Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for Newcomer and EL students

Discover the importance for supporting the social and emotional needs of immigrant, Newcomer, and English learner (EL) students in the classroom, find a framework for SEL-informed instructional planning, and learn how to leverage partnerships with higher education institutions to improve ESL and bilingual teacher prep in our interview with Dr. Sonia Soltero. 

Soltero is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Leadership, Language, and Curriculum, and former Director of the Bilingual-Bicultural Education Graduate Program at DePaul University in Chicago. She joins us on our recent episode of Highest Aspirations.

In our conversation, a few questions we will dive into include:

• Why educators need additional support and training to address the SEL needs of their Newcomer and migrant students, and what effective support can look like in a school district
• A framework can educators follow to ensure they are addressing the variety of students’ needs  in their instruction, based on the principles of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and the importance of ensuring mental and physical safety before moving into content learning
• How to leverage partnerships with universities and colleges to better prepare educators to work with multilingual learners and to address the bilingual teacher shortage

For the full episode transcript, click here.

Soltero has numerous publications on bilingual education, English Learners, and Latino Education having been involved with dual/bilingual education for more than thirty years as a dual language teacher, university professor, professional developer, and researcher. Soltero has extensive background in design and implementation of dual language and bilingual programs and has worked with school districts as well as bilingual universities across the US.