Thank you, Mary, for taking the trouble to clarify this. I agree with everything you say here.
The ESOL Core Curriculum (the yellow, spiral-bound document which has now been modified and put on line) was intended to support teachers in planning and assessing learning. It also contains some really interesting teaching ideas and although I have been teaching ESOL for ages I found things in there that I hadn't thought of. It was a pity that it ended up having such a huge role in auditing and gave teachers a lot of extra work referencing everything they did to it. That seems to be passing now, thank goodness.
The Skills for Life ESOL materials came out in 2003 and were in a pale blue ring binder with CDs. There were also sets available for students at the time. They are still available on line. As Mary says, the Skills for Life materials are not the ESOL Curriculum materials. They were intended for us to use as we felt appropriate (i.e. flexibly and in conjunction with any other materials that were suitable).
Personally, I was glad to have some materials that were professionally presented, and that were written with the needs of people who live in the UK in mind. I used the E1 materials a lot and I chucked away some amateurish-looking stuff I had made myself that I felt they replaced. There was other amateurish looking stuff of mine that I didn't chuck away because it worked well, or because it related to the city where I work, or because I liked it better than what was in the Skills for Life materials.
I also continue to use ESOL materials published before Skills for Life, materials designed for the international English Language Teaching market and for Adult Literacy, as well as authentic materials. I find that using a Skills for Life topic as core material frees me to make or find other supplementary materials, to upgrade my own home-made materials and to put stuff onto my SMARTboard (as well as to carry out all the admin. tasks which seem to multiply every year).
I am really sorry if in some areas people are being made to use materials that are not suitable for their learners or barred from using things that are suitable. These blanket policies are based on misunderstandings and mistrust of teachers' professionalism.
I'll get off the soapbox now.
Anne
--- On Wed, 15/7/09, weir, mary <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: weir, mary <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Skills for Life Teaching materials [Scanned]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wednesday, 15 July, 2009, 11:38 PM
I agree with many of Isabel's points. There seem to be some misunderstandings in some parts of the ESOL community about the CC and the Skills for Life materials. We need to be clear about some points:
The ESOL CC was written before the SfL materials were produced. It does not prescribe contexts for language learning, so tutors are free to choose the contexts that are most suitable for their class. The materials are NOT called the ESOL Core Curriculum materials and there is no requirement to use them in ESOL classes. If some managers or institutions require their use then that is a local decision.
My memory of the training we had when the materials were launched is that they were NOT designed as a course and were NOT intended to be used slavishly or exclusively. Most teachers ensure that their students are exposed to a much richer range and variety of language by bringing in other resources to the
classroom. The notes and suggested activites in the ESOL CC support and encourage this. This was the case in the original ring binder version and is even more clearly the case in the re-launched online version.
Like Isabel, I have never been obliged to use the SfL materials. I don't feel constrained by the ESOL CC. Whatever language or language learning activites I think would best suit my learners, I can bring them in to the classroom and know that I could link them to the CC. The constraints I have stem from the requirements of accreditation and the unrealistic expectation that students can move from one level to the next each year.
THe constraints and a narrow approach to language learning can also arise if tutors are required to map materials, resources, lesson plans, schemes of work and ILPs in great detail to the Core Curriculum. Many others have said many times that this hijacking of the ESOL CC for
audit purposes is unhelpful and an unecessary waste of tutors' time and energy. One of the appeals of the SfL materials is perhaps that this work has already been done and makes evident to managers,observers or inspectors that the CC is being followed. Why can we not be trusted?
-----Original Message-----
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board on behalf of Isabel Arnold
Sent: Wed 15/07/2009 14:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Skills for Life Teaching materials [Scanned]
Regarding the SfL materials, I am pleased we have them and would be sorry if the supply of free materials has stopped.
I think they should be viewed as a resource rather than a course or a framework, as sometimes seems to be the case. They are function based in my opinion, as is the curriculum, and personally I have never used them to present new language forms unless there is an
appropriate visual or audio to illustrate my own presentation.
They have been very helpful to me in providing language listening activities, and I make extensive use of selected audios and photos as prompts for speaking and writing. I adapt the materials to my language teaching aims, not working through complete units but picking and choosing what I need according to my Topic and the language I am teaching, and similarly with other available materials / coursebooks.
They present a different approach to teaching and learning English and I am sure they are loose leaf to facilitate flexible use.
I have never felt pressurised into using them! I'm sorry if others have been!
Isabel Arnold
________________________________
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:06:45 +0100
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Skills for Life Teaching materials [Scanned]
To: [log in to unmask]
That does sound
like a reasonable solution, we find that the SfL materials are often relevant to a small group of learners and tend to leave much to desire in the presentation of new language forms. The problem is that we feel a certain amount of 'political' pressure to use them, sometimes they are seen by inspectors and consultants as a positive factor.
Maybe not getting the printouts will enable us to use them less, it could be a positive in the long term!
________________________________
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cheryl Thornett
Sent: 14 July 2009 09:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Skills for Life Teaching materials [Scanned]
We have the same problem in that we can't get class sets (and
even the teacher sets are in short supply) and cannot possibly print colour copies for our learners. As I am very dissatisfied with the materials in any case, I have largely stopped using them and use recent commercial textbooks as the framework, with selected sections of Skills for Life, among other resources, as supplemental work. I used SfL for about two years, the first year at least without having class sets, and I was constantly exceeding my photocopying budget. I find I can adapt or supplement the commercial textbooks without too much difficulty and extra work, whereas I had to supplement SfL very heavily. (Not having the resources of the large college which seems a presumption of SfL has certainly been a factor, as has being sessionally paid and having to do most preparation at home.)
This is my solution, rather than that of the adult education service for which I work; I am not aware of an official solution beyond photocopying. I have been
able to get a bare sufficiency of textbooks at different levels to be shared in class, which at least means they can be used again another year. I buy far too many of my own resources, because that's the only way to get them, and scrounge authentic resources as I can.
I have heard of centres who made colour prints or photocopies because of inspection but this strikes me as dishonest.
Cheryl Thornett
ESOL & Literacy tutor
Birmingham Adult Education
----- Original Message -----
From: Bird, Phil <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:25
AM
Subject: Skills for Life Teaching materials [Scanned]
Hi,
We usually use the Skills for Life teaching materials, provided by the DCSF (formerly DFES) with our ESOL students. We have recently been told that these materials will no longer be provided as they are available online. We have looked at printing these materials ourselves for the students, but it will have to be as black and white photocopies, because we don't have the budget to do it in colour - this is a solution of sorts, but far from ideal. I just wondered how other providers are dealing with this issue,
Many
thanks,
Phil Bird
ESOL Lecturer,
Barking College
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