Job Discussion Forums

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

Hello to anyone who reads,
I am teaching an ESL class in my hometown of San Diego, California. The school is very small (I'm the only teacher) and I am having severe trouble finding a set of standards, and/or curriculum that I can go by. I am teaching adults at an upper intermediate to advanced level in four hour blocks of reading, grammar, writing, speaking and listening. Does anyone know of any universal set of standards that I can go by like the ones that exist in the regular public schools?

When I was going through school to get my teaching credential, I would base all of my activities and ideas off of the standards and objectives that students were supposed to learn. In my current situation, I am worried that I am teaching students in a haphazard way. I have no problem coming up with ideas and activities for students to do if I have a backbone of a set curriculum and set of standards to go by.

For example, as far as grammar goes, I am just using the Azar book which is fine because I can plot each lesson by section and do it progressively.

However, I have no direction with reading comprehension, writing, or conversation. What should they learn first? How can I show they have learned? What type of reading material do I use and in what progression? What type of conversational objectives are supposed to be learned and in what progression?

I could go on and on with questions but I'm sure anyone who has been teaching for a while understands what I am talking about.

Thank you (in advance)

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I teach in Japan,so we have slightly different ends in sight, but can you answer this?
What are the goals of the students' learning English?

That might help you set your "standards".

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

In Canada we have a set of 'benchmark' standards that have been officially determined for immigrants (I'm presuming that your students are immigrants and probably have a variety of different professional/career goals). I imagine the U.S. government probably has something similar, or you could get a copy of the Canadian one. It describes generally what a language learner should be able to 'do' in the language at each level.

In our program, we aim to get all learners to a level 8 in all four skills, after which they are eligible to enter regular English-stream university courses.
Authentic materials and tasks are a bit more trouble for you to set up initially, but extensive research shows that it's a more effective route for learning than following anyone's coursebook. Overt grammar teaching, as with Azar, may fit student expectations of how to learn a language, but it's only when they can use that grammar to achieve something that it becomes real.

I'm not sure how helpful this post will be to you - but maybe something like the Canadian benchmark standards could help to set some direction for your learners.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

The council of Europe standards
http://www.britishcouncil.org/slovenia-education-exams-cambridge-europe-language-levels.htm

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

However, I have no direction with reading comprehension, writing, or conversation. What should they learn first? How can I show they have learned? What type of reading material do I use and in what progression? What type of conversational objectives are supposed to be learned and in what progression?

I'm a bit surprised, weren't you taught any of these things in school? Confused

I would suggest you get a hold of some graded readers at thet stated level (maybe some lower if your school budget or your personal budget can afford them) as starters. I often teach reading and writing together as they are related skills, so if possible you may want to have some overlap　between the two. You'll want to review scanning, skimming, and summarizing, as well as comprehension at sentence level. I would also suggest pulling some articles and assigning students to pull articles to read and discuss (some of this can be done in your listening/speaking section).

Writing entails looking at structural and grammatical elements as well as coherency in the samples and students' writing. The grammar class fits in with this as well, though of course you should focus on improving your students' grammar for speaking and writing. You should have different types of writing to introduce as well.

Good luck with finding material. If I think of online sources you can use, I'll let you know, though you can look on the other links on Dave's as a starter.

Oh, as to Azures', you might want to examine other methods for teaching grammar. Azures' has a good linear build up, but students often learn grammatical points in a nonlinear curve.

memorabilis · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 54 Location: Seoul, South Korea

They are called the Canadian Language Benchmarks and they can be downloaded from (how a propos!) www.language.ca

PS - they are awesome!

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

muckhead · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 21 Location: San Diego, CA USA

A big thank you to everyone who replied. I'm sure it is apparent that I am a newbie as far as ESL goes. However, I bust my little behind doing nothing but working, studying and preparing so I can be a solid teacher once I get overseas.

If I say or do anything that seems naive or erroneous, please forgive me. I'm trying really hard.

Thanks again!

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Muckhead, do you have any specific training in teaching language to adults? I ask because we have had several teachers in our program in Canada who were certified to teach elementary/junior high classes. It was very difficult for them to make the transition to teaching well-educated adult immigrants. After some real difficulties with both teachers and students, our university now requires all teachers to have a minimum of a 30-day on-site course specifically in ESL. If you're planning to teach overseas and/or make a career of ESL/EFL, you should probably seriously consider taking a certification course at minimum.

jr1965 · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 175

Muckhead,

You said
"I am teaching adults at an upper intermediate to advanced level in four hour blocks of reading, grammar, writing, speaking and listening. Does anyone know of any universal set of standards that I can go by like the ones that exist in the regular public schools?"

I'm not entirely sure what kind of learners you're working with. Are they immigrants? Individuals who are in the US learning English for fun for a time with the intention of returning to their countries? Are they interested in improving their Engish so that they can eventually enroll in a community college or university in the US? Something else? A combination? Obviously, these groups are going to have very different needs when it comes to learning English.

Anyway, here's some info that might be of help (without knowing more about the specifics of your situation):

1) Are you familiar with the ACTFL Guidelines?

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/LANGUAGELEARNING/OtherResources/ACTFLProficiencyGuidelines/contents.htm

http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

2) Also, you say you're in California. If you're working with an adult ed population, I believe (but am not certain), that standards are published by the state. You may want to google Adult Ed/ESL/California standards and see what returns.