“Smart forestry” as a Community-Based Teacher Professional Learning to Support ESOL Practices

In this paper, we use forestry education as an example of a place-based and community-based topic to simultaneously teach English language skills, STEM problem solving, and career education in a locally relevant field. Our in-service science teacher professional learning framework uses culturally and linguistically sustaining tools, practices, and model lessons to support teachers working with all students, including those learning English as an additional language. We argue that science teachers must take the initiative to develop key English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) competencies to support their multilingual learners, and that science teaching is well suited to this integration of content-area language instruction. We analyzed weekly teacher logs completed after school-science club meetings, focus group interviews with the teachers, and conducted a mini case study of one club lesson. We found multiple ways in which teachers in our science professional learning project engaged with the topic of forestry to simultaneously teach English language and science content while also strengthening cultural and community connections to science. We conclude that this approach to preparing content-area teachers to see themselves as content-area language teachers is essential for the future of ESOL education.