Online SIOP Training That Feels Like Teaching, Not Training
Most teachers can spot a bad PD from a mile away. The slides are stale, the presenter drones on, and somewhere between the icebreaker and the breakout room, the luster of learning fades. Rather than thinking about what to do with the information, you’re thinking about what to do for dinner. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
At TESOL Trainers, we believe professional development should feel like great teaching—interactive, engaging, and practical. That’s why our Online SIOP Training for Teachers doesn’t just talk about effective instruction for English Learners—it models it. You’ll experience firsthand what high-impact, student-centered teaching looks like, and you’ll leave ready to recreate it in your own classroom with little to no preparation.
What Makes This SIOP PD Different
If you’ve ever sat through a “sit-and-get” workshop, you know how hard it is to translate theory into action. We take a different approach.
TESOL Trainers’ Virtual English Learner Institute (ELI) is built on the belief that adults learn the same way students do: through experience, discovery, and reflection. Every session is hands-on, fast-paced, and designed to mirror the eight components of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP ® ) model.
Instead of being told what to do, participants see SIOP ® strategies in action. When we explore “Building Background,” you experience it as a learner before unpacking it as a teacher. When we talk about “Interaction,” you engage in authentic collaboration that models how to foster academic conversation in any content area.
You won’t just leave with notes—you’ll leave with muscle memory for how powerful instruction feels.
Five Classroom Strategies You’ll Master
Our live, online SIOP training is built around strategies you can use the very next day. Here are five that teachers say change their classrooms the most:
- Building Background: Learn how to connect new learning to students’ lives, languages, and prior knowledge so content becomes meaningful and memorable.
- Scaffolding: Experience well-scaffolded lessons, explore a formula for scaffolding anything to anyone, and examine its uses.
- Structured Interaction: Discover routines that ensure students do more talking than the teacher. You’ll see how academic conversation builds language and thinking simultaneously.
- Academic Language Support: Explore how to intentionally teach the vocabulary and sentence structures students need to express their ideas clearly and confidently.
- Reflection and Feedback Loops: Practice giving students space to reflect on both what they learned and how they learned it—because metacognition matters.
Each strategy is modeled, discussed, and practiced during the ELI. By the time the course ends, you’ve experienced dozens of small shifts that make a big difference in how students learn and participate.
Teachers Love It Because It Works
Teachers consistently tell us that this is the first PD that actually changes their practice.
“Dr. Kongsvik is wonderful! The training was so entertaining, and I learned a ton that I can use in my classroom right away to engage all students from reluctant Learners to those that participate all the time. If the district would provide more PD opportunities like this, I think teachers would be more excited for PD days!” – Whitney Sonive - Roswell Independent School District.
That’s because our facilitators are teachers, too. They understand the pressures of today’s classrooms and the need for strategies that work across grade levels and content areas. The ELI is not about compliance—it’s about confidence. You’ll finish the training with tools that make lessons clearer, more inclusive, and more engaging for all learners.
Real Classroom Applications
Teachers often share that within days of finishing the course, they see immediate impact.
- “I implemented one of your strategies to get students sharing IMMEDIATELY (that afternoon) in my social studies lessons and my students are LOVING IT.”
- “I tried that active listening task, and everyone actually listened and retained the content!”
Those moments matter. They're proof that sheltered instruction strategies, when taught experientially, empower teachers to reach every student—especially multilingual learners who thrive when instruction is intentional and interactive.
Join Our Next Virtual ELI Session
If you’re ready for professional development that energizes your teaching and transforms your students’ learning, join us for the Virtual English Learner Institute (ELI).
Each course—ELI I through IV—builds on the foundations of the SIOP ® framework and TESOL best practices. Every session is live, interactive, and led by expert facilitators who model the very strategies they teach.
You’ll leave each day with a digital toolbox of strategies, resources, and renewed inspiration for the classroom.
Reserve your spot today and experience PD that feels less like training and more like teaching at its best.
