Weblog: February 2007
Reminder: Virginia Literacy Foundation Grant Deadline is March 9
The Virginia Literacy Foundation grant applications for matching grants are still available. If you are interested in applying for a VLF grants you may either request a packet of grant application forms by calling Julia Norman, or download the required application forms on this website.
Please note: All grants must be completed as required and received by 5:00 PM on March 9, 2007 by the VLF. For questions, contact Victoire Gerkens Sanborn at vjsanbor@vcu.edu or (800) 237-0178.
February Issue of Update
The February issue of Update is now available. In this issue you will find information about new NCSALL publications, resources for teaching science, a formula for calculating the cost of workplace training, links to innovative family literacy projects, the Resource Center's newest ESOL publication, a way to discover websites that you'll like and use, new health literacy information about immunizations, and much more!
New Publication for ESOL and the Building Trades
We are happy to announce the publication of Building Basics: ESOL Toolkit for General Construction, Landscaping, Painting, and Plumbing.
Building Basics is a multi-level curriculum for teaching students that have expressed a need to learn English within the context of the construction trades. It is available for free downloading. It has been organized into four modules which should be downloaded separately due to their large size: General Construction, Curb Appeal (Landscaping), Painting, and Plumbing. Each module is further divided into five units/lessons. These lessons provide a facilitator guide with step-by-step instructions for implementation, facilitator materials, and learner handouts. The facilitator materials contain copies of all the worksheets, transparencies, drawings, cartoons, handouts, etc., that the teacher will need. Hundreds of original drawings that have been created expressly for this curriculum provide visual support to each lesson.
ESLPod.com
The definition of Podcast on the Literacy Tent Wiki is: "Pod casting" is making audio files (most commonly in MP3 format) available online in a way that allows software to automatically download the files for listening at the user's convenience. Podcasts can be used to connect directly to learning activities or you can create your own.
Note from Nancy Faux: The ESLPod is a great way to obtain recorded dialogues to use in your class. In order to exploit them for classroom use, however, you will need to create a lesson plan around them. This lesson plan should, of course, include all the essential elements of a good ESOL lesson: review/warm-up, introduction, presentation, practice, extension and on-going evaluation activities. Remember to make your classes as interactive as possible allowing your students to practice using the language.
ESLPod.com is run by a volunteer team of experienced English as a Second Language professors with over 30 years of high school, adult, and university ESL teaching experience. Dr. Lucy Tse writes scripts and story ideas for all of the podcasts, and records many of the dialogs and stories. The host for the podcast is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, who helps read the scripts and provides explanations for them.
A new 15-minute podcast is prepared every day. Topics include: "Seeing a Specialist," "How to Work in the United States," "Giving Opinions in a Meeting," "Getting a Driver's License," "Getting a Man's Haircut," "Shopping for Shoes," and "Giving Birth in a Hospital.
The podcasts are free. All podcasts come with an 8-10 page Learning Guide, with complete transcripts and more vocabulary, explanations, cultural information, and much more for members, who are asked to pay $10 per month for the Learning Guides.
Teachers Guides are free for the teacher, but students are asked to pay a discounted price, depending on the number of students in a class.
The site currently offers 275 podcasts. More questions? Email: ESLpod@eslpod.com
Teaching Reading to Adult English Language Learners
This is a 7-hour workshop that is currently been offered around the state in various locations (listed below). It is the first of 3 that will be offered around the state over approximately one year's time. The other two are: Teaching Writing and Teaching Speaking and Listening to Adult English Language Learners. Each of the training sessions has been designed to help ESOL teachers develop their lesson plans based on current research in the language skills and in second language acquisition. These workshops, originally created for the CAELA Guide for Adult ESL Trainers, have been adjusted to include activities that help practitioners implement the Virginia Content Standards in their instruction.
In order to register for one of these workshops, please contact Marianne Baker at 800-237-0178 or register online. (All workshops are from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
Workshops and Locations
- March 3 - Roanoke
- March 10 - Fairfax, ACE Learning Lab in Herndon
- March 16 - Spotsylvania
- March 17 - Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach Adult Learning Center
- April 28 - Charlottesville, Center for the Humanities
- To be announced - Prince William Co. Adult Ed
CANCELLED: John Strucker Lectures on Reading CANCELLED
PLEASE NOTE!! DUE to snow and ice, Dr. Strucker's flight from Boston was cancelled. The lecture series will be rescheduled at another time. Openings are still available for Dr. Strucker's lecture on Improving Instruction for Adult Intermediate Readers on Thursday, February 15 at The READ Center in Richmond.
John Strucker is one of the most highly influential leaders in the field of adult literacy and reading in the U.S. today. For the past ten years he has been Research Associate at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), and a Lecturer in the Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE), where he teaches a laboratory practicum course, "Developing Reading in Adults and Older Adolescents." Dr. Strucker received his Doctorate from Harvard GSE in 1995. He is a member of the National Institute for Literacy's Adult Reading Expert Group.
To register for this lecture, please click on this link.
Adult Learner Writer's Awards
The Literacy Fair of Virginia is accepting written student submissions for the Fifth Annual Outstanding Adult Learner Award. Attached are two documents for distribution to your teachers, tutors, and students.
The award, sponsored by the Literacy Fair of Virginia, Inc., will honor our outstanding adult learners. The top four submissions will receive a monetary award and a plaque. The winners will be asked to come in person to read their submissions.
The Literacy Fair, which is celebrating 20 successfull years, will be held Thursday, May 17, 2007 on the John H. Daniel Campus of Southside Virginia Community College in Keysville, Virginia.
Click here for the letter Click here for the student information form
Our theme this year is "Celebrate Literacy!"
Contact: Sandra M. Thompson (434) 736-2084 or svthoms@svccdan1.sv.vccs.edu
Quizlet for Vocabulary Development
Want a fun way for your students to learn their vocabulary online? Try out Quizlet. It allows the student to enter his/her personal list and meanings, then juggles them in flashcard style, Q&A, multiple choice - a variety of methods to reinforce learning. You may have to help them through setting up, but then it's in their hands. See http://www.quizlet.com A bonus: it's free.
Teaching With Weblogs and Wikis
The Minnesota Literacy Council has created a wonderful page on teaching with weblogs and wikis. Click here to find the following weblogs:
Jen Ouellette's high beginning FWE (Functional Work English) class in Arlington Hills
Jessica's ACES (Adult Computer and Employment Skills) class in Minneapolis
Susan Wetenkamp's Minneapolis ESL classes
Barry Bakin's class in California
George's summer class in Washington D.C.
Wendy's Advanced writing and grammar class class in Vancouver, Canada
Rosa's advanced AMEP (Adult Migrant English Programme) in Sydney, Australia
And wikis: