The ILC Public Education Institute professional development programs give teachers the latest teaching strategies for working with immigrant students and resources for teaching about immigration in PreK-12 and adult settings. The Institute convenes the best education experts for free, professional development training every July in the Immigrant Student Success virtual conference and throughout the year for educator webinars. .
To explore more of our educational resources, check out our account on Share My Lesson or explore our Educator Resource Hub, a searchable collection of more than 100 resources for teachers of immigrants and immigration.
Upcoming Professional Development
How do you support foreign-born students and bring immigration into the classroom? Participants will learn how to empower immigrant students, create more welcoming classrooms and center the immigrant voice across the curriculum in the free virtual conference 2024 Immigrant Student Success: Strategies and Tools for PreK-12 and Adult Educators on July 16, 2024. Massachusetts educators can receive PDPs for participating in this conference and completing related assignments.
Whether playing tag at recess, participating in a youth sport or rooting for a professional team, research shows that sports can create community. K-12 teachers, youth coaches and anyone else who would like to learn how to leverage sports to increase belonging, health and resilience for all young people, and foreign-born children in particular, will benefit from United by Sports: Cultivating Health and Belonging from the Little to the Big Leagues on Tuesday, September 17, 7:00-8:30 PM ET. Massachusetts educators can receive PDPs for participating in this training and completing related assignments.
Earn Massachusetts Professional Development Points (PDPs)
The Immigrant Learning Center is a registered Professional Development Provider by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the English Language Learners, Safe & Supportive Learning Environments and History content areas. To receive PDPs, educators must participate in the required number of hours of training, complete an assessment of learning, and provide evidence of meeting the criteria for mastery. Certificates of completion are also available for those who attend any individual trainings. Contact Ariana Moir at [email protected] to learn more.
Current course: Sign up now for 2024/25 Immigrant Student Success PDP course
Recent Webinar
2024 Immigrant Student Success Virtual Conference
Learn how to support your immigrant and refugee students and integrate immigration into your curricula with The ILC’s annual Immigrant Student Success conference. This year’s conference covered how to:
- Improve the mental health of English learners
- Foster belonging, identity and agency in your students
- Provide quality holistic learning experiences for refugee students
- Navigate the rights of immigrant students with disabilities
- Harness AI for use in the ESL classroom
- Engage students with immigration-themed read-alouds
- Incorporate South Asian immigration into your middle and high school social studies classes
- Understand the immigration landscape today
The ILC’s free virtual conference is for teachers, librarians, administrators, volunteers, social workers, community leaders and anyone interested in immigrants and immigration in PreK-12 and adult classrooms. View the full recording here.
Morning Session – Tuesday, July 16, 10 AM – 12 PM
10:00 – 10:15 AM
Keynote
- Simran Tamang, first-place essay winner of the 2024 Teen Perspectives on Immigration Contest
10:15 – 10:45 AM
Multilingual Read-Aloud: Ten Strategies for Teachers to Support Immigrant Student Success
- Kyongson Park, PhD, Assistant Professor, College of Education, Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Resource:
10:45 – 11:00 AM
Immigration Landscape Today
- Michelle S. Dromgold-Sermen, PhD, Assistant Director, George Mason Institute for Immigration Research
Resource:
- George Mason Institute for Immigration Research Immigration Data on Demand Profiles
11:00 – 11:30 AM
Immigrant Students with Special Needs
- Diana I. Santiago, Esq., Senior Education Attorney, Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC)
Resources:
- MAC free helpline (617) 357-8431 or massadvocates.org/helpline (multilingual voicemail)
- MAC sample letters for education advocacy
- MAC Immigrant Rights in Education fact sheet
- MAC videos about the special education process (English) (Español)
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
AI in ESL: AI, Assisting Instruction.
- Christopher Stillwell, PhD, English as a Second Language Instructor, Saddleback College
Resources:
- An AI tool which, instead of giving users direct answers, prompts them with questions about their ideas: Debate Devil
- An AI resource specifically useful for providing roleplay situations to help learn a new language: Pi, your personal AI
Afternoon Session – Tuesday, July 16, 1 – 3 PM
1:00 – 1:30 PM
Improving Mental Health of English Learners
- Daniela DiGregorio, PhD, Associate Professor of Education, Wilson College
1:30 – 2:00 PM
Holistic Learning in Refugee and Immigrant Education
- Julie Kasper, Director of Teacher Learning & Leadership, Center for Professional Learning, Childhood Education International
Resources:
2:00 – 2:30 PM
Teaching a Collaborative Ethnic Studies
- Jessica Man, PhD Candidate, History Department, Boston College
Resource:
2:30 – 2:45 PM
Digital Literacy
- Gabriel Brum, Digital Literacy Instructor, The ILC