Learning without limits
Personalized learning is a cornerstone of language acquisition, and Michelle found Nearpod particularly useful for creating a baseline and setting a starting point for each student. She reflects on the ease with which three quarters of participating teachers began implementing activities to gain vital information on students’ prior knowledge in order to design self-paced lessons.
Michelle reinforced that students engage better as they can listen to a phrase or passage more than once, access the Immersive Reader, or have it read to them. The rewards have been particularly tangible in middle schools where novels are studied. Teachers can push the text into Nearpod, and students can listen to it as many times as they choose, making them feel more confident to talk about what they’ve read.
In Abbotsford’s primary schools, there is a keen focus on phonological awareness. Teachers are encouraging students to practice through one-slide activities thanks to Nearpod’s click-through function. The QR Code has been warmly welcomed in kindergarten and first grade as it enables students to click and dive right in without requiring an email address – and it's easy to share with families.
Bridging cultures with Nearpod EL
Now in their second year with Nearpod, Michelle and her colleagues are delighted to see how progress and potential go hand in hand. The department continues to support teachers and build their capacity in language acquisition by exploring new Nearpod features, such as the Nearpod EL program.
The Nearpod English Learners Program provides the content, tools, and organization teachers need to create daily differentiated learning experiences that maximize language acquisition for all learners. Michelle recalls how using Nearpod EL lessons have helped create equitable learning experiences that engage every student through active classrooms and remove language barriers.
“The EL component breaks everything down so nicely from building background knowledge to the academic vocabulary and creating so many opportunities for students to internalize academic language.”
Educators are also becoming more confident with the platform as they're learning to troubleshoot on their own. By utilizing the district library, educators have adopted the custom of sharing among themselves. Through Nearpod’s co-teaching function, ELL teachers can, for example, take ownership of the beginning of the lesson to introduce key vocabulary or build prior knowledge, and then pass the baton to a colleague. “It’s creating bonds because they can see how both individuals are bringing something to the table. It’s no longer “my lesson” but “our lesson.”
Abbotsford is also committed to welcoming parents from other countries and cultures who have made the district their home. To build bridges, the department organizes parent sessions to engage them with Nearpod lessons, inviting them to come into the school and really experience their child's education.
Michelle and her team are using Nearpod to communicate with parents and send snippets of what their kids are doing. “Because it's so visual, it's concrete information. Parents appreciate this as it's something that they can understand. The immersive reader helps them to feel involved and discover what their child is learning in class.”
One small step for educators, one giant leap for language learners
For Michelle, Nearpod represents a “before and after” in the lives of the district’s students, educators, and parents. Two years ago, there were momentous challenges in creating lessons consistently. Educators relied on photocopies from books and iPad, spreading themselves thinly across classes of thirty students. The interactivity that Nearpod offers has shifted the goalposts and leveled the playing field. Educators can adapt the questions they ask newcomers or native English speakers and have a rich library to pull from at any time. “Today we can read the same story to a class. But our thinking and language expectations of each student can be very different.”
In Michelle’s mind, the possibilities are as endless as the imaginations of the students that come into the district’s classrooms every day. Classrooms where collaboration is a universal language.
The accessibility features, the ease of being able to add visuals and audio and allow students to share their responses in different ways… My team and I were hooked straight away. 
