Minimal Pairs

Minimal pairs are pairs of words that have one phonemic change between them. For example: "ship" and "sheep".  You can use activities with minimal pairs to help students recognize the minor differences between English sounds.  This can help their comprehension and pronunciation skills. 
Search on-line for ESL MINIMAL PAIRS for activities and worksheets.  Check out the great pronunciation resources on the Okanagan University web-page at http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
This can be a fun addition to any tutoring session.  Chose the sounds that you have noticed as challenging for your learner.

Accent Reduction

English learners are frequently concerned about their accent and some have an unrealistic goal to speak like a native speaker.  Communications expert Paddy Kennedy gives advice on accent reduction in a short video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaoZolMx5Ng&feature=share&list=SP108F5E96477C3C45 

These thoughts may be helpful for your clients. 

Autonomous Learning

Encouraging autonomy in learning is one of the goals and and ongoing task of tutors.  This can definitely be a challenge with adult ESL learners who may come from cultures where they are used to being spoon-fed.  How can we help English learning become more self-directed?  Tutors can try to incorporate the following strategies:

• Create a safe tutor/learner environment so that your learner is willing to take risks, ask questions, express opinions, communicate in English, etc. without fear
• Work with your learner to consider his/her learning styles - do one of the on-line inventories together
• Include learning strategies in lessons so that the learner takes an active approach in order to learn smarter rather than harder
• Appropriate activities during tutoring sessions will ensure active participation
• Encourage self-editing - don't fall into the temptation of correcting errors
• Expect homework be done - even if it's not assigned 
• Set realistic goals with achievable learning outcomes
• Learners need to have faith in their own abilities to become more self-directed, so keep up the encouragement!

I welcome your ideas and questions on this vital topic!  There is no magic answer to creating autonomous learners and anything you can do to steer them in that direction will stand our clients in good stead.

Chilliwack Literacy Challenge!

We are challenging everyone in Chilliwack to read for 20 minutes a day for 21 days!

Challenge yourself, your friends, family or co-workers to read 20 minutes a day for the duration of the Literacy Challenge.

21 days later, you'll have learned some cool stuff, reminded yourself of how fun it is to read every day, and you'll be entered to win prizes for participating!!

Here’s how to join in www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=kfFZRiKSx00

paper passport or you participate with an on-line ballot.

 

  Prize winners will be contacted by the Chilliwack Learning Community Society after March 6^th. Thank you in advance to Mayor Sharon Gaetz for making the draws.

 Please contact us before February 1^st if you’d like to donate a prize, or to let us know that your business or community organization would like to have a ballot return box.

 We’ll be exicited to hear about how you particpate. Tell us on Face Book or send us an email!

 Thank you – enjoy!

Debbie Denault, Chilliwack Literacy Outreach Coordinator

Word Forms are Important

 A common challenge for ESL learners is using the incorrect word form.  For example:

• My brother is very success.  (noun instead of adjective)
• We immigrant last year.  (noun instead of verb)

Being aware of the function of words is a start.  Ask “what does the word DO”?  If it is a person, place or thing, it is a noun.  If it is the action word, it is a verb.  If it describes a noun, it must be an adjective.  If it modifies a verb or adjective, it’s an adverb.  Brush up on the parts of speech yourself or direct your learner to: http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/
Growing Vocabulary
Encourage learners to make word form lists.  One word can help them learn many new words.  For example:  employ, employer, employee, employment, unemployed, employable, self-employed.  They can look for sentences with each form in an on-line dictionary or search engine, such as www.dictionary.com  Read the sentences aloud and write them out.  Assign homework to write sentences with each word form.
Awareness
Teach self-editing of word forms.  “He is a ____ worker.”  This must be an adjective to describe worker, so use “He is a confident worker,” not “He is a confidence worker.”
Learn to use the same word forms in a list.  Here are some examples of word forms on a resume:

• I am experienced, confidence and reliable.  (incorrect - two adjectives and one noun)
• I am experienced, confident and reliable.  (correct – all adjectives)

• 5 years experience in customer service, sell software and team player (incorrect)
• 5 years experience in customer service, software sales and teamwork (correct)

Increasing and improving vocabulary use is vital in language learning.  “Without vocabulary, you have nothing.”

Pronunciation Practice

Your learner will appreciate being directed to good web-sites for additional English learning.  A great site for practicing pronunciation is:   http://www.johnkeithcommunications.com/pronunciation/dailyex.html
John Keith's web-site has many other resources as well - for tutoring ideas and for learners.

Talking about Goals

January is a great time to talk to your learner about goals.  A common way to think about goals is that they should be SMART.

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Relevant
T - Timely

'Specific' means 'exact'. Not "I want to learn English," but "I want to improve my written communication in English."

'Measurable' means you can measure your success. For example, "My writing will be CLB 4 by December and CLB 5 by June," is a measurable goal.

'Attainable' means you can succeed in meeting your goal. For example, "I will write emails to my teacher with good formatting and no punctuation errors," is an attainable goal. "I will write English with perfect grammar," may not be an attainable goal.

'Relevant' means that your goal is suitable for your life at this time. For example, "I will write an English essay," may not be a relevant goal if you have no academic plans.

'Timely' means it's a good time for you to do this, and you set a time schedule to complete the goal. "In June I will pass the ELSA 6 test," is a time-sensitive goal.

You can learn English (or anything!) one step at a time by setting SMART goals