and books (e.g., Integrating Language and Content, Pedagogy and Practice for Online English Language Teacher Education, Transforming Practices for the Middle School Classroom, and Standards for Initial TESOL pre-K–12 Teacher Preparation Programs).
TESOL supports research in second language teaching, learning, and assessment through mini-grants and the TESOL/the International Research Foundation for English Language Teaching (TIRF) Research Symposium.
Finally, TESOL engages in advocacy for the profession and for ELLs through its annual Advocacy and Policy Summit. Professionals convene in the Washington, DC area and learn about how to advocate with governmental representatives and to understand the shifting landscape of laws pertinent to education, language learning, and learners.
British Council (https://www.britishcouncil.org)
The British Council began its work in 1934 as a charitable and diplomatic tool of the United Kingdom. According to the British Council’s 1940–1 Annual Report, its goal was “to create in a country overseas a basis of friendly knowledge and understanding of the people of this country, of their philosophy and way of life, which will lead to a sympathetic appreciation of British foreign policy, whatever for the moment that policy may be and from whatever political conviction it may spring” (British Council, n.d.). The mission of the British Council is “promoting a wider knowledge of [the UK] and the English language abroad and developing closer cultural relations between [the UK] and other countries” (British Council, n.d.). With its broad outreach goals, the British Council today has educational resources for students wishing to learn English, for educators who teach English as a foreign language. Furthermore, it has projects in the arts, culture, science, technology, and community development.
Offices of the British Council are located in over 100 locations worldwide. Its presence appears most prevalent in Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. You can find its offices in countries such as:
Africa (e.g., Algeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe);
Central America (e.g., Caribbean, Colombia, Mexico);
South America (e.g., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela);
East and Southeast Asia (e.g., China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand);
Central and South Asia (e.g., Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan);
Europe (e.g., Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine); and
The Middle East (e.g., Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen).
The organization aims to serve educators in foreign language contexts teaching kids, teens, and adults in public and private schools. Professional tutors also enhance their knowledge and skills through their professional development opportunities. In 2018–19, the British Council taught English to nearly 420,000 students and provided professional development opportunities to 77,000 English teachers (British Council, 2019).
The British Council aims to assist teachers of English to speakers of other languages by offering professional development opportunities (e.g., face-to-face and online courses, workshops, and conferences). It has booklets on assessing learning, managing the lesson, and taking responsibility for professional development. In addition to offering CELTA courses, it has courses for TESOL professionals on getting started; engaging with learning technologies, cyber well-being, and digital literacies; understanding teaching for tests; understanding and engaging learners with listening, pronunciation, grammar, reading, speaking, vocabulary, and writing; and general ESL/EFL/ELT instructional methods.
It also supports ESL/EFL teachers by providing online and print resources (i.e., research books and articles), curricula, lesson plans, activities, reading passages, songs, and poems. For example, it has curricula on general interest topics such as the environment, famous authors, beginning language, and cultures. For kids, there are lessons and materials on topics such as the alphabet, friendship, food, family, holidays, and the body. The lesson topics for teens include cycling, tattoos, animation, and bullying. For adults, there are lessons on beauty, left-handedness, money, happiness, and international cities.
WIDA (https://wida.wisc.edu)
WIDA has become an influential organization for individuals teaching English since its inception in 2003. WIDA comprises two consortia: WIDA Consortium, which is made up of 41 U.S. states and territories, and WIDA International School Consortium, a network of over 400 international schools worldwide. In these locations, WIDA works with educational leaders, school districts, public and private schools, and pre-K–12 educators on assessment and professional development.
WIDA’s mission is to “advance academic language development and academic achievement for children and youth who are culturally and linguistically diverse through high quality standards, assessments, research and professional learning for educators” (WIDA, n.d.). To achieve that goal, the organization offers language standards, proficiency descriptors, and assessments of academic English for use in screening, placing, and guiding instructors of ELLs (see Chapter 1). The WIDA standards span five areas:
Standard 1: Social and Instructional Language;
Standard 2: Language of Language Arts;
Standard 3: Language of Mathematics;
Standard 4: Language of Science; and
Standard 5: Language of Social Studies.
WIDA provides professional development opportunities for educators in using their standards in curricular and lesson planning and developing instructional techniques in areas, such as creating a welcoming environment for ELLs, teaching academic vocabulary, and teaching for comprehension. Its self-paced e-workshops range in topics from engaging newcomer multilingual learners to developing language for learning in math, foundational concepts, and leading for equity.
WIDA has influenced education practices worldwide with its “can do” descriptors, which highlight what a language learner can do with speaking, listening, reading, and writing when they are at a specific grade and proficiency level. For example, a student in grades 4–5 at proficiency level 3 can explain clear sequential procedures to peers and compare data or information (WIDA, 2016) (for more detail, see https://wida.wisc.edu/teach/can-do/descriptors).
Initially, WIDA developed a standardized assessment of ELLs’ academic language based on the standards, called the ACCESS test. The organization later developed placement-screening assessments. It conducts professional development for educators wishing to help ELLs prepare for the assessment and those interested in learning to administer it.
WIDA offers a conference in October annually in various cities in North America for educators to learn from each other about WIDA’s resources. Internationally, it offers institutes, symposiums, and workshops. School districts and schools can arrange for a WIDA-prepared facilitator to conduct a workshop on topics such as differentiation, classroom action research, educator collaboration, formative language assessment, and purposeful lesson planning.
