1. Mainstream or Literacy
Fall Conference 2016
Mainstream or Literacy

2. What is ESL Literacy?
ESL Literacy is a program for individuals who are learning English as a Second Language and who are not functionally literate in their own language for a variety of reasons:
L1 may lack a written code
Have little or no prior formal education
Come from a country with a non-Roman alphabet
-Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000: ESL for Literacy Learners

3. Comparison of Mainstream and Literacy ESL Learners
-Canadian Language Benchmarks: ESL for Adult Literacy Learners

4. Mainstream Literacy Seven or more years of formal education
Little or no awareness of the uses of literacy
Organization of learning materials
Work best in hands-on, practical situations
Tend to use higher literacy skills to support oral development
Learn best when strong connections are made between content, social interaction, and their lives
Familiarity with classroom procedures such as turn-taking, peer-peer support, and common language learning activities
Longer time required to learn the same concepts
Need to have every answer checked before proceeding

5. Additional observations
Clients use their personal networks to enhance learning
Communication style is overlapping rather than turn-taking
Frequently have existing ad-hoc language learning strategies, but quality of education varies
Strong drive to achieve, with completion valued over comprehension

6. Activities that work Question review game Alphabet-based activities
Use of experiential outings and stories based on them
Newspapers
Integration of learner-provided language into lessons

7. Thank you for participating!
Anthony Caldwell
EAL Instructor