Bright Path Futures have piloted training in teaching language and literacy to complete beginners with ESOL teachers Kent County Council’s Adult Education Service.
This self-access training will soon be available online to teachers and volunteers across the UK to help prepare people to tackle a really challenging teaching task – helping those with little or no English language or prior education to speak, read and write English.
What does the Practise Your English course cover?
Most English language courses teach language structures and vocabulary which start simply, getting more complex as people move up through the levels.
This book is a bit different. It focuses on language people need to get started with joining in – whether that’s making an appointment, being able to talk to other people in a classroom or community setting or making small talk at a bus stop.
We don’t teach people why language works the way it does – the grammar structures. Instead we teach language in context, using whole phrases – lexical chunks – with a strong focus on pronunciation so learners can understand native speakers and be understood in their turn. Language learned this way, by ear, drilled in a classroom setting, tends to be easier to remember and use, building confidence for beginners and more advanced learners alike.
Each topic has an associated teaching video, with an explanation of why the language is useful, a demonstration of it being used, and a teaching section modelling the pronunciation. Learners can practise and revise in their own time, linking the video content back to the words on the page to further develop literacy skills.
The Practise Your English book is also available as a translated edition in 13 of the most commonly spoken UK refugee languages.
What teachers from our research pilot project say:
“It’s really changed the way I do it – I get them up, interacting and mingling – the last few weeks have been amazing, a revelation. I’ve got one lady who didn’t want to speak and now she’s really happy, and another can speak now. We’ve been doing ‘hello’, ‘can I have…?’, and ‘being polite’ topics. I’ve been breaking it down into chunks – sentence structure, word structure, letters. I get them to say the words in their own language, then we all try together”
“I especially like the cue cards for the conversations. They really like it and are making good process. Once they know how to use the QR codes it’s very helpful accessing teaching videos at home”
“The alphabet resource is amazing. I tried to say all the words in their language, and they correct me. That was great. I’ve used Arabic, Pashto and Dari”.
“The alphabet posters for different languages have been absolutely priceless – a great way in with my learners”.
“As a Family Learning tutor, we deliver a lot of courses, not just ESOL – and we’re open to a variety of levels. In my class I have a learner who has just arrived (with very little English), to learners who are working at Level 2. It’s challenging anyway – the book and alphabet poster has enabled them to see words in their own language and helped with sounding out. Someone has taken a book away and used some of the videos and that is really helping them make progress.”
Helping as a volunteer ESOL teacher?
If you’re volunteering and supporting 1:1 or with a small group, you use the Practise Your English resources to make sure the language you’re covering will be of maximum benefit to your learners.
Try listening to the videos with the person you’re helping, then practice the dialogues together. When the sentences are long or the sounds are tricky, say them more slowly, helping them copy you.
Once someone can use spoken language, you have a foundation to develop literacy skills. You can use Google Lens to translate content on the page, or buy one of our professionally translated editions from our shop. This reduces the time you need to spend on comprehension, freeing up valuable time for language practice and use.
To help build literacy skills, the red letters in the book have been highlighted to help people learn sounds letters make in combination (a key part of reading). The green highlighted words are to help learn ‘sight recognition’ spelling words – common words you need to know, but can’t just sound out.
At the back of our Teacher’s Book are phonics picture keys in a range of refugee languages to help learn letter sounds using familiar first language words.
If you lack confidence at first, remember – you’re an expert in English language, because you speak it! You’re also an expert in reading and writing – because you can already do it. It’s just a case of slowly and patiently sharing what you know.
You can register your interest in our on-line CPD for more help on how to teach beginners speak, read and write English.
Learning to read and write – first steps
The course also helps people to learn to read and write and is designed to be used by people who can’t read and write in their own language, so may not know how to hold a pen or understand that letters make sounds, and these join together to sound out words.
For this reason we have videos showing how to make the shapes of letters, and we use words and pictures from their own language to help them learn the sounds the letters make.
English speaking children in schools already know the words and how they work in sentences – so learning to read and write is a lot easier for them. Non-literate adult learners have a lot more ground to cover!
So… the important thing when trying to learn language and literacy at the same time is to learn how to speak the language – by listening – before trying to use it to learn to read and write. Once your ear knows the sounds, you can try to work out what matching letters to use to read and write them.
Let us know how you get on…
We appreciate that for non-teachers to help other people to learn to speak, understand, read and write English might seem a big step.
With this in mind we want to understand better what information, support or training will help.
Please get in touch to let us know what was easy for you, what was tricky or confusing, what worked and what didn’t! Your feedback, and feedback from the people you’re helping to learn, will be invaluable when we’re making support resources.
What about people who already speak some English – is this book for them?
The second half of the book is full of useful language and lots of help with pronunciation.
Knowing how to say things in a way which sounds friendly, polite or even ‘normal’ to a native speaker helps you get socially accepted much more quickly.
For example, if you say, ‘Give me the pen’, people will know what you want. But learning to say, ‘Can I have a pen please?’ will help you seem friendly rather than rude. So there should be something for everyone in the book if they’re an English language learner.
For people learning to read and write in English, they may be at an advanced level and still not be sure of the different vowel sounds, for example, or the sounds made when you blend two letters together. You can help check what they do and don’t know already, and fill in the gaps if needed.
Let us know how you get on…
We appreciate that for non-teachers to help other people to learn to speak, understand, read and write English might seem a big step.
With this in mind we want to understand better what information, support or training will help.
Please get in touch to let us know what was easy for you, what was tricky or confusing, what worked and what didn’t! Your feedback, and feedback from the people you’re helping to learn, will be invaluable when we’re making support resources.