Echoing Erin's strategy--
For many years we have had a class for (relatively) "high speakers with low R/W skills" (and typcially very little formal education). Reading Writing Foundations fits into our program as part of the literacy offerings. Last year we began another class, Grammar/Writing, to address systematically and in a structured way the gaps some of our high(er) speakers have in their R/W --gaps that are keeping them from progressing, reading well, writing well, and speaking well (with self-correction). We are a large program and can afford to create these specialty classes without eliminating (but by reducing sections of ) core ESOL offerings. (We also have low literacy and Intermediate R/W, the latter being for students many of whom probably have some kind of learning difficulty, reading disability.)
 
Still, the population within each of these classes varies from cycle to cycle, as does the actual number of students who fit the profile for the class--so "filling the required # of slots" is sometimes problematic. Usually, student persistence is high, and progress is slow. These classes are designed to be smaller, and typically have volunteer class aides to lower the s:t ratio even more. 
 
These students would really struggle in classes with 16-19 students, and likely drop out, to say nothing of the demands of teaching such a mixed class. We are fortunate to be able to have the classes--and to find terrific teachers who love working with these levels. 
 
Though far from perfect, and requiring ongoing review, having these options has worked for us.
 
Betty Stone
 
Betty J. Stone
ESOL Program Administrator
SCALE - Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences
167 Holland Street
Somerville, MA  02144
Tel: 617-625-6600, Ext. 6933
FAX: 617-623-8528
Email: bstone at K12.somerville.ma.us <mailto:bstone at K12.somerville.ma.us> 

________________________________

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of ERIN MCNALLY
Sent: Mon 12/10/2007 5:33 PM
To: 'The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List'
Subject: [BULK] [EnglishLanguage 1969] Re: Practical StrategiesforWorking withLiteracy-Level Adult English Langua



Just thought I'd share this strategy we've used in our program for mixed
literacy and oral fluency levels:
This class session we started a new class for students who are at a high
beginner/low intermediate speaking proficiency level but who are beginning
writers and readers.  Before, we tried to place them in class level that
fell somewhere between their oral and literacy skill levels, and most of
them ended up leaving our program because they either felt lost during
writing activities or bored during conversational activities.  So far,
almost all the students have stuck with the class and seem to really be
benefiting from it.  I guess this would only work if your program has enough
students who fall into this category to make another class and enough space
to do it, etc., but for us it's definitely been a worthwhile experiment.

Erin McNally
ESOL Program Coordinator
The Boston HERC
68 Northampton St.
Boston, MA 02118
617-606-4273


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