Home & News » Funded Innovative Projects » Connecting ESL Communities

Connecting ESL Communities and Professionals

Enhanced Language Training 2008: A Working Conference for Western and Northern Regions

March 3-5, 2008

Sponsored by Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language With funding and support by Alberta Employment, Industry and Immigration and Citizenship and Immigration Canada

In April 2007, a preplanning meeting was held to seek input from a broad base of stakeholders to define the goals of a next conference. That conversation led to four recommendations for the 2008 conference:

· The conference should build on the previous conference rather than replicate it

· Employers should be included as stakeholders rather than as a theme for discussion

· Learners should be represented and be part of the problem-solving to improve delivery of Enhanced Language Training (ELT) programs

· The current need is not for in-depth descriptions of existing programs; rather, it is time to come together to discuss shared challenges as we conceptualize and deliver ELT.

In response to the recommendations of the April pre-planning session and the conclusions formed in the December planning meeting, the committee designed a “working conference” which would set aside a major part of the conference for small group deliberations. These intensive conversations were balanced by four formal presentations and a plenary address by Lionel Laroche. Laroche was chosen for his focus on socio-cultural elements of successful integration - a theme that dominated the conference discussions.

The Key Question Discussions and the Stakeholder roundtables were two forums where participants were given the opportunity for extended exploration of an idea. Each session had a recorder to capture the ideas, a summary of which is provided below in PDF.

A Project of Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language to assess emerging immigrant language needs and recommend best practices in the province of Alberta, and to provide a mechanism for bringing together expertise in the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) to immigrants that exist in the province of Alberta.

This project was conducted by ATESL with funding and support from Alberta Human Resources and Employment and additional support provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The results of this project are the series of document, available in PDF format, listed below.

Project Overview

Connecting ESL Communities and Professionals is a project of Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language (ATESL) with funding and support from Alberta Human Resources and Employment (AHRE), and with additional support provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The proposal for this project indicated that with the ever-increasing population of newcomers to Alberta, brought on by flourishing labour market prospects, it is crucial that programs and services be available to ensure that immigrants are adequately prepared for integration into Canadian society. Given that a key component of integration is English language training, ATESL acknowledges that is necessary to have appropriate programs and services in place in order that newcomers may develop their language skills.
Therefore, this project came about with two main purposes in mind:

to assess emerging immigrant language needs and recommend best practices in the province of Alberta
to provide a mechanism for bringing together expertise in the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) to immigrants that exist in the province of Alberta

By connecting ESL communities and experienced language professionals, ATESL’s aim is to provide a mechanism whereby current trends and strategies may be identified as well as issues and challenges addressed with regards to language training in Alberta. The objectives of the project, as identified in the proposal, are as follows:

To provide opportunities for ESL teachers and program administrators to collaborate with government on key issues and challenges in language training in Alberta in order to further advance programs and practices in their fields.
To develop instruments to gather information about the current trends in ESL within Alberta in order to identify strategies to support the development of the ESL profession in responding to government language training priorities.
To increase awareness and understanding of the expertise that exists in the province in the area of TESL and the role that language plays in the integration of immigrants through the dissemination of information through multiple communication mechanisms such as provincial newsletters and websites.

Here are the documents that constitute this project.

Project Overview
Workshop Forum: ESL Programming for Settlement and Integration
Workshop Forum: ESL Literacy
Workshop Forum: ESL Assessment
Workshop Forum: Professional Development Opportunities
Workshop Forum: Intercultural Competence Training
Survey: Demographics of ESL Professionals
Occupational ESL "Lessons Learned" Conference
Reference: Manitoba Best Practices Guide
Reference: Demographics, Needs, and Programming for ESL Literacy Learners
Reference: Writing Rubrics for Outcome Assessment
Reference: Suggested Resources

Ilona Leki's ATESL Conference 2006 Keynote Address on the subject of feedback on students' writing. Thank you to AHRE for supporting this event.