All of school is language based, every class, every activity, every interaction involves some form of communication.  As teachers, the words we choose and how we use  them can have a powerful impact on our students academically and emotionally.  We will be exploring the levels of language, their interactive aspects, and techniques that teachers can employ to enhance student learning, participation, and confidence. This is an opportunity to learn vocabulary “sandwiching” techniques, how and when to shift from instructional to everyday language, questioning formats, as well as memory and attention strategies, all of which are part of the language skilled teachers use.

Presenter Bio:

Dr. Soifer is a language pathologist with more than 50 years of experience in clinical and private practice, as well as university teaching.  For its highly respected and valued 25-year tenure, Dr. Soifer was the founder and director of The Soifer Center for Learning and Child Development, which was the first multidisciplinary private diagnostic and remedial setting established in Westchester County.  Dr. Soifer continues to provide educational consultation and advocacy services to families on behalf of their children, in coordination with other professionals and schools. As a parent educator, teacher trainer, and staff developer, she specializes in the role of language in the development of children's learning, literacy, behavior, and social-emotional development. Classroom Language Dynamics ©, the teacher training program Dr. Soifer designed, is used in a variety of school settings to empower teachers and invigorate learners of all kinds.  A frequent presenter at local, national and international conferences, Dr. Soifer focuses on guiding all educational professionals to answer the essential question, “Who is this child?” She is also the author of a chapter entitled, The Development of Oral Language and its Relationship to Literacy for a textbook published in September 1999 by Brookes, Multisensory Structured Language Teaching: Theory and Practice, now published in a 4th edition, as well as a contributor to local publications. In 2017, Dr. Soifer was the honoree of the Eagle Hill School, Greenwich, CT at their annual gala.  In 2022, Dr. Soifer received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Smart Kids with LD of Wilton, CT. A respected educator, Dr. Soifer served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eagle Hill School in Greenwich, CT and the Gateway School of New York, in New York City. Additionally, she is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and faculty member in the Early Intervention Training Institute (EITI), both at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  Dr. Soifer is the Director of Language and Methodology at the Torah and Language (TAL) Academy in Belle Harbor, New York.

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