It’s helpful to discuss religion in our ESL classrooms because so many of our Canadian celebrations have roots in the Christian or other religious traditions. If we are to be cultural interpreters,
One of the comments I always get from Canadians is, “What a cultural shock, eh?” Most times when I meet people and they get to know that I am a newbie, after the initial interrogations, they say those words. I immigrated from a tropical country where every day was summer. The average temperature throughout the year ranges […]
From the vault: this article originally ran in our May 2013 newsletter. Here are ten tips to help you deal with late students in your ESL class: Start with a bang! Use a mini-lesson or a quick comment based on the front page of the newspaper, so that if students come in late they have missed […]
There is a huge difference between a developed country and a developing country or third world country. When you holistically look at a developed country like Canada you see: The people has access to potable water Access to education The people has access to work Access to health care Good infrastructure Then let’s take a […]
Very often Church or library based ESL classes are conversation-based. These are very easy to start, and are good for leaders who do not have a strong ESL background. Even though learners say they just want conversation, we need to talk about something. The learners often find it difficult to say what they want to […]
When sociolinguistics speak of language and power, they refer to a large area of research into how people use language in ways that give certain people, groups, languages a higher status or more privilege than other people, groups and languages.