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The UFT held its first-ever conference focused on teaching English language learners on Oct. 29, but judging from the enthusiasm of the crowd of nearly 800 educators, I am certain it will not be the last. The conference offered a full day of workshops, panel discussions, exhibits and networking. It was designed specifically to provide a forum to explore the myriad instructional, social and regulatory issues that affect the nearly 150,000 English language learners who attend New York City public schools.

I began the conference by saying “hello” in 15 different languages and, to my surprise — though I shouldn’t have been — attendees called back, either complimenting my pronunciation (after many years of teaching in Chinatown I nailed the Mandarin and I did well with Arabic and Hebrew) or correcting it (I was off on my Italian, of all things).

The conference attracted bilingual teachers and teachers of English as a new language, as expected, but it also drew educators from outside that core audience. It makes sense. Most New York City public school educators — including paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel — now have, or will have, students whose first language is not English. That’s why it is so important for educators who work with these students to have opportunities, such as this conference, to share ideas, strategies and even frustrations.

On the post-conference evaluation form, one participant wrote, “I felt inspired and surrounded by others who were ready to provide our students with the effective learning and support they need.”

These opportunities for collaboration and dialogue should not, of course, be limited to an annual conference. When ENL teachers and their content-area colleagues teach the same students over the course of the day or work alongside each other in the same classroom, providing common planning time for them to coordinate instruction and go over the day’s vocabulary should be a no-brainer. Yet the lack of common planning time is one of the biggest complaints I hear from teachers of English language learners.

Another concern raised by many ENL teachers is the placement of English language learners of widely varying levels of English proficiency in the same class. Conference presenters and participants discussed solutions involving additional staffing and creative scheduling.

Schools should not be addressing these challenges on an ad hoc basis. As part of a school’s overall Comprehensive Education Plan, the school leadership team is responsible for developing a school-specific Language Acquisition Policy (or LAP) for English language learners that takes into account research, student demographics and teacher needs. This plan should drive the school budget, especially the expenditure of monies earmarked for English language learners such as federal Title III funds. I urge you, whether you are a content-area, bilingual or ENL teacher, to take a look at your school’s LAP. The language of the LAP may help you to think about what you want for yourself and your students.

The participants at the conference all agreed that the day validated the importance of the work they do as educators of English language learners in our city’s schools.

“This was a great way to support ELL educators and share strategies with other educators,” one participant wrote afterward. “I feel valued and supported.”