out of the loop

[jennykat]

I'm looking for suggestions - there is an ESL (ELL)
position open at our local middle school. BUT, although I'm endorsed in
ESL, I only have 1 year of teaching ESL under my belt (as
opposed to my 5 years of teaching H.S. Spanish). I've
been out of the ESL loop for 10 years. I am a good
teacher and I've got a good reputation in our district as
I've been subbing lots. BUT, getting through the
interview might be hard after being out of touch w/ ESL
for so long. I've been online reading all I can about ELL
teaching/theories, etc. and it's all coming back to me.
But what else would you suggest I do? Have things changed lots in the past 10 years? BTW, we have mostly
Russian and Spanish-speaking ESL students here. Thanks for
your help! Kat

[Horsa]

There have been no major changes over the last 10 years. The general move have been to communicative competencies but that's not really new. You should check out Michael Lewis - The Communicative Approach, Teaching Collocation. There is a bit more emphasis on vocabulary these days.

If you can, take a look at Learner English by Swan and Smith from CUP. If you don't know the book it describes learner problems by nationality/first language.