E-06.00 Re-Start Oral-Skills Training by Getting Acquainted with One Another + 4 Personas

An Immigration Story 

WorkLife English: Competency-Based Listening/Speaking, Book 3 

Getting Started: Personal Info & Intros + Transcript

4+1+2 = 7 pp

Who It’s For: American-English (Teachers & Helpers of) Intermediate Students Being Introduced (Again) to Oral-Language-Skills (Strategies, Techniques, & Instruction)

Why It’s Useful: No matter at which proficiency level acquirers of oral American English start out, they’re bound to need to get acquainted with one another first—as well as the premise of their language course.  This compact Download provides abridged tools for doing so—including introductions to the four “composite personas” whose stories are to be told in  ten Chapters of WorkLife English: A Competency-Based Listening/Speaking Book 3: An Immigration Story.

What You’ll Do: 

[1]  To note (or as a reminder) that each Download of Oral-Language-Skills materials is designed to “teach” certain abilities, look over the introductory Opener.  In addition to listings of practical “Competencies” and topics of “Grammar Focus,” Level 3 L/S materials address “Notions & Functions”—real-life situations in which people communicate plus their specific aims in doing so.

[2]  Following an illustrated “Self-Intro” template, prepare to meet one another.  Lists of sample answers to questions like “What’s your name?” “How do you spell it?” “Where are you from?” “What do you do?” can serve as a warm-up. If necessary, make sure everyone can name the 26 letters of the English alphabet for oral spelling.   Playing the (usual) game of Introduction Bingo, quickly get acquainted.

[3] In case they’re needed, know that detailed instructions for use of these generic meeting procedures appear on pages 2-3 of the Instructor’s Manual Appendix to WorkLife English: A Competency-Based Listening/Speaking Book 3: An Immigration Story.  This section is attached to E-06.00.

[4]  With brief Audio (printed in text in the highlighted segment of the first Tapescript page), introduce the idea that in the ten Listening & Speaking Chapters to follow, everyone will be following along in the lives of four fictional characters from contrasting cultures: My Ling, Luis, Hiroko, & Ebrahim. Though not based on real people, each figure represents a composite of possible characteristics of English-language learners who might be interested in improving their Listening Comprehension, Clear Speech, & Communication skills.