Sara Martinez, D.I.S.
ELL Instructor
Dr. Sara Martinez is a dedicated educator and advocate for teachers and multilingual learners. She brings nearly three decades of educational experience to her work, serving as a classroom teacher, ELL instructional coach, district and national trainer, and founder of her own educational consultancy, Strategic Steps, which she led for 18 years.
Dr. Martinez specializes in training and coaching educators who work with multilingual students. She serves as an adjunct faculty member at Heritage University, where she mentors student teachers and instructs in the school of education, focusing on bilingual education. As a TEDx speaker, she can often be found presenting at conferences and trainings with authenticity, humor and a contagious love for learning.
Sara co-founded Next Steps with Project GLAD® offering innovative support for teachers implementing integrative and designated English Language Development (ELD) strategies. Through these initiatives, Dr. Martinez has empowered thousands of educators, administrators, and trainers across the United States, fostering an additive approach to multilingualism and effective teaching practices.
Join me in one of my courses!
Course Description
This course equips participants with seven practical and effective strategies for teaching vocabulary to multilingual learners. Each strategy is part of the larger OCDE Project GLAD® (Guided Language Acquisition Design) professional learning model, dedicated to building academic language and literacy specifically for those learning a new language. During our six weeks together, participants receive an introduction to the OCDE Project GLAD® model and go in-depth with each strategy. The course covers the rationale and research supporting why and when to use each strategy, how to prep the materials, steps for classroom delivery with demonstration videos at various grade levels, and extensions and modifications specific to your context. Participants will prepare (and teach, if school is in session) each strategy with instructor coaching. This course is for K-8 educators and is conducted in English.
Course Rationale
This course aims to equip educators with the rationale and methods for vocabulary development in a new language. Each language domain, whether expressive or interpretive, relies on acquiring and developing a personal lexicon. Students comprehend, speak, read, and write based on the vocabulary repertoire they have developed. This course enables teachers to understand and apply research and best practices for teaching vocabulary development and fluency, particularly in relation to multilingual learners. As students learn new words more quickly and retain them longer when taught in context, the strategies incorporate language learning within the framework of grade-level content. Through this integrative approach to language learning and vocabulary development, the strategies also incorporate designated and related language targets, such as using cognates, prefixes, suffixes, parts of speech, and syntax.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will have the opportunity to:
Develop a working knowledge of the research supporting vocabulary development for multilingual learners
Increase personal repertoire of best practices and scaffolds for vocabulary development
Distinguish between integrated and designated language instruction
Determine which designated language targets to use within integrated vocabulary instruction
Create six to seven Project GLAD® strategies for current and/or future implementation using the theory and practice from this course
Collaborate and grow with other students by sharing ideas, insights, and artifact development
What Participants Are Saying About This Course
“Excellent course! Thank you!”
Course Delivery
Instructor-Facilitated
Online asynchronous (no live sessions) coursework
Weekly learning modules to complete at your own pace
Collaborative discussion boards
Instructor feedback
Optional office hours with the instructor for additional support
Students in an instructor-facilitated course must adhere to the session start and end dates listed on the website. Final coursework must be submitted within one week after the course end date. Course extensions beyond one week are subject to a $50 fee.
Course Access Information
Your Idioma Schoology course invitation will be emailed one week prior to the start of an instructor-facilitated 6-week course. You may access the Idioma Schoology login from the Login > Idioma Schoology Login dropdown menu at www.idiomaconsulting.com.
Course Learning Resources
Video lessons provided by Next Steps
Research materials, such as articles, videos, and/or podcasts, will be assigned and provided throughout the course.
Strategy Materials
The student is responsible for acquiring and being prepared with the needed materials to prepare each strategy.
Strategy Materials Needed
Grade level standards
Target language development standards and proficiency levels (for example, ELD English Language Development Standards)
White butcher paper
Poster board and/or 12x18 construction paper
Colored markers
Sentence strips (or index cards)
Access to a colored printer
Access to a laminator, if possible
About the Instructors
Dr. Sara Martinez & Jody Bader, Instructors. Read more about Sara and Jody here.
Click here to request a syllabus.