ESL online

[Lisa Turner]

Hi All,
I am embarking on teaching English to a group of Chinese nursing students utlising an on-line program to support my face to face delivery of Nursing English. Has anyone out there undertaken something similar to my model? Any hints for the uninitiated?
Lisa

[Rhys Moult]

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for joining the community. You really need to catch up with Trudy Stoddard. Trudy has been involved with TESOL online an Innovations Project and is always willing to share!

[Joel Shayer]

Hi Lisa,

I am a recent immigrant to Adelaide from the US (New York City) where I've had a long career in technical training and training development, including blended learning and dedicated e-Learning. I have also just joined Project Connect this morning and found your posting.

Talk about timing. This week I attended a jobs forum/workshop presented by the Skills Recognition Service of the SA Dept of Education and found myself in a room with nearly one hundred immigrant job seekers, most with poor English skills. We were told that, in pursuit of employment, we needed more than anything else to a) develop English skills and b) attain local work experience.

I decided to get some local work experience and have offered free English language coaching to the group, and thirty have signed up so far. They are from all areas of Adelaide metro and suburbs and while I am looking for a classroom space from TAFE and other organizations, I am wondering if an e-Learning experience can be set up for them to facilitate the large geographical coverage.

Would you be interested in collaborating on the development of ESL online delivery? I have to tell you that my prior work experience with e-Learning has been corporate, where the IT department provided all network setup and support and my primary involvement was in content development, learning assessment and student certification. I am, however, looking forward to developing broader skills in delivery methods and controls and see this as a superb opportunity (I am also pursuing my Cert IV in Training and Assessment with TAFE and look forward to using these skills extensively in future.)

I look forward to hearing if you'd be interested in sharing skills and resources on this project. If so, and if it suits you, it may be easier to communicate via direct email as that is a channel I monitor constantly, as opposed to another forum like Project Connect. Otherwise, this forum will work just as well.

My email address is: [e-mail]

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards.

Joel Shayer

[Trudy Stoddard]

Hi Lisa - we have been trialling a number of voice tools and virtual classrooms etc to use with ESL and TESOL students (and have had a great time doing it too!). I think your blended learning model will work well - we found that a completely online ESL program wouldn't be the optimum delivery for the students (of course if it's the ONLY choice then it's better than nothing!). So supplementing the face to face with online resources and providing opportunities online to practice in a 'safe' environment is the way to go - whether it be using a live virtual classroom, or any number of audio tools, or both! Happy to chat anytime Lisa.
Cheers
Trudy

[Lisa Turner]

Thanks for your information Joel. I maybe able to help out in several areas. I will contact you via your email as suggested as the company I work for is constantly recruiting staff in the following areas Hospitality, Nursing, Industrial & Engineering, and also offers traineeships to those who are eligible.
Talk to you soon via email,
Lisa

Joel Shayer said:

Hi Lisa,

I am a recent immigrant to Adelaide from the US (New York City) where I've had a long career in technical training and training development, including blended learning and dedicated e-Learning. I have also just joined Project Connect this morning and found your posting.

Talk about timing. This week I attended a jobs forum/workshop presented by the Skills Recognition Service of the SA Dept of Education and found myself in a room with nearly one hundred immigrant job seekers, most with poor English skills. We were told that, in pursuit of employment, we needed more than anything else to a) develop English skills and b) attain local work experience.

I decided to get some local work experience and have offered free English language coaching to the group, and thirty have signed up so far. They are from all areas of Adelaide metro and suburbs and while I am looking for a classroom space from TAFE and other organizations, I am wondering if an e-Learning experience can be set up for them to facilitate the large geographical coverage.

Would you be interested in collaborating on the development of ESL online delivery? I have to tell you that my prior work experience with e-Learning has been corporate, where the IT department provided all network setup and support and my primary involvement was in content development, learning assessment and student certification. I am, however, looking forward to developing broader skills in delivery methods and controls and see this as a superb opportunity (I am also pursuing my Cert IV in Training and Assessment with TAFE and look forward to using these skills extensively in future.)

I look forward to hearing if you'd be interested in sharing skills and resources on this project. If so, and if it suits you, it may be easier to communicate via direct email as that is a channel I monitor constantly, as opposed to another forum like Project Connect. Otherwise, this forum will work just as well.

My email address is: [e-mail]

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards.

Joel Shayer

[Lisa Turner]

Thanks Trudy.
Would like the opportunity to meet sometime soon. Please feel free to contact me via my email address:
[e-mail]
Cheers Lisa

Trudy Stoddard said:

Hi Lisa - we have been trialling a number of voice tools and virtual classrooms etc to use with ESL and TESOL students (and have had a great time doing it too!). I think your blended learning model will work well - we found that a completely online ESL program wouldn't be the optimum delivery for the students (of course if it's the ONLY choice then it's better than nothing!). So supplementing the face to face with online resources and providing opportunities online to practice in a 'safe' environment is the way to go - whether it be using a live virtual classroom, or any number of audio tools, or both! Happy to chat anytime Lisa.
Cheers
Trudy

[John McLeod]

Hi Lisa,
A few years ago I was teaching a course called Becoming Your True Self to senior highschool students. Many of them were ESL and I ended up creating a solution that worked pretty well. I rented server space from BlueHost.com (pretty inexpensive) and installed an instance of Moodle using Fantastico (automatically installs a number of applications very easily). I then used a number of the standard modules in Moodle to create online materials for the students. One of the features that the ESL students really appreciated was adding audio to the written text information. They liked to hear the voice and at the same time read the text on the page. There are a number of free open-source software packages such as Audacity that make it pretty simple to record audio. Another interesting option is to use the Glossary modules in Moodle which allows you to link text to glossary terms. The other module I used was Forum Discussions. These allowed me to write questions that the more shy students may not have answered out loud. The postings could be read and commented on by other students. If you are interested in going a similar route, just let me know, I would be happy to let you know what I learned through the process.
Warmly,
John

[Lisa Turner]

Thanks John.
My problem now i have discovered is that I am very new to all of this and have a very limited budget and not much time on my hands to get this all happening. Rhys is helping me out at this point in time but would love to chat about how to approach this?
Lisa

John McLeod said:

Hi Lisa,
A few years ago I was teaching a course called Becoming Your True Self to senior highschool students. Many of them were ESL and I ended up creating a solution that worked pretty well. I rented server space from BlueHost.com (pretty inexpensive) and installed an instance of Moodle using Fantastico (automatically installs a number of applications very easily). I then used a number of the standard modules in Moodle to create online materials for the students. One of the features that the ESL students really appreciated was adding audio to the written text information. They liked to hear the voice and at the same time read the text on the page. There are a number of free open-source software packages such as Audacity that make it pretty simple to record audio. Another interesting option is to use the Glossary modules in Moodle which allows you to link text to glossary terms. The other module I used was Forum Discussions. These allowed me to write questions that the more shy students may not have answered out loud. The postings could be read and commented on by other students. If you are interested in going a similar route, just let me know, I would be happy to let you know what I learned through the process.
Warmly,
John

[John McLeod]

Hi Lisa,
We can chat anytime. My skype is johnkmcleod.
warmly,
John

Lisa Turner said:

Thanks John.
My problem now i have discovered is that I am very new to all of this and have a very limited budget and not much time on my hands to get this all happening. Rhys is helping me out at this point in time but would love to chat about how to approach this?
Lisa

John McLeod said:

Hi Lisa,
A few years ago I was teaching a course called Becoming Your True Self to senior highschool students. Many of them were ESL and I ended up creating a solution that worked pretty well. I rented server space from BlueHost.com (pretty inexpensive) and installed an instance of Moodle using Fantastico (automatically installs a number of applications very easily). I then used a number of the standard modules in Moodle to create online materials for the students. One of the features that the ESL students really appreciated was adding audio to the written text information. They liked to hear the voice and at the same time read the text on the page. There are a number of free open-source software packages such as Audacity that make it pretty simple to record audio. Another interesting option is to use the Glossary modules in Moodle which allows you to link text to glossary terms. The other module I used was Forum Discussions. These allowed me to write questions that the more shy students may not have answered out loud. The postings could be read and commented on by other students. If you are interested in going a similar route, just let me know, I would be happy to let you know what I learned through the process.
Warmly,
John

[Lisa Turner]

Thanks John.
Need to get through this week first then should have some more time to discuss. My skpe is lisa.ssa. Will message you via this forum with a day and time to meet on skype.
Cheers Lisa