Deadline to register for the University of Arkansas ESL Symposium is Wednesday, Feb. 18. Margarita Calderon will demonstrate an instructional program she developed that is designed to assist students in all grades and content areas who are learning English as a second language.

Online registration is available.

Calderon is a senior research scientist and professor emerita of Johns Hopkins University and principal partner of the Learning Sciences Calderon International Center for Language and Literacy in Florida. She developed a program called ExC-ELL, which is an acronym for Expediting Comprehension for English Language Learners. The evidence-based instructional model integrates academic language, literacy and content knowledge, and it addresses all four language domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

The ESL symposium runs from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1325 N. Palak Drive, Fayetteville. Teachers who attend will receive a certificate for six hours of professional development.

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas and Project RISE (Realizing and Increasing Student Excellence), a federally funded program operated by the college to increase the number of local teachers certified in English as a second language, are sponsoring the symposium.