Whole-School Programs
1st Class English and the Language Buddies Program
A comprehensive, long-term plan for more effective Canadian schools in multi-ethnic communities.
Infuse your school with ELL methodologies and 'Best Practices'!
Knowledge of language is the base for literacy.
Literacy builds on and develops from language.
Featured Resources
This book has been called "the Bible". Drawing from extensive research in language acquisition, the author lays out current approaches and practices in all manner of ESL environments. Offering thorough and practical support for ESL teachers, this award- winning and innovative resource is a heavy hitter and strong best-seller.
This Language Games resource offers a fun, easy, and exciting way for students to absorb vocabulary through visual association. This best-seller offers teachers an easy way to assess pronunciation and offer language in context - all while having a simple game of bingo.
Practical. Direct. Easy. This resource takes on the task of language instruction in the context of curriculum. If students are to discuss topics and take tests, they must first learn Curriculum Speak.
1. Language Conscious Teaching
2. 1st Class English Program
3. Professional Texts Package
Language Conscious Teaching:
A Professional Development Series
for Educators in Multilingual Schools
For Administrators, District Professional Development Staff, Literacy Coordinators
Teams, TEFL Course Leaders, Faculty of Education Instructors, and School Principals
Language Conscious teachers are attuned to the language levels and needs of their students, recognize which tasks could put up insurmountale challenges for Language Learners, and have the skills to structure comprehensible curriculum and assessment.
The new "Language Conscious Teaching" Professional Development program presents the most pertinent topics in Second Language Acquisition and bridges the pedagogy to the here and now teacher's need for practical, achievable instruction and learning.
This series of one-hour Professional Development sessions guides educators through the unique knowledge, methods and practical skills required for effective instruction of English Language Learners in our schools. Pedagogically sound, yet eminently practical.
The Language Conscious Teachers Series will:
- Help educators understand specific language challenges
- Inform programs and practices
- Provide practitioners with the ideas and resources to improve instruction and success rates of ELLs
Sessions Include:
- Connecting school improvement plans to Language Conscious Teaching (LCT)
- Introduction to the LCT program
- Language learning pedagogy and informed programs
- Unique factors in student learning
- Culture schock and schooling
- Tolerance for Ambiguity
- How long does it take?
- Perceptions of student proficiencies
- Language leads to literacy
- Optimal age for language learning
- English language complexities
- Receptive and expressive skills
- Sound blending and articulation
- Phonetics and word attack skills
- Discourse Skills
- Curriculum Speak
- English for Academic Literacy
Only $599.95
Reproducible for the purchasing school only.
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1st Class English & The Language Buddies Program
School Site-Licensed Resources
All Teachers, All Students, All Grades, All Curriculum
This comprehensive whole-school plan will strengthen the capacity of Boards, Administrators and schools to improve plans for language supports if:
- ESL is a stated priority in your School Improvement Plan
- Your School has groups of language learners 'at risk'
- Your School needs a coherent, comprehensive and effective approach to improving the teaching and learning of English and literacy
- Your teachers need guidance to align curriculum and demands with language learning
The 1st Class English & Language Buddies Program:
- Guides educators in teaching English learners
- Supports less experienced teachers with guided, sequential lessons
- May be used across all grade levels for teaching, review, remediation, special needs, targeted or missed skills and interventions
- Boosts teacher confidence and skills to offer effective programming and "Best Practices"
- Includes professional development resources and suggestions
"Schools with over 30% ESL should be using a whole-school approach to providing language supports."
Deborah Short, Project Manager 1998, Center for Applied Linguistics, USA
1st Class English & The Language Buddies Program
This is a new type of support program. Designed to be a school-purchased, school-wide
program, it comes with persmission for all staff to photocopy all resources. The materials
are excellent language learning tools for EVERY student, not just ESL students.
Besides benefitting students, there are guides and information that assist educators to grow professionally in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). USe of the eclectic materials in this program will develop the crucial foundations of language skills that students need, but just as importantly, this resource will infuse a school with the "best practices" of TESL methodologies.
The 1st Class English Kit
Teachers will have access to a wide variety of quality, award winning student
resources that make the learning of language and literacy exciting, interesting and fun.
Additionally, teachers will have a newcomer's Guide to program for and to sequence the
basic elements of language vocabulary and fluency skills during a student's first year.
The 1st Class English Kit includes:
- The ESL Starter Kit
- The Stickman Reader
- All Done! Bingo (Set of 10)
- Card Matching Games
- Cube Toss Games
- Prepositions Made Easy
- Reproducible Mini-Booklets
- Audio-Lingual Verb Workbook
- 14 Reproducible Readers Set #1
- 14 Reproducible Readers Set #2
- Collections
- Within the Classroom: Past Tense Verbs
- 6 "In Our Classrooms: An Educator's Guide to Helping English Language Learners With Curriculum"
- 6 The Language Buddies Guide"
- Administrator's Guide
- Curriculum Speak
Professional Development
As teachers become adept at using the 1st Class English resources, there
will be an infusion of ESL methodologies within the school; all guides and activities
were developed for work with language learners. In addition, teachers are provided
with the highly acclaimed new text, In Our Classrooms: An Educator's Guide To Helping
Language Learners With Curriculum, an extraordinary resource for their yearly
professional growth plans.
Administrator's Guide
The brief Administrator's Guide provides an easy plan to introduce 1st Class
English components and resources. Enlist the support of division heads, library,
and ESL staff if available, to prepare and conduct a 1½ hour presentation meeting.
"Students of English as a foreign language do not have the vocabulary or the thousands of
hours of practice in English as native English speakers."
Ofelia Miramontes, Adel Madeau, Nancy Cummins
Restructuring of Schools for Linguistic Diversity: Linking Decision Making to Effective Programs 1999
Includes a one-school photocopy license. Only $995.00
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Absolutely essential background reference and resource reading for educators and school staff working in multi-ethnic school communities. Described by critics as "highly accessible" and "practical", these resources bridge pedagogy to 'best practices' for teaching in elementary and middle school classrooms. Mainstreams: meeting the needs of teachers, providing the most effective strategies for language learners.
The 'Professional Texts Package' includes:
These items 10% off at $129.99
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Mainstreams Inc 2004-2007.