Two researchers say school districts, teachers and families will need more support when returning to school.
This article looks at the EAL education restart in Saskatchewan for the fall of 2020. The author introduces a term called ‘COVID slide’ that refers to students falling behind in their learning goals as a result of school shut downs and the chaotic switch to online classrooms.
The author explains that teachers are faced with “double time” workloads to help students catch up to where they would have been in a physical class. I would argue that while the lesson plans changed and leapt out of the hands of educators for a few months, students have had a crash course in English language around pandemic, ppe, CESB, and everything else going on. Language learning didn’t stop when students were sent home, rather it took on a life of its own.
What a great opportunity for teachers to launch the fall semester online with projects, conversations and assessments using the new language.
karinwiebe 