I have been hoping for this for a long time.

SB
On Feb 1, 2008, at 6:14 PM, Ted Klein wrote:


> Lynda,

>

> I would like to see a serious discussion on the current meaning(s)  

> of the word "literacy." I recently polled a number of my long-term  

> ESL colleagues and most of us, including yours truly, tend to  

> accept the semantically and historically original meaning, "the  

> ability to read and write."  Now the limits seem to be changing and  

> expanding quite a bit. Either we need extensive agreement on  

> something that is mutually realistic or we need to clarify and make  

> it "graphic literacy," "communication literacy," and/or something  

> more tangible. If we are going to talk about it, we need to know  

> what it really is. When I first heard of NIFL, I thought that it  

> was all about reading, which interests me less than language  

> teaching methodologies, techniques, approaches, the application of  

> phonology, cultural factors and measurement in total L2  

> acquisition. NIFL seems to represent much more than my original  

> interpretation.

>

> Thank you.

>

> Ted Klein

> Lake Travis in Texas

> www.tedklein-ESL.com

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: Lynda Terrill

> To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

> Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:48 AM

> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2101] Topics for the list 2007, 2008

>

> Dear subscribers,

>

> I’d like to sum up the topics the list discussed last year and also  

> to look forward to possible topics of discussion this year on the  

> list.

>

>  First, I want to say that my favorite thing about this list  

> community is that so many of you bring up  topics of interest and  

> concern and so many of you respond so quickly. In fact, this is a  

> subscriber –centered list and, to me, that makes this list a  

> powerful tool.

>

> In 2007, we had several successful guest facilitated discussions  

> and we spent some time in the fall sharing resources in a focused  

> and reflective way, but you brought up and worked on many  other  

> important topics as well

>

> Last year there were guest facilitated discussions on

> workplace ESL

> teaching writing to adult English language learners

> adult ESL content standards

> practical strategies for working with literacy-level learners.

>

> In addition to the focused sharing of resources, we also had the  

> yearly discussion and sharing about TESOL/COABE sessions (as we  

> will again).

>

> Other topics you brought up-- which were sometimes part of the  

> above discussions or offshoots of them-- included the following:

> immigration, citizenship preparation, and EL/civics

> native language literacy

> bilingual classes

> phonemics and pronunciation\

> reading aloud in adult ESL classes

> multilevel classes;

> vocabulary acquisition

> offering a menu of  classes rather than general ESL classes;

> technology and distance learning.

>

> By February 11, will you send your suggestions to the list for  

> “special” discussions?

>

> Thanks, and, as always, please bring to the list issues related to  

> teaching adult ESL as they come up.   .

>

> Sincerely,

>

> Lynda Terrill

> List moderator

> lterrill at cal.org

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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