This month, CASEL and SEL4US (Social Emotional Learning Alliance for the United States) have jointly kicked off their 2021-22 school year SEL Showcase Challenge. The challenge includes monthly goals to inspire educators to make connections between SEL best practices and the tactics they implement in their classrooms.  

The kickoff question for July inspires educators to ask themselves, “How will social and emotional learning be featured in your school plans for this upcoming year?” With every @ and #, educator participation in the challenge will paint a broad view of how SEL is being interpreted and implemented across disciplines.

 Why is SEL important to articulate within a language acquisition journey? 

From the willingness to be vulnerable and take risks in a new language, to self-reflecting and communicating around the 3 P’s, SEL practices are already woven into world language acquisition. 

SEL is an inherent component of language and culture, so one might question the value of thinking explicitly about SEL skills when unit planning. Indeed, some might wonder why educators should support learners in naming and recognizing these skills as they engage in activities.

A growing body of research has confirmed that when learners, peers, and their support teams - educators, caregivers, and coaches - use the same language around essential SEL skills, learners exhibit increased ability to apply these essential skills to a broader array of contexts.

Because of this, more states have included CASEL practices into their frameworks or standards. Simultaneously, CASEL has increasingly advocated to instructional material developers (like Wayside! ) to ensure the CASEL 5 can be implemented throughout every subject, not just in homeroom or through a SEL-specific program.

Do you want a head start in taking on this challenge and planning SEL into your school year? Educator-authors at Wayside Publishing, with experience in both language education and SEL program implementation, have combed through EntreCulturas and EntreCultures and have published correlations to support you in layering SEL into your school year plans.

CASEL Correlation PDF Downloads

• EntreCulturas CASEL 5
• EntreCultures CASEL 5

Resources For Planning Together 

• Do you want to brainstorm ideas or pose questions to a Wayside Instructional Strategist? Email the Instructional Strategy team!
• To exchange plans with other teachers using EntreCulturas and/or EntreCultures join On Your Way(side) to Proficiency

We look forward to following the SEL Showcase Challenge throughout the upcoming school year!