How can EL teachers best learn about the sometimes complicated cultural backgrounds of their students? How might they confront the challenge of ensuring that other teachers and staff also have efficient access to this information? What cultural information is most important for content teachers (particularly those who do not have EL training) and how might EL teachers go about sharing it? We discuss these questions and much more with Katie Frances.

Katie is a certified EL teacher in Fayette County, KY. She spent her first 8 years as a mainstream classroom teacher working with diverse groups of students. She currently teaches at Northern Elementary School, where she and her teammate Jamie Combs service over 150 English Language Learners. We’ll hear from Jamie in our next episode, which focuses on home visits for families of English Language Learners.

During our conversation, we referenced the following resources:

• Culture Crossing Guide - This is the website that Katie and her team use to learn more about cross cultural etiquette and understanding
• Family Literacy Practices for Immigrant Families - This is the slide deck from Katie and Jamie’s presentation on  Kentucky Reading Association Conference in Louisville, KY
• You can email Katie here at katie.frances@fayette.kyschools.us

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