ESL in the mainstream
Tutor Training Program (no longer available)
Over the last 16 years, the ESL in the mainstream (ESLMS) course has been a major professional development program for educators seeking to meet the needs of their English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Many schools and educational systems around the world have had tutors trained and many of those continue to offer the Teacher Development Course.
With the publication of the new Teaching ESL students in mainstream classrooms (TESMC) program in 2006, it was decided that tutor training for the ESLMS course would no longer be available and any future tutor training would be done under the TESMC program.
The following summarises briefly the features of the TESMC program and at the same time notes some of the differences with the ESLMS course.
- The TESMC program is more generic in the sense that it does not cater for one group in particular, or for the needs of teachers and students just in Australia. The writers have been cognisant of the range of teachers and students for whom the course is relevant, including international school students.
- The TESMC program has two new aspects:
- a teaching-learning cycle using scaffolding and joint construction
- a functional model of language underpinning the activities around language and texts.
- These new aspects have led to the scope and sequence of the program: two modules on oral language and assessment of oral language, moving into three modules on writing. These then culminate with a module on the assessment of written texts. The program finishes with exemplars of programming so that all the elements of the course can be implemented in the classroom.
- The elements of the TESMC program that are common with the ESLMS course are: case studies, the language lesson, dictogloss and a graphic outline. However, the case studies now include international school students, the dictogloss is different and so is the graphic outline. In fact, all the text examples are new in the TESMC program.
- The TESMC program has one DVD with new classroom footage showing teachers working with the teaching-learning cycle. The DVD also has animations of diagrams and models. It retains some short, crucial extracts from the ESLMS videos. These retained extracts are linked directly to the content of the program.
- Finally, the readings are all new and are published in a separate booklet. They are tied more closely to the modules, extending their content and providing classroom activities as well.