September 8, 2014
TESOL 2014 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION & ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXPO: BEST OF AFFILIATES SESSIONS
G.A.M.E.S. FOR THE COMMON CORE
Teresa Ferguson, GEORGIA TESOL

The participants from Dr. Teresa Ferguson’s “G.A.M.E.S. for the Common Core” presentation were engaged in interactive, hands-on games that they could use in their classrooms to improve their students’ language and social acquisition. Directions were presented prior to playing each game, and Dr. Ferguson explained how these activities were versatile and easy to duplicate, so teachers could utilize them across the curriculum and alter them to differentiate instruction in order to meet each individual student’s needs. Various discussions streamed across the tables about having ready-to-use educational resources to motivate and to empower their ELs to become independent learners and confident members of any mainstream classroom. That is he overarching purpose of these games—to have fun while learning.


Dr. Ferguson has been an ESOL lead teacher in Cobb County, Georgia for more than 11 years, and was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2004–05. She has presented her games at various professional development trainings and conferences through GATESOL. Previously, she taught art in Bartow County, Georgia for 5 years. She has a website, and is the author of G.A.M.E.S.