Welcome
to the ELSA
NET • NEWCOMER'S GUIDE EDUCATONAL RESOURCE,
a
teaching supplement to the BC
Newcomers’ Guide.
Select
an icon above to take you to activities for chapters of the Guide.
Enjoy the resource, and enjoy your classes!
Foreword
from the Developer - Jennifer Walsh Marr
Developing the ELSA Net•Newcomers’ Guide
Educational Resource has been a very rewarding project incorporating
several years of my own teaching experience, a generous advisory
committee, and valuable feedback from pilot instructors across
BC... >> more
Foreword
from ELSA Net - Brenda Lohrenz
It has been the intent of this project to support ELSA
Net instructors’ ability to enhance student understanding
of and access to immigrant and mainstream services available in
BC... >> more
Acknowledgments
Right from the start, it was obvious that this project
was a passion for developer Jennifer Walsh Marr. Through her inventive
and creative ideas, our teaching resource package started to take
shape. From there, the ideas leapt off the screen with the wonderful
skill of graphic designer Roberta Ridd... >>
more
Canadian
Language Benchmarks and ELSA Levels
The Canadian Language Benchmarks is a descriptive scale of communicative
proficiency in ESL. The four areas of language ability covered
are: listening, speaking, reading and writing, and they are expressed
as 12 levels of competency called Benchmarks...
>> more
Foreword
from the Developer
Jennifer Walsh Marr
Developing the ELSA Net•Newcomers’ Guide Educational
Resource has been a very rewarding project incorporating several
years of my own teaching experience, a generous advisory committee,
and valuable feedback from pilot instructors across BC.
My ultimate goal in this project has been to develop activities
that help bridge the classroom and community. ELSA students are
vital, long-term members of our community. Classroom activities
and contact assignments that incorporate Canadian cultural ‘norms’,
language functions, and interpersonal communication prepare students
for real life beyond classroom hours and tasks.
Consideration has been made for the various types of ELSA providers
in BC; the single-level classes in larger centres which may be
comprised of one or two cultural and linguistic groups, to the
truly multilevel, multi-cultural classes of smaller providers.
Designations for the appropriate level of an activity have been
made in each chapter grid, but these are only a guideline. (An
indication of the ELSA level correspondence to the Canadian Language
Benchmarks is provided below.) The activity instructions often
provide alternatives for different levels, and individual instructors
may have tricks to adapting activities to suit their own students
best. More than 40 feedback forms have been compiled, with their
comments and suggestions incorporated in this final version. I
hope you find activities here to supplement your class and support
your students’ efforts at being Newcomers to BC.
>>back
Foreword
from ELSA Net
Brenda Lohrenz
It has been the intent of this project to support ELSA Net instructors’
ability to enhance student understanding of and access to immigrant
and mainstream services available in BC. This objective led to
the development of a teaching resource based on The British Columbia
Newcomers’ Guide to Resources and Services (see http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/immigration/sam/newcomers_guide.htm
for a .pdf formatted and downloadable copy of the guide).
The developer, Jennifer Walsh Marr, has incorporated real-life
strategies that serve to increase student knowledge about topic
areas and access to information. Contact assignments have also
been included to encourage outreach into the community. Eleven
topic areas have been covered, with a general strategies chapter
for use of the Newcomers’ Guide, as well as a picture file
and blank templates to assist teachers in putting together their
own materials.
The activities and strategies contained ot this site are downloadable
and photocopiable.
We hope that the resource complements your work in the classroom,
and welcome your feedback at elsanet@telus.net
>>back
Acknowledgments
Right from the start, it was obvious that this project was a passion
for developer Jennifer Walsh Marr. Through her inventive and creative
ideas, our teaching resource package started to take shape. From
there, the ideas leapt off the screen with the wonderful skill
of graphic designer Roberta Ridd. There are many more people to
whom thanks are due for their valuable input on this project –
some for their hours of support on the advisory committee, others
for providing helpful feedback on the material through classroom
piloting across the province.
A special word of thanks goes to Carolyne Thomas of Burnaby Continuing
Education School District No. 41. Carolyne, who has experience
teaching Adult ESL, expressed the need for a resource to accompany
the British Columbia Newcomers’ Guide. That idea flowered
into this project. Carolyne is retiring from the district at the
end of March 2003 and her cheerful smile and helpful ways will
be greatly missed by all of us. The advisory committee of this
project would like to dedicate the ELSA Net • Newcomers’
Guide Educational Resource to Carolyne.
Finally, ELSA Net would like to extend our appreciation to the
funders of this project – Ministry of Community, Aboriginal
and Women's Services Settlement and Multiculturalism Branch.
Production
Team
Jennifer Walsh Marr, Resource Developer
Roberta Ridd, Graphic Designer
Brenda Lohrenz, Project Manager
Advisory
Group Members
Flaury Bubel, Richmond School District
Alison Norman, Vancouver Community College
Loree Phillet, Burnaby College
Diana Smolic, Immigrant Services Society of BC
Carolyne Thomas, Burnaby School District
Sara Yuen, Collingwood Neighbourhood House
Pilot Testing – ELSA Instructors
Burnaby College
Joan Ewasiw
Burnaby School District
Mary Dolhanty
Katarina Low
Nancy Maier
Camosun College, Victoria
Laurie O’Dowd
Collingwood Neighbourhood House
Sara Yuen
Cowichan Valley Intercultural and Immigrant Aid Society
Christine Fagan
Cathy Keelaghan
Immigrant Services Society of BC
Jill Collingwood
Janis Fair
Scott Kelly
Katherine Manson
Caroline Pendleton
Intercultural Association of Victoria
Todd Kitzler
MOSAIC
Chantelle Clements
Vesna Maganic
Okanagan University College – Revelstoke
Krista Stovel
Richmond Multicultural Concerns Society
Steven White
Richmond School District
James Baerg
Alice Carvallo
Shar Glickman
Pearl Kaushal
Judy Matheson
Linda Seaton
Steven White
Vancouver Community College
Safder Alladina
Kerry Shepherd
Kata Niksi
>>back
Canadian
Language Benchmarks and ELSA Levels
The Canadian Language Benchmarks is a descriptive scale of communicative
proficiency in ESL. The four areas of language ability covered
are: listening, speaking, reading and writing, and they are expressed
as 12 levels of competency called Benchmarks. Using the CLBA or
Benchmark assessment tool, clients are eligible for the ELSA Program
if:
•their Listening/Speaking Benchmark is 3 or lower, or
•their Listening/Speaking Benchmark is 4 and at least one
of either their Reading or Writing Benchmark is 3 or lower, or
•their Listening/Speaking Benchmark is 5 and both of their
Reading and Writing Benchmarks are 3 or lower
Global
ELSA levels are determined by equivalencies for each of the sub-skills.
In determining which resources are most appropriate for the competencies
of their particular classes, instructors should be aware that,
generally speaking, the sub-skill competencies vary the greatest
at global ELSA Level 3, while at global ELSA Level 1 learners
are more uniformly weak across all sub-skills.
