Greetings, Professional Development Discussion List Members,

 

On the Workplace Literacy Discussion List next week, we're going to try
out a new format for a discussion.  I'm calling it a "Talk Back" because
we are featuring a highly-rated resource and engaging the authors of
that resource in a "Talk Back" where list members will be able to
comment, ask questions, and add your own experiences to the discussion.
The resource is Tennessee ESOL in the Workplace and it is one of the
newly-added resources in the National Institute for Literacy's Workforce
Competitiveness Collection. Access to the resources which have been
included in the Workforce collection so far is at
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/RC_workforce.html. This is
an invitation for any of you who are interested to join us. 

 

In order to be included in the Workforce Competitiveness Collection, a
resource must pass a rigorous internal and external review process in
which researchers and other experts in the field review the resource and
rate it on several key issues, including whether they found it to be
grounded in scientifically based and/or other rigorous research.  (If
you care to look it up, you can find more about the review process at
http://nifl.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/reviewprocess.html.) 

 

Now for a little bit about the resource we will feature and its authors.
Tennessee ESOL in the Workplace is a training manual for ESOL
supervisors and instructors.  It is available online at
http://www.cls.utk.edu/pdf/esol_workplace/Tenn_ESOL_in_the_Workplace.pdf
.  Here is what the outside expert reviewers had to say about the
resource: "This resource is extremely well-done and is a collection of
some of the best training material on workplace English Language
Acquisition. A special strength of the resource is the evidence base
provided in the reference list, research summaries, and articles. The
manual includes basic information, Powerpoint presentations, and very
useful checklists on how to design a program, present a plan to a
workplace community, and monitoring and evaluating the program. It would
benefit from more information on how to deliver instruction, although
such information is available in other resources. All workplace ELL and
ABE instructors and program developers should review this manual."

 

The authors of Tennessee ESOL in the Workplace who will be available for
the "Talk Back" are Pat Sawyer and Barbara Tondre.  Many of you probably
already know them or know of them.  It was not hard to get them to agree
to this "Talk Back" since they are both still working in the field, and
are looking forward to this opportunity to dialog with list members on
both the Workplace and English Language lists and any others who wish to
join the list for this discussion.  It probably also helped that I know
them both through their development of this manual in Tennessee through
the Center for Literacy Studies, where I work!  To join the Workplace
Literacy Discussion List for this "Talk Back" opportunity, go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Workplace/ and complete the
information required.  If you want to unsubscribe after the discussion,
go back to the same page and choose "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of the
page.

 

On Friday, July 18, Pat and Barbara will each post a message to the list
giving some information about their backgrounds before they authored
this manual, how the manual came to be written, and what they have been
doing since the manual came out.  They may also have some questions that
they are interested in asking you, both Workplace Literacy and English
Language Discussion List members, about your related experiences in this
field.  Then on Monday, July 21, we will open the discussion for your
questions and comments.  The "Talk Back" means that both you and they
will take the opportunity to "Talk Back," and a lively discussion will
ensue (obviously my hope!)

 

So please subscribe, if you are interested, and look for Pat's and
Barbara's introductions on Friday, and take some time to review
Tennessee ESOL in the Workplace yourself so that you can determine what
else you want to know about the resource, or so that you have in mind
what you want to share with the authors about your experiences with
workplace ESOL.  I know that there are a lot of you out there working in
this area.  Don't be hesitant!

 

Donna

 

 

Donna Brian
Moderator, LINCS Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Off-list contact djgbrian at utk.edu 
 
To post a message:
workplace at nifl.gov 
 
To subscribe/unsubscribe/change options/access archives:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/workplace

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20080716/8de46cc4/attachment.html