Shelley Hale Lee, an ESL teacher trainer specializing in literacy approaches for ESL emergent readers, discussed teaching literacy to pre-literate adult ESL students. She emphasized the importance of phonics instruction, even for adults, and shared her structured approach using her books At the River and At the Lake. Lee highlighted the challenges of teaching students unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet and the need for consistent routines and systematic phonics. She also addressed managing diverse student needs and suggested using resources like the BATT diagnostic. Participants asked about handling distracting toddlers and differentiating instruction for varying literacy levels.
