The Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education will host UNL’s first English Language Learners Day April 23.

The event will bring more than 200 Lincoln Public Schools’ middle school ELL students to the campus and will give more than 100 elementary education and secondary English education majors the opportunity to work directly with the students.

According to Jenelle Reeves, associate professor and an organizer of the event, ELL students often do not attend universities, and those who do don’t typically choose to pursue a career in education. The ELL Day is designed to encourage those students to not only see themselves as future university students, but also to recognize the opportunities they will gain by getting a degree in education.

To prepare for the day, ELL students created “digital stories” as part of a persuasive writing unit in home classrooms. Students submitted the narrated video essays to a contest that is part of ELL Day. The day of the event, attendees will have the chance to view their fellow students’ stories and category winners for each ELL level. There will be four winners based on the students’ language proficiency. ELL students will also vote for an audience choice award for each level.

The event is also a unique opportunity for education students in teaching, learning and teacher education. Elementary and secondary English education majors are assisting with the preparation and development of the day’s activities. They will also lead icebreakers and a “Flat Herbie” scavenger hunt and digital story project with the ELL students.

“This event gives them the chance to work directly with a population of students they’ll encounter in their future classrooms and to better understand how to interact with and help those students,” Reeves said.

The ELL Day event will reinforce lessons TLTE students are learning in their coursework and will allow ELL students to practice their English in an everyday setting. Though this is the first—and currently only—event planned, the hope is to secure permanent funding for an annual event.

For more information on ELL Day, please contact Reeves at jreeves2@unl.edu.