Education

ENGLISH

The Education Committee coordinates ESOL classes for all levels of language fluency and provides personal tutors when needed. All instructors undergo at least one round of ESOL training and lead classes based on standard language instruction theory.

Free English classes for all community members are available every Thursday night, 8-9pm, at the Rockbridge Regional Library.  Additional tutoring sessions are available at times that are convenient for clients and volunteers.

If you are interested in taking a class or becoming involved in the committee, contact Celeste Cruz-Carandang or  Marcus Newsome

SPANISH

The Spanish Committee coordinates Spanish classes for beginners and advanced beginners. 

If you are interested in taking a Spanish class or becoming involved with the committee, contact Ashley Craddock or Judith Soria.

Teaching Resources

TESOL

The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition

The CAELA Guide For Adult ESL Trainers

Professional Development for Adult ESL Practioners (article)

Index of English Language Resources ELTweb.com

Free GED Study Guide

"English Daily":  ESL resources on the web

Curriculum Resources for ESL

Irregular verbs in English

WordAhead.com (aural and visual vocabulary practice in English)

Larry Ferlazzo’s ESL blog

Article on dual-language program in Silver Spring, MD (Washington Post, November, 2009)

Title:  Activities for ESL Students
Annotation:  There are over 1,000 quizzes, exercises and puzzles on this Web site to help students study English as a Second Language. This project of The Internet TESL Journal has contributions by many teachers. Many of the resources are interactive.
URL:http://a4esl.org/

 

Title:  Awesome Library Languages
Annotation:  Contains links to information on African, French, Japanese, German, Russian, Chinese, Hindu, Native American, and Spanish languages. Has links to lesson plans and other language resources.
URL:http://www.neat-schoolhouse.org/language.html

 

Title:  Breaking News English - ESL / EFL Current Affairs Lessons and Plans
Annotation:  Ready-to-use ESL current affairs lessons. Each daily lesson contains a still-hot news article, audio file, communication activities, pairwork, discussion, reading and vocabulary.
URL:http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

 

Title:  English Club
Annotation:  Contains crossword puzzles, reference on the passive voice, regular and irregular verbs. Lesson plans for teachers. Section on the phonetic alphabet.
URL:http://www.englishclub.com/

 

Title:  ESL Gold Homepage
Annotation:  ESLgold brings together the best ESL/EFL materials on the Internet and makes them available to students and teachers alike. These resources are free of charge and are categorized for quick and easy access.
URL:http://www.eslgold.com/site.jsp?resource=pag_ex_home

 

Title:  Hello English- Total Immersion, Serious Fun!
Annotation:  This site contains interactive language exercises, games, quizzes, comic strips, and dialogues for several languages including English for non-native speakers. Many of the interactive activities include sound files so that learners can hear the correct pronunciation and inflections. Learners can just use the activities for practice or can complete a free registration and login and their scores will be recorded and saved. Note: The site contains a mixture of free resources and publications for purchase. The free online resources are clearly indicated in each section.
URL:http://www.hello-world.com/English/EN/EN_freeEN.php

 

Title:  Internet TESL Journal
Annotation:  Self-study quizzes, interactive JavaScript quizzes, crossword puzzles, treasure hunts lesson plans, articles, web links, and projects for students.
URL:http://iteslj.org/

 

Title:  Teaching with the Web
Annotation:  Teaching with the Web has a compilation of ideas for using Internet resources as a language teaching tool. Scroll down to find activities for any language. There are also nice teaching resources.
URL:http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/lss/lang/teach.html

 

Title:  Little Explorer's Picture Dictionary with Links
Annotation:  A great picture dictionary - click on the word for an enlarged picture and links to more information about the topic - also available in English, Spanish, and French.
URL:http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html

 

Resources for ESL for Portuguese Speakers:

·       http://www.sk.com.br/sk.html (this website gives an overview of the English language for Portuguese speakers--from the history of English, to overview of pronunciation and grammar, all with translations from Portuguese to English)

·       http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/portuguese.htm (overview of the differences between Portuguese and English, vocabulary list from beginners to advanced, grammar points, and more)

·       http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=132021 (this webpage has a printable verb list designed specifically for Portuguese speakers)

·       http://br.geocities.com/helcio_englishteacher/index2.html (Portuguese website to help ESL students)