does anyone here have ESL resources

[happycc]

for high school students? My single parent to be friend FINALLY got a job teaching at a charter school and she will be working with high school ESL students. She needs resources...She doesnt know what TPR is though.

[Jean in Newcastle]

There are some neat things on Quizlet for ESL learners. I have some copy art pictures that I use in games but I got them over 20 years ago. I bet there is tons of stuff (free even) online.

[PeterPan]

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Edition-Student-Textbook/dp/0133683176/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1342310665&sr=8-9&keywords=esl+textbook The textbook series by Azar is exceptionally good. I used it tutoring a russian friend this past year. I also went through parts of SWR with her and pulled off videos from youtube working on particular sounds she struggled with. There are some awesome worksheets and websites available online for minimal pairs if your friend googles.

 

We also spent time each session working on american culture. I made lists of categories of american *chitchat* a concept she didn't have from her own culture, and she had to come to class with sentences prepped to use for that chitchat time. She had to learn basic things like how to talk about the weather, how to discuss your holiday plans, etc. Other cultures THINK differently, so what the person naturally wants to DISCUSS might be different. You're showing them how to blend in and fit in the new culture. I chose this as a goal by talking with her and asking her what problems SHE perceived in her ability to communicate. These students of your friend might have other problem areas. They may struggle with understanding quickly spelled email addresses or phone numbers or texting. They may struggle with talking on the phone. You want to make time in each session to validate and work on *their* goals. Sometimes you can work on those goals and do small things that make a big change in how they *perceive* their language to be going. Grammar they might not care about so much, lol.

 

At Christmas we did Christmas carols, of course. I made sure we discussed things pertinent to understanding american culture and politics. However mainly it was SWR for phonograms and pronunciation, minimal pairs, and Azar for grammar.

Edited July 15, 2012 by OhElizabeth

[plansrme]

I teach advanced adult ESL at my church, and we use the Azar advanced grammar book from the series Elizabeth mentioned, as well as 5th grade Wordly Wise for vocabulary. Other levels at my church use the lower levels of the Azar series for grammar and a variety of resources for conversation.

 

If they are new English learners, I also would use SWR. If they are advanced, I used to print short articles off of the internet or out of the newspaper about random topics and use those for vocabulary.

 

The Azar books can be had, usually, on half.com for a few dollars each. New, they are textbook-expensive.

 

Terri

Edited July 15, 2012 by plansrme
articles for vocab, not grammar

[PeterPan]

If they are advanced, I used to print short articles off of the internet or out of the newspaper about random topics and use those for grammar.

 

Yes, we did some with newspaper articles and current events, where she would read the article and pull out 5 vocabulary words to use in her chit chat with me the next class period when we discussed the topic. Russian education uses a lot of those prepared retellings (think CM narration), so it was a format she was used to. Later we worked on recipes and learning how to read and share recipes, how to pronounce the ingredients, etc. They were things that were important *to her* even if they weren't to everyone, lol. That's what I meant by making space for personal goals. When you find speech or language skills they WANT to improve, you definitely want to harness that.

[Kendall]

She should try to ILL the book Working Text by Sue Livingston. I do not think she would regret the time spent reading it. The text part is short and then there are exercises in the back. She uses a system she calls X-word grammar. I highly recommend trying to locate a copy to read.

 

Here is a website that mentions X-Word grammar.

 

http://www.xwordgrammar.com/

 

editing again to say that after perusing the above site, I realize that your friend should just try to get the book! It is one of the ones recommended on the site and it explained it so much better. I don't think I would have seen the benefits of X-word grammar just reading the site. Also read the amazon reviews on Working Text.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Kendall
adding website