The following announcement is posted on behalf of Linda Terrill,
moderator of the Adult English Language Learners discussion list. It
sounds like it will be a great discussion and I know those of you
working with English language learners will want to take part in it. 

 

 

 

Announcing a special discussion on the Adult English Language Learners
discussion list on  Practical Strategies for Working with Literacy-Level
Adult English Language Learners, December 10-14, 2007 with guest
facilitators MaryAnn Cunningham Florez and Betsy Lindeman Wong.

 

To subscribe to this list, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage and click on
subscribe

 

 

 


Background


 

One of the frequently recurring  topics on the Adult English Language
Learners discussion list is  how to  effectively and appropriately teach
adult English language learners who have had access to limited (or no)
formal education.  

 

Last year we had a panel discussion on this topic (see
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/litdiscussion.html  for a
summary).  This past spring the NIFL Special Topics discussion list
hosted a discussion led by Heide Wrigley and Larry Condelli related to
their study, "What Works for Adult ESL Students."  This discussion is
archived at
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/What_Works_for_Adult_ESL_Students
<http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/What_Works_for_Adult_ESL_Student
s> .  Archives of both discussions (and all of the lists) are available
on http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_archives.html.
Nonetheless, several of you have asked for more discussion and
information on the practicalities of working with literacy-level adult
English language learners.  So, from December 10-14, 2007 MaryAnn
Cunningham Florez and Betsy Lindeman Wong will guest facilitate a
discussion on hands-on strategies, techniques, and activities for
working with this group of adult ESL learners.

 

As you can read in the bios (below) MaryAnn and Betsy have had much and
varied experiences related to teaching the literacy- and
beginning-levels.  However, it is also true that many of you (almost
900) subscribers also have experiences to share, and I hope that might
constitute the bulk of the discussion.  Also, I hope those of you who
are new to teaching literacy-level or multilevel classes or adult ESL
generally will ask specific "how-to" questions that the facilitators and
others can respond to.

 

As an example: A poster writes, "How can I get the students in my first
level class to communicate independently?"  A responder could share his
or her own specific "how-to" in using LEAs, line dialogues, conversation
grids, or other activities.  Or a respondent could share what didn't
work and why.

 

There is a great deal of information available related to teaching
literacy-level adult English language learners, so I am citing one
general resource that will lead to a host of others, the CAELA online
collection on Working with Literacy-Level Learners  at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/collections/literacy.html

 

I hope you will plan on joining the discussion.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lynda Terrill

List moderator

lterrill at cal.org

 

 

MaryAnn Cunningham Florez. Before moving over to DC Learns, MaryAnn was
Lead ESL Specialist, Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP),
Arlington, Virginia.  Before going to REEP, MaryAnn was lead ESL
specialist in Fairfax County (VA) adult ESL.  When MaryAnn was Assistant
Director at the National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) she
moderated the NIFL-ESL list.. MaryAnn is the author of  Lifeprints
Literacy (New Readers Press) and  "Beginning ESOL Learners' Advice to
Their Teachers" (http://www.ncsall.net/?id=279
<https://mail.cal.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.ncsall.net/?i
d=279> ). She also is also coauthor of Working With Literacy-Level Adult
English Language Learners
(http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/litQA.html
<https://mail.cal.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.cal.org/caela
/esl_resources/digests/litQA.html>  ). MaryAnn has also had a great deal
of experience as a teacher and administrator in a program that served
many literacy-level English language learners in a church-based program
in Falls Church, VA. 

 

Betsy Lindeman Wong  One of Betsy's many jobs in adult ESL has been as
online facilitator, ESOL Basics, Virginia Adult Learning Resource
Center. In this role, Betsy has had experience working very closely with
teachers who are new to adult ESL. Betsy has taught adult ESL in several
programs in Northern Virginia--specializing in classes geared for
literacy- and beginning-level learners-- and developed EL/Civics, ESOL
family literacy, and other curricula for Fairfax County and  Virginia
(http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/famlitcurric/
<https://mail.cal.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.aelweb.vcu.ed
u/publications/famlitcurric/> ) As lead teacher in an adult ESL program
in Alexandria, Betsy has opportunities to mentor teachers who may not be
familiar with appropriate strategies, techniques, and resources for
working with literacy-level and other adult English language learners. 

 

 

Gail J. Price

Multimedia Specialist

National Center for Family Literacy

325 W. Main Street, Suite 300

Louisville, KY 40202

gprice at famlit.org

502 584-1133, ext. 112

 

 

Join us for the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy!
"Literacy Grows Families and Communities"
March 30, 31, & April 1, 2008-Louisville, KY
Register online at www.famlit.org/conference

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/familyliteracy/attachments/20071129/3041b704/attachment.html