For the 2019-20 school year, Colegio Rochester adopted several new English textbook series created by National Geographic Learning (NGL), a part of Cengage Learning, to better align our English curriculum with best practices in English Language Teaching, and support our commitment to sustainability and global citizenship. These teaching and learning resources support our interdisciplinary approach because they integrate language learning with content from the real world related to science, geography, history, art, and other subjects. This method helps students make connections that develop critical thinking and creative problem solving for their life experiences, as well as develop their academic English language skills for future study and careers. The units in these books focus on developing the language and other competencies our students need to be happy, responsible, and successful 21st-century global citizens.
In 2020, National Geographic Learning decided to develop a new textbook series, Lift, to prepare multilingual teenagers with the academic language and literacy skills they need to study cross-curricular subjects and literature from around the world, participate in academic discussions, and apply themselves in and out of the classroom. The development of Lift included academic advisors from prestigious educational organizations, such as the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Center for Global Education, International Baccalaureate, Vanderbilt University’s School of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and Wisconsin Center for Education Research. After the initial draft was created, they sought expert reviewers from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. NGL invited Ms. Dana, our Academic Director for Grades 4-12, to represent Latin America and provide feedback and recommendations on how to improve the quality of the content, teaching strategies, and assessment practices. One of her several recommendations was to ground each unit in Essential Questions to promote student inquiry. The series was just released in print and acknowledges Dana and Colegio Rochester for their contribution to this international publication. Furthermore, National Geographic Learning is entering Lift into the British Council ELTons Awards for innovation in English language teaching (ELT). This year marks the 20-year anniversary of the ELTons, the only international awards celebrating the latest innovations in English language learning and teaching, and the creators behind them. The publisher requested permission from Ms. Dana to use some of her feedback for their application:
“I value that the Lift series recognizes the importance of instilling global competence and connects it to service learning projects inspired by National Geographic Explorers. From my experience, teaching and developing global competence is in its infancy stage in many programs. Most schools have service learning as part of their programs, but many only scratch the service at a global citizenship level.†We are very proud of Dana’s effort and achievement, and for launching Colegio Rochester’s name onto the international stage related to English language teaching.
Guiselle Rincón Grade 6 Real World English Teacher and Grade 8 Family Coordinator
Resumen:Para el año académico 2019-20, el Colegio Rochester incorporó varias series nuevas de libros de texto de Inglés, creados por National Geographic Learning (NGL), una parte de Cengage Learning, para alinear mejor el currÃ
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