As part of the new curriculum plan, SFU is intending to offer multiple
sections of a Foundations in Academic Literacy course for students who would
qualify for entry if their language abilities were a bit better. The
original guesstimate was that there would be about 500 students a year who
would need this support and it was anticipated that many if not most would
be ESL. I'm not sure what the situation will be now that we are apparently
"outsourcing" preparation for English to the Australian company IBT. They
will be dealing exclusively with ESL international students, so there is
still a sizable ESL population who may have had some high school in Canada
but still not be functioning at what is thought to be an acceptable level in
English to move directly into the lower division W-courses.
It's a plan. It's new for SFU. Our only other significant support is the
English Bridge Program which takes about 70 students a year, I think, for a
ten week immersion in English, spoken and written. All of those students are
ESL, though from many different cultural backgrounds. Succeeding in the
program is a prerequisite for admission. It has been going for a while and
is cost-recovery so it's not a matter of the university taking
responsibility for supporting their ESL students. The new FAL is doing that
- if it comes to pass in the Fall 2006, coincident with the new
requirements.
Sorry to miss Inkshed again this year! Have a great time, everyone.
Wendy
-----Original Message-----
From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Theresa
Hyland
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 8:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ESL Remedial Courses
Hi Julie-Ann. I have been teaching two academic reading and writing
courses to international students in their first year at Huron for the
past several years. I would be happy to send you a sample outline of
the courses I teach. I do ta preliminary course that focuses on getting
students to take risks with their writing and on developing critical
reading skills, and a more advanced course that helps them learn how to
write the annotated bibliography, the critical review and the research
paper. Theresa.
Julie-Ann Stodolny wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
>which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
>English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
>background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
>thoughts on whether this would be useful or not.
>
>As a bit of background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
>geared towards students who will register in the university the
>following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
>the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
>literature course (no composition is taught in it).
>
>Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
>you!
>
>Sincerely,
>Julie-Ann
>
>
>
>--------------------------------------------
>Julie-Ann Stodolny
>Director, The Writing Centre
>Saint Mary's University
>Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
>(902) 491-6201
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
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