms is not straightforward.

This panel discusses practical suggestions, grounded on theoretical and pedagogical principles, that novice teachers can implement to navigate the challenges they face in their first few years in the field. The suggestions focus on how to build a social context, navigate institutional policy, plan and deliver lessons, foster participation, implement assessments, and use corpora and digital tools. Attendees will leave the session with a toolkit of ideas that will prevent them from getting burned out.

AI has taken the world by storm, but mainstream AI models out-of-the-box are biased and lack the contextual awareness to successfully serve the needs of adult ESOL learners, especially in career education and workplace training, where context is paramount. This workshop aims to empower educators with foundational AI literacy and best practices, starting with a beginner-friendly introduction to AI concepts and moving into advanced topics like Retrieval Augmented Generation. Participants will gain hands-on experience with AI and workshop AI use cases to support adult ESOL learners in career education learning contexts. Please bring your laptop if you wish to participate!

A benefit of reframing the writing process as a practice-based learning landscape is that students gain voice within their campus communities. When students invest by sharing their work, the art of revision 'revises' the way they see themselves, creating an opportunity for them to experience the joys of becoming writers. This research-grounded workshop highlights benefits of student engagement with peers through two approaches which attendees experience: writing groups and critique letter writing. Attendees participate in a writing community to experience alternative revision approaches which they can add to their own courses in order to foster students' civil engagement and confidence.