ESL

ESL/EAL at Kelvin

Moving to a new country and learning a new language is challenging. Kelvin recognizes these challenges and offers several ways of supporting students who are learning English as an alternate language.

Intake
If you are an ESL/EAL student, you will meet our ESL/EAL counsellor before you register for your courses. Mrs. Silva will interview you to learn about your past educational experiences, and your language skills will be assessed. After this assessment has been done, our EAL team will prepare the best timetable for you.

Specialized Courses
Kelvin offers several courses aimed at increasing language skills while teaching core curriculum subjects. The courses that we offer include English (beginner/intermediate and intermediate), Math, Geography, Science, and numeracy. These are all E-designated credits.

E-designated credits
An E-designated credit means that the student has earned a high school credit in a particular course, but that the course has been adapted by more than fifty percent to suit the needs of the learner. These courses allow students to increase their academic vocabulary and skills in the content areas while continuing to learn English. E-designated credits are real high school credits that count towards graduation, but may not be recognized by post-secondary institutions.

The goal for most ESL/EAL students is to start in E-designated courses and move on to regular courses when their academic English skills are stronger. Having E-designated credits in your course history does not affect your university entrance as long as your grade 12 credits are all regular courses (not E-designated).

E-designated credits can occasionally be earned in a setting outside of the ESL/EAL classroom. Speak to the ESL/EAL teacher if you are interested in taking a course for E designation that is not going to be offered in the current school year.

ESL/EAL Skills Classes
These skills classes are for half or full credit and are an opportunity for English language learners to work on specific language goals that they may have, such as improving their grammar, spelling, or handwriting skills. This class is also a time for students to bring their homework and get some extra explanation or help in a low student to teacher ratio.

Students need to be motivated to work on a new language skill or work on their homework during this class.

The Future of ESL/EAL at Kelvin
With a growing number of English language learners coming to Kelvin, our ESL/EAL program is also growing.

As well, the selection of ESL/EAL specialized courses has been increasing since the program began, and will continue to increase. Check with your guidance counsellor or ask the ESL/EAL teacher for an updated list of courses currently being offered.

Students literate in other languages are encouraged to register for special language exams through the guidance office. Students can earn up to 4 credits depending on their language competencies.

ESL/EAL resources online

There are hundreds of ESL/EAL resources online, here are a few to get you started.

Interesting Things for ESL Students
A fun study site for students of English as a Second Language

http://www.manythings.org/

ESL/EFL Resources

eflnet

http://www.eflnet.com/

English Club

Lessons, games, quizzes, forums, chat, lesson plans, jobs & more for ESL learners & teachers.

http://www.englishclub.com/

Resources For Seattle Central Community College ESL Classes

Reading, writing, grammar, listening, interactive quizzes and exercises.

http://seattlecentral.edu/faculty/bticed/

EAL Assessment Tools

A variety of both language and numeracy tools were established by a special team of teachers. The tools to assess language abilities are the C.A.P., WSD Gr. 8 ELA exam, EAME math assessment, WSD GR. 8 Math exam and Kelvin Basic Math Entry Skills Tests.

Kelvin would like to acknowledge the following teachers for their involvement in developing these tools. They are K. Josephson, A. Joyal, L. Simonsen, and M. Charbonneau.

EAL team for 2007-08:

K. Josephson (assessment)
S. Labossière (guidance)
M. Silva (administration)
H. Tibbs        R. Engel
L. Simonsen   M. Charbonneau
        (teachers)