‘Welcome to Hope Street’ in the CPSWE / CSWE I class
Life isn’t neat. It’s all very well to know that Welcome to Hope Street is for prelim (CPSWE) learners, but what about when you have a mixed level class, with much more capable CSWE I beginners, who need to work on different learning outcomes. Can you use the book, but give them extension work? This was the question asked by … Continue reading
It’s out! Extra Easy Puzzles for ESOL learners
At last, Extra Easy Puzzles is ready, and coming to a language bookshop near you. It’s at Beginner C level – aimed at learners in a beginner class, who are doing really well, or reaching the end of their beginner status. The sample pages are here on the website. If you want to read about why I wrote this book, I … Continue reading
How well do ESL Extras travel?
How well do learning materials travel? One of the reasons I love using Australian materials is their relevance to learners’ lives. At beginner levels especially, it’s much easier to show where Melbourne is on a map than to have to explain references to London landmarks, or British history. Is that a problem in reverse, though? I write with adult and … Continue reading
Maybe Next Year: from ‘ESL reader’ to ‘today’s lesson’?
“I’ve got a Social English class, so how can I use Maybe Next Year as the key material? (Oh, and I have prelim learners in with beginners, and the volunteer is going to be away…)” Sometimes we see reading materials as simply ‘reading’ – students read the story, answer the questions, do the worksheets, and we’re finished. On to the … Continue reading
SpellingWorks and other books from the past…
I often think of those jokey, cartoony ESOL books from the 80s, because for me they were such fun. Was it just that I was new to teaching, or was there something about teaching English with Streamline and Contact English? Of course, when I wanted to find examples of Contact English recently, I couldn’t, though we still have the wallcharts at work. … Continue reading
