http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2012/10/
121018_6min_dru gs_story.shtml ... 6. www.espressoenglish.net. Good for ...
Season’s Greetings!
November 2013
Close Your Eyes A CD of lullabies from around the world was produced by the Wellington centre. At times haunting, surprisingly fresh and yet consistently soothing. Close your eyes is much more than a CD to leave in the nursery. For adults, lullabies invite us to close our eyes not only to sleep but to drift back to a time and place that is different from the present moment. “For most of the singers on this CD New Zealand is not the country of their birth or upbringing; it is a very foreign country,” explains Zlata Sosa, Manager of Wellington English Language Partners. “In this context lullabies are a prompt to look back and reconnect with a childhood, a different country and a different historical or emotional context. For New Zealand-born children of refugee and migrants, lullabies convey something of the heritage and culture their parents preserve and carry for them.” CLOSE YOUR EYES includes lullabies from England, Greece, Ethiopia, Samoa, Finland, India, Italy, the USA, Cambodia, Brazil, Romania, Somalia, Hungary, France, China, the Netherlands, Argentina and Aotearoa- New Zealand.
CD 'CLOSE YOUR EYES' $20
'FOOD FOR PARTIES' $7
Lullabies from Around the World.
A selection of 33 delicious recipes
Contact the office if you wish to purchase any of these items. CHRISTMAS GIFTS!
Inside this issue Close Your Eyes ........................ 1 From the Manager..................... 2 Tutors ...................................... 3 Tutor Resources........................ 4 End of Year Picnic ..................... 5 Tutor Reflections ....................... 6 Grammar Goodies ..................... 7
From The Manager - 2013 Hi Everyone Another year is almost gone and our thoughts will be turning to Christmas and summer holidays. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our funders, the National Association Office, our committee, our tutors and learners, our peers in other centres, and all our friends and helpers for the support in 2013. It would be very difficult to manage this centre without this support. My special thanks to the class tutors and volunteers involved in the language classes and the International Mum’s and Babies group. These groups are meeting an important need in our community. A huge thank you to Alison Gray at the Timaru Wellness Centre for creating such a welcoming venue for the Mum’s and Babies group. It was lovely to see so many tutors attending the tutor session in November. These sessions are organised to assist tutors with their tutoring and enable any issues or questions to be raised. I hope to see you at the end of the year picnic – hoping for fine weather. My best wishes for a happy Christmas with your families and a restful holiday. We look forward to working with you in 2014. Merry Christmas Susan Henderson Manager
TUTORS Please ensure you have enough resources for the holiday period and if possible keep in contact with your student during this time. Many learners often feel isolated during this time with no extended family nearby and some do not celebrate our festive season. Encourage your learners to access our classes in 2014. We offer a range of services: 1x1, group, work-place English, rural classes and a Mum’s and Babies group.
Christmas Holiday Hours
This website has information about beaches in N.Z. – tell your student Visit www.findabeach.co.nz and www.watersafe.org.nz
The Office will be closed from Thursday 19 December 2012 – 20 January 2013.
If you have learners of intermediate level who want to practise listening: BBC ‘s 6 Minute English: a daily current event topic discussed in a structured (and very British) mini-lesson of listening comprehension and vocabulary building. Heaps of past topics to choose from, so there’d be something interesting/relevant for each learner.
Group classes will resume Tuesday 04 February 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2012/10/121018_6min_dru gs_story.shtml
Pronunciation websites: 1. www.international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/ 2, www,akoaotearoa.ac.nz A NZ web site with a very good online workbook for pronunciation. 3. www.rong-chang.com/pronunciation.htm Some useful pronunciation exercises. 4.www.esl.about.com/od/speakingenglish Quite an academic website but a good section on stress and pronunciation Has embedded videos on on both phone conversations and essential phrases for job interviews.A big web site with a lot of material on speaking. 5. www.ehow.com/list_6616814_pronunciation-exercises-english.html Has some good ideas on pronunciation exercises 6. www.espressoenglish.net Good for telephone English Phrases both formal and informal.
TUTOR RESOURCES - ELP Website A reminder that tutor resources can be found on our new website under ‘TEACH ENGLISH’ + ‘Tutor resources’ Direct link is http://englishlanguage.org.nz/tutor-resources To access: Tutor Login: elp tutor
password: English
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL We participated in the recent International Festival. There was a wide range of food and some wonderful displays by some ethnic groups. The day was fine with lots of colour and entertainment. Thank you to the committee members who assisted with our display.
FUNDERS A huge thanks to our funders… The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Lottery National Grants Board, COGS, Pub Charity, NZ Post and Silver Linings Timaru.
FACEBOOK English Language Partners New Zealand has a Facebook page so please check it out as you will receive national and regional news and updates! https://www.facebook.com/EnglishLanguagePartnersNewZealand?ref=hl
CONTACTS Change of Address/phone number/email We like to keep our contact details up to date so if you have moved house, changed phone number, got a new email address, please tell us.
Mum's & Babies Group 2013
END OF THE YEAR PICNIC Inviting tutors and your learner and family Please bring a plate of food to share CAROLINE BAY - near the paddling pool Wednesday 04 December Starting 11.30 am - 2.00 pm
TUTOR REFLECTIONS I’m always amazed at the diversity of cultures in Timaru – who would have thought! Timaru is a good sized town (not too big, not too small), with a variety of cultures, situated between the snow-capped mountains and the glistening, aquamarine sea (on a good day). Timaru is New Zealand’s best kept secret. As I can’t seem to tear myself away from this little haven, I have ended up working with a variety of students from South Korea, Pakistan, Chile, China, and Bangladesh. They are a diverse group, made up of housewives, an IT engineer, a designer and a business owner. Two of my students were referred to ELP through their respective companies. While their grammar is near perfect, they both found verbal communication (understanding native speakers and being understood) quite difficult. So our lessons were spent working on pronunciation and learning the patterns of spoken English – its rhythm, stress and intonation. I researched over the internet, to find a starting point for these two students, and found a couple of very interesting articles by Judy Gilbert. Then to my delight, I discovered a set of books Gilbert co-authored, sitting in Susan’s resource room entitled “Speaking Clearly”. There are two books in a set - a teacher’s and a student’s copy. These books are wonderful and simple to use. I highly recommend them. I believe teaching English as we speak it, is too easily overlooked by tutors. Some of our students are quite isolated, not because they don’t know grammar, but because the way they speak is too difficult to understand. A couple of my other students seem to have an aversion to texts of any kind. One in particular, prefers discussion. I have to be very creative with this student. When I do use texts (to help with a grammar point), I use a variety and only for a short time. I also have to be very flexible with this student. Sometimes, unexpectedly, her husband is home, and the three of us work together. Sometimes she is nursing her baby, so any planned writing activities get stowed away for a later date. When I visit this student, I always have an arsenal of activities in my bag, because I’m never quite sure what direction the lesson will take. It was while working with this student that I became so grateful for the abundance of resources Susan has in her little back room! However, often students themselves come up with the best of ideas. One of my students decided she wanted to start “tweeting” to improve her writing. She wanted to “tweet” her opinion on different current affairs topics. What a great idea! Sometimes I feel I’m more of a facilitator than a teacher. However teaching isn’t always easy. Students have different levels of motivation, confidence and stress. Low motivation, low confidence and high stress levels, can make teaching quite a challenging task, and sometimes it can take a while to build trust with a student. Personally I find it easier to teach if I can get alongside my student, and work together as peers. However this isn’t always easy – especially if the person has been brought up with a very different set of social rules, values and behaviours from my own. This is why it is important as tutors to be open minded, generous-spirited, patient, persistent and creative. I also hold onto the idea: “if people don’t learn the way we teach…perhaps we should teach the way they learn…” Eppig 1981. This is what makes a great teacher.
Sharon Allen
