Connecting with Community: The Garage Sale Trail
The Garage Sale Trail is happening on October 21/22 – an Australia-wide community event. So if you’re using the reading book The Garage Sale to practise the language of recounts, now could be a perfect time to link that reading with some community awareness. A confession – I actually hadn’t heard of the Garage Sale Trail before spotting the flyer at … Continue reading
ESL Extras and pre-employment English
How do ESL Extras support pre-employment English? This is a question I expect to have to answer, with the new AMEP contract coming soon – and of course it’s already an issue for anyone who teaches on the SEE program. (For anyone outside Australia reading this, these are national government programs providing language and literacy training. The Adult Migrant English … Continue reading
Reading ‘The Coat’: ideas for CSWE II and III learners
I had an illuminating session recently talking to some CSWE teachers – both those who’ve been using ESL Extras and those who’d just heard of them. One of the things we talked about was why students might be motivated to read, when there are so many competing demands on their time… So what would make reading of value? I know … 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
The ESL Small Publishers Independent Network: ESL-SPIN
If you’re interested in books written by other Australian EAL/ESOL teachers, look out for the ESL-SPIN table at your next event, and come and say hello to some members of the ESL Small Publishers Independent Network. We’re all long-term teachers and writers, creating the resources we’d like to use ourselves… then being challenged by the need to let people know about … Continue reading
