ESL Books

SHINE Staff and AmeriCorps*VISTAS

Tutoring for Citizenship
Field Books

Health Literacy Units

Tips for Effective Tutoring

Lesson Plans

Learner Assessment

Project SHINE Documentation

Web Sites

ESL Books

Project SHINE’s ESL Library

Project SHINE’s ESL Library is home to hundreds of books for tutors to use.  Many of the books are available for loan for as long as you need them, and tutors are also welcome to use SHINE’s copier to make copies of materials for their learners.

Reader Development Program

The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Reader Development Program gives free books to adults learning English.  Each student can get three books per year with a library card.  The Reader Development Program is located at the Central Library at 19^th and Vine.  Books can be picked up there or ordered and sent to your closest branch.  Assistance picking out books is available.  Call 215-686-5346 to make an appointment.
 

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SHINE Staff and AmeriCorps*VISTAS

Advice from Experienced ESL Teachers
SHINE staff has a wealth of knowledge about teaching ESL.  Teaching everywhere from Laos to SHINE community partner sites, SHINE staff has a breadth of experience and is available to give students advice.  Stop by the office any time to pick our brains.

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Tutoring for Citizenship

Legal Advice in Philadelphia
Community members you work with through Project SHINE may need advice about their immigration status, applications for green cards, or citizenship. Do not help fill out forms or try to advise them. Instead, refer them to one of the agencies listed in this document, which provide free or low-cost legal services.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Check this web site for up-to-date information about naturalization, including information about the citizenship test redesign and sample U.S. government and history questions.

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Field Books

Field Book 1:  ESL for Citizenship
This field guide for tutors includes information about ESL teaching techniques, step-by-step lesson planning, and specific activities geared for learners at various levels of English proficiency. 

Field Book 2:  Preparing for Naturalization
This manual provides information for tutors about the US naturalization process and lesson activities to prepare elder immigrants for the US Citizenship exam.

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Health Literacy Units

Project SHINE-MetLife Foundation Health Literacy Initiative

In order to help ESL learners communicate with healthcare providers and learn more about staying healthy, SHINE created ESL health units which can be used by tutors and teachers. The units offer content about health topics, such as dealing with emergencies and managing health problems, along with listening, discussion, reading, and writing activities.  Five units are available at advanced beginning and intermediate levels, as well as tools for assessing your learners’ level, interests, needs, and goals. 

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Tips for Effective Tutoring
 
Teaching Vocabulary

Teaching Reading

Teaching Listening Skills

Working with Beginning Learners

Managing Discussion Activities

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Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan Template
This template can help you structure a lesson plan for your learners.  It includes areas for warm-up activity and review of the previous lesson, new material, and review/wrap-up. 

SHINE Lesson Plans
Feel free to use these lesson plans created by SHINE tutors or adapt them for the needs of your learners. 
 

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Learner Assessment

Project SHINE Learner Assessment
This language assessment for beginners will help you to assess your learners’ basic oral, reading and writing skills in English. This short assessment tool will provide you with a quick snapshot of your learners’ abilities in English and help you to choose appropriate materials and activities to help them improve their English ability. 

BEST Test
The Basic English Skills Test (BEST) is a lengthier assessment that takes an hour to complete.  It is required that tutors administer the BEST at the end of the semester for SHINE reports, but it is also available for tutors and coaches to use throughout the semester as an assessment tool.  Copies are available at the SHINE office.

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Project SHINE Documentation

Complete and accurate documentation of Project SHINE activities is extremely important since we use the information we collect to evaluate and improve the program as well as to report to our current funders and apply for grants that will sustain the program in the future.  Tutors and coaches have different documentation requirements, so please make sure you turn in the appropriate items.  All forms and assessments are due at the Reflection Celebration.

Tutors need to turn in one attendance sheet along with a learner information sheet, a BEST test, and a learner survey for each learner they work with.

Coaches need to turn in one attendance sheet and a learner survey for each learner they work with. 

Attendance
For our reports to our funders and your professors, it’s important for us to know how many hours of service our tutors provide as well as how many hours of tutoring each learner receives, and we get this information from attendance sheets.  Please list your tutoring dates across the top and your learners’ names down the left side.  Put a check for each week you tutored or coached each learner in the appropriate box.  Have your community partner site contact initial the bottom line each week.   

          Attendance Form

Learner Information
Learner Information forms help us understand the communities that we serve and tailor our program to the needs of those communities.  Have each learner you work with fill out a Learner Information form when you start working with him/her.  We strongly recommend that you help your learner fill out this form to ensure that we get a legible form with accurate information.  The most important information is your learner’s name, address, and date of birth.  If a learner feels uncomfortable sharing some of the other information, you can leave some sections blank.           

          Learner Information Form

Learner Survey
Please ask each learner you work with to complete a survey before tutoring ends so we can get a sense of what they learned and how to improve our program. 

          Guidelines for Learner Survey
          Learner Surveys           

BEST Test
We use the Basic English Skills Test’s Literacy section to help us track the progress of our learners over time.  Scores are also sent to funders, such as the Pennsylvania Department of Education, to prove how we help elders work closer to literacy.  BEST Tests should be administered by tutors only to each learner by the middle of the semester.  Administering instructions are included in this handbook, and the test can be picked up in the SHINE office or from your Site Coordinator.

          Guidelines for Administering the BEST Literacy Skills Test

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Web Sites

About.com's ESL Lesson Plans
An excellent source of detailed lesson plans for your next tutoring session. This site is especially helpful if your learner is at the pre-beginner/pre-literate level. Look in the "Absolute Beginner Exercises - 20 point program" for a set of twenty detailed lesson plans. This site also provides lesson plans appropriate for intermediate level learners. 

Adult ESOL Lesson Plans
The collective effort of adult ESL teachers from Palm Beach County, Florida, this site offers lesson plans and activities for pre-beginner to advanced learners on a variety of topics, including workforce development, telephone communication, and grammar. Activity sheets are included for most lessons. 

Boggle's World ESL Resources
A great source of new ideas if you find your tutoring sessions are becoming a bit routine. This site offers crossword puzzles, word searches, songs, worksheets, and other activities. Oriented toward activities for elementary and middle school ESL learners, some of these activities may be appropriate for adult learners, and there is a special section entitled ESL for Adults. 

Dave’s ESL Café
You can't get cappuccino at this website, but Dave's ESL Café is open 24 hours a day and has great suggestions for livening up your next tutoring session. Click on the 'ideas' link for everything from instructions for teaching grammar to using games in an ESL lesson.

ESL-Civics Curriculum Designed for Very Beginning ESL Learners:  The Bright Ideas Curriculum
The Bright Ideas curriculum was designed for elderly learners participating in community-based ESL programs.  This resource proves to be an excellent addition to any lesson in developing oral English communication skills and providing opportunities for learners to use these skills inside and outside the classroom and community. 

National Center for ESL Literacy Education
A national information center focusing on language and literacy education for adults learning English, this site offers answers to the most frequently asked questions about ESL literacy and teaching techniques. You can also access ERIC Digests, which are easily readable 2-3 page articles on a variety of topics related to ESL instruction.

One World, One People
Designed by a New York City ESL teacher, this site is dedicated to ethnic diversity and multiculturalism. It's a good resource for ESL lessons activities, as well information and articles on immigration and multilingualism. Provides links to a variety of other sites regarding ESL instruction and immigrant/refugee issues.

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