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Important Issues in ESL at elcivics.com
Citizenship Blog and Podcast for Teachers and Students
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ESL Teachers' Blog of SubstanceYou are welcome to email me with your questions and ideas.
Daylight Savings Time LessonMarch 9, 2010Sunday, March 14, is Daylight Savings time. I was over on the About website and noticed that Ken Beare posted a nice lesson on time expressions. It's an intermediate level lesson, but it can be adjusted to the lower levels. I haven't created a lesson on Daylight Savings, but I do have a lesson on clocks and watches. It's designed for beginning level students. There are printable worksheets near the bottom of the lesson pages.
Presidents DayFebruary 9, 2010Schools celebrate Presidents Day this Monday, Feb. 15. I posted a Presidents Day lesson here on this website. There are free downloadable worksheets near the bottom of the page. Be sure to check out the Venn diagram worksheet. It's a great exercise for beginning high to intermediate ESL students. It compares George Washington to Abraham Lincoln. Students don't need to know too much about the two men because the information they use to complete the diagram is given. If you go to the home page, you'll find links to photo lessons about Washington, Lincoln, and other holidays in February. The photos I used show up well on interactive boards, especially with the lights turned off.
Interactive BoardsJanuary 20, 2010I designed this website so that it would show well on interactive whiteboards, yet I teach in a classroom that doesn't have one. As you can imagine, it makes it hard to tell how the material looks on a SmartBoard or some other brand of presentation board. Although I don't have an interactive board, the school lent me a laptop and a projector, so I'm able to show my website material to my ESL class. We just can't interact with it. People are surprised when I tell them that I don't own a laptop computer either. But it does drive home the point that fancy equipment isn't the end all. It's what you do with the equipment that matters.
Race to the TopJanuary 6, 2010All you teachers have heard about Race to the Top by now. It's Obama's school reform plan and it's posted on the link above. Are education reforms just minor changes with cool sounding names and a little extra cash for schools that are willing to give up some of their powers? Read up on this subject and see what you think. It's good to stay informed. I'm going to take a harder look at the details this weekend. It doesn't sound like there's much money behind it, but I could be wrong.
2010 ResolutionsJanuary 5, 2010My class was small after two weeks off. Monday, I gave a lesson about New Year's and we discussed our resolutions for 2010. An older student said she was going to save $2 a day. I like that. Simple, doable, and useful. My goals for 2010 are to lose this last 20 pounds and find a full-time job, or at least another part-time job. The 20 pounds is going to be the easy part. With this economy, it's going to be tough to find any job. I have three students who are looking for jobs, but can't find one. I feel really sad for them. I'm glad that they are making good use of their time by learning English. I hope it helps them find work.
New Year's LessonJanuary 2, 2010A red ladybug landed on my right shirt sleeve this afternoon, so maybe that means I'll have good luck in 2010. Let's hope so. With all the cutbacks in education, I need all the good luck I can get to get me through this uncertain year. I updated my New Year's Lesson so it says 2010 instead of 2009. It has downloadable worksheets and PowerPoints near the bottom of the page. By the way, this website is remaining free. I get free advice all the time from people telling me that I should charge like some of the other sites do. But I believe that in the long run, I'll be better off not charging.
Teachers' Pay Linked to Test ScoresNovember 25, 2009The Chicago Tribune has an article about an Illinois school district that is going to link teachers' pay to students' test scores. The problem I see with this is that dishonest teachers and administrators will cheat. What's to stop a teacher from leaning over a student's test and pointing to a few correct answers? In ESL the CHAIN OF CUSTODY for the testing material is a joke. Students fill out the scantrons with pencils, so anyone who handles the answer sheets can change your classes' results. Come to think of it, anyone who has access to the material can make changes. I've seen our completed scantrons sitting on a chair where any secretary, aide, office worker, teacher, janitor, administrator, or visitor can make changes for the better or worse. If ESL were to dole out raises based on test scores, I'd like to see the CHAIN OF CUSTODY for completed scantrons tightened.
Teachers Selling Lesson Plans OnlineNovember 24, 2009There's a debate about teachers selling lesson plans online to make money. I say "full speed ahead". It's an honest way to earn money for the hours of free lesson planning that teachers do every week. Also, it helps teachers who are too busy to put together original lesson plans. It's a great way to share knowledge and resources. As long as you're not double dipping...getting paid by the school and selling the work online...then what is the problem? I think we can all benefit by the practice. This site started as a way for me to augment the EL Civics lessons that were provided by the Adult Ed program I was working for at the time. It snowballed into this huge 20 year project. (Yes, that's my plan. Twenty years. It'll be three years come next January. Hey, only 17 more to go.) I'm proud that I'm making the world a better place, one webpage at a time.
Decline of Regional AccentsNovember 22, 2009I was watching Meet the Press this morning and they showed an old clip of politicians debating. What struck me the most was the strong regional accents they had. I got to thinking about how regional accents are declining in the United States. I guess TV, travel, and relocating for jobs has changed things. Here an interesting exercise about regional accents in the United States.
Teachers Paying Student FeesNovember 19, 2009My school district, like many others, is now charging ESL students a small fee for classes. I work in a poor area and students can't afford to pay fees each session. (Our sessions are only nine weeks long.) I'm tempted to write a check for the fees in order to keep my class open. I want to keep my job. There aren't many jobs for 54 year olds who are working in a declining field. This is really unfair for teachers, but what else can we do? We're on "foods" right now and when I surveyed my class by asking "What did you eat for breakfast this morning?" ten out of eleven students ate nothing. Only two of the ten drank something. They didn't bring food for break either. I teach a small offsite CBET class. I think I'm going to use some of the money I earn from this website and cover the $10 per student fee for this nine week session. Maybe things will be better next year, but this year there's not much choice for part-time Adult Ed teachers who need to keep their jobs.
WIA Title II CutNovember 8, 2009I heard that the Workplace Investment Act Title II grant which funds Adult Education is up for elimination. Even if it's not eliminated I assume that there will be more major cuts to adult ed funding. This will mean more layoffs and less hours for adult ed teachers. You can read more about it at the National Coalition for Literacy. They suggest writing to your representatives. Thanks to ABC Adult Ed in Cerritos, California, for the update and the link.
Film Capitalism by Michael MooreOctober 30, 2009I went to see Michael Moore's film Capitalism: A Love Story this afternoon. It was funny and sad and full of information. He revealed that Wal-Mart and other large companies take life insurance out on their workers. I was shocked to learn about this. The workers don't even know about it. And the money doesn't go to their families, just to the companies. There is also a clip of FDR and his plan for a Second Bill of Rights. I'll try to find out more about this and maybe create a lesson on it. It's an interesting part of history that I didn't know about. That FDR was quite a guy, and so is Moore. I'm not anti-capitalism, as you can tell by the ads on this site, but we need a balance with Congress overseeing the system.
Back to BloggingOctober 26, 2009I finally got the Internet up and running, so I'll be back to blogging regularly. Sorry about the delay. I've been keeping busy. My ESL class is great. The students are really nice. The ones I had last year have really progressed. I'm surprised how much English they know. They read far better than I expected. The area we need to target is conversational skills. I can tell what they are saying, but they can't carry on a free conversation very well. We're just starting our EL Civics unit on education. We did the same unit last year. I spent a lot of time teaching the American education system, so I'm running out of new material. Might reuse some of the same worksheets I used last year. |
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Copyrights to the pictures and photos on this ESL/EL Civics website belong to individual photographers. We have purchased the rights to use them. Do not copy the pictures/photos on this site. Permission is granted to copy any of the worksheets for classroom use. Please visit my other EL Civics website at tinkerbellchime.com for more EL Civics lessons, resources, and pictures. Permission is granted to link to any page of this website. Contact Christina Niven, Web Developer, at christina@elcivics.com. Please send corrections, comments, greetings, and requests for new units. Copyright © Christina Niven, 2007. |
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