Hablas Ingles? Si.

The English Language Learners conference plans to show teachers how to help youngsters learn English.

Education undergraduates will be able to fulfill their professional development requirements, and hear how teachers provide for the educational needs for all their students at 2 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Saturday in Room 1103 in Buzzard Hall.

Sham’ah Md-Yunus, the conference committee chair and assistant education professor, said the conference has two objectives.

The first one is to give students an idea of what real teachers face when they have English language learners, or ELLs, in the classroom.

The second objective is to help education majors fulfill their professional development requirement.

The Student Association for the Education of Young Children or SAEYC is helping to put on the event, which features many lecture sessions and even breakfast and lunch on Saturday.

The requirement to attend a conference is hard for busy students to attend since they are not held on campus often, and many are in Champaign or Springfield.

“By offering this, hopefully students not only get opportunities and skills for education, but meet professional requirements,” Yunus said.

The conference’s origin came after a survey of elementary, middle and high school teachers and counselors found them unprepared to deal with diversity in the classroom.

The conference has been well received and students have filled all 50 places.

“They know there’s a problem but don’t understand how to address ELL students,” Yunus said.

Using money from the Redding Grant, Randy Kalal, a well-qualified teacher with 10 years of experience with ELL students, and Jennifer Hixson, a teacher and former director of Urbana’s Multicultural program, are being brought in to speak.

Kalal will be speaking on current teaching strategies, and how handle ELL students in mainstream classes.

Hixson will give two lectures on literacy, and teaching ELLs how to read.

Both of these speakers were recommended to Yunus, who also obtained speakers from campus.

Yunus knows personally how students from other countries can be affected by coming to a new education system.

Two of Yunus’ children started school in Malaysia, and while doing well in other studies, they are not doing as well in English.

Audrey Edwards, director of the integrated secondary education program, is talking about helping English learners to feel accepted, and will test attendants’ knowledge of ELLs.

Rose Gong, an English as a second language teacher, and Chinese language teachers who’s specialty is multicultural education will speak alongside Edwards in her lecture.

“Kids coming from a homeland have different levels of education and teachers must understand the root background, and home language to help the children,” Yunus said.

James Roedl can be reached at 581-7942 or jmroedl@eiu.edu.