Dear Colleagues -

Many of us know from experience that a very large amount of time, expense, and often special expertise that go into the creation of a customized ESOL curriculum. Practically speaking, we often have to move ahead with transition or ESP programs, be they vocational or academic, using a mix of resources not all specifically designed for that purpose.  I'm certainly finding this a challenge in a program in which I'm helping union construction workers with intermediate English language skills transition into their English-only apprenticeship courses, and another group of advanced ELLs prepare for mainstream content courses in a community college.

My question to you is:  How have you incorporated pre-academic and vocational instruction into
existing intermediate or advanced ESL curricula?  In other words, how have you taken a more lifeskills-oriented text and/or sequence of classes, and made them more relevant to students'
vocational and academic goals, as they get closer to those transitions (without a full-blown new curriculum)?

Thank you,

Amber GallupDirector, Essential Language
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