Fall 2026 CoTESOL Convention

This session addresses the specific needs of multilingual learners who have reached the ‘developing’ stage of language acquisition. These students in grades 3-12 can decode text, but they may not always understand what they’ve read. This session provides concrete strategies for making even grade-level content texts comprehensible for these students.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.11 Quality Standard III; 5.11(2) ELEMENT B

Audience: Secondary Education (SE)

The goal will be to equip adult literacy educators with effective strategies to strengthen vocabulary instruction, fostering better learning outcomes. This professional development session focuses on the essential role vocabulary plays in adult literacy and its impact on reading comprehension and communication. Participants will:

1. Understand how vocabulary development supports literacy growth.
2. Explore research-based strategies tailored to adult learners.
3. Discuss the importance of comprehensible input and its role in vocabulary acquisition.
4. Implement practical tools and instructional approaches designed to build learner confidence and vocabulary skills.

By the end of the session, educators will walk away with actionable methods and adaptable resources to enhance vocabulary learning in diverse adult education settings.

Audience: Adult Education (AE)​​​​

This session will present specific steps and approaches to integrating English Learners into the general education classroom successfully. Ways to support teachers in this process will be explored, along with providing suggestions on how to effectively work with parents of ESOL students.  The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model will be presented to provide a map by which educators can use to plan, teach, reflect, observe and evaluate these approaches.  Question and Answer periods will be embedded and handouts will be distributed.

CDE CLDE Credit: 5.11 Quality Standard III Standard A

Audience: Elementary Education (EE); Secondary Education (SE)​​​​

We will explore the role of digital literacy in adult education and becoming multilingual. Topics will include the history of information technology, the digital divide, the rise of A.I. and the coming singularity.

Audience: Adult Education (AE)