Blogs

When Karen Verburg worked for a family collaboration in six elementary schools in Mankato Area Public Schools, she served as a support between home and school and often knew adult ESL students as the parents of her elementary students. Since she retired from her long career in K-12, she has spent much of her free time volunteering with those parents, along with other adults, at the Mankato Area Adult Basic Education program.

Purpose:  To provide learners with the opportunity to practice spontaneous speaking on a variety of topics

Preparation Time:  None

Materials Needed:  A ball, whiteboard

Procedure:

August 21-22

During Early Service Training, 15 of our AmeriCorps Literacy VISTA Cohort gathered officially for the first time. Together we had trainings on:

• Why Literacy Matters
• Effective Communication at their sites
• What’s in a VAD (VISTA Assignment Description)
• VISTA Living
• Policies and procedures

Since all work and no play makes for a very long day, we did some team bonding activities!

Interested in finding a treasure trove of pre-, during, and post-reading activities that can be used with beginning to advanced ESL learners during one-on-one tutoring sessions or small group pull-outs? The new ESL Reading Pull-Out Kit for tutors and teachers is now available on the Minnesota Literacy Council Website!