Course Profile - Curriculum Services Canada

Students who have been in previous ESL courses have already had exposure to a range of teaching
strategies, such as cooperative learning, portfolio assessment, self-/peer assessment, and performancebased
assessment. Students who have entered Ontario schools more recently may not yet have had the
opportunity for exposure to these teaching and assessment strategies. In addition to the varied teaching,
learning, and assessment strategies presented in this Course Profile, teachers establish, at the beginning
of the course, a number of ongoing classroom routines and concurrent activities which are integral parts
of a balanced language learning program. These routines may include journal writing; personal and
independent reading of English; use of first language and bilingual resources, such as dictionaries and
thesauri; reading aloud of a variety of materials by the teacher; keeping vocabulary lists or notebooks;
learning relevant Canadian cultural information at appropriate times throughout the course; maintaining
organized notebooks; assembling work in portfolios, and reporting on current local, national, and
international news events.
Wherever possible, the teacher collects samples of student work to be used as exemplars; exemplars
provide models for clarifying assignments and expectations.
Students are provided with the course outline at the start to assist and model time-management and
organization. The teacher prepares an overview of activities and includes the due dates of all
assignments.
Encourage students to date all worksheets and notes; to keep all returned assignments, essays, reports,
etc.; and to maintain organized notebooks. These tasks are important for the review of information for
exams, for future learning, and for the successful completion of the culminating activity in Unit 3.
Students are required to independently read novels of their choice. The teacher confers with colleagues in
the English Department to gather resources comparable in scope and difficulty to materials used in
mainstream classes. Students have written book reports since ESLCO; they have the background to
independently read a book and write the book report assigned in Unit 1. Critical analysis, which students
first learned in ESLDO, is further emphasized in this course.
In addition to the grammar stipulated in the course expectations, the teacher should continuously assess
familiarity with various grammar components as they arise throughout the course and teach as necessary.
Students refine their grammatical knowledge through contextual study.
One challenge shared by teachers is the task of helping students understand that work must be done in
their own words. ESL students sometimes lack the confidence to reword work in their own voices. The
teacher should discuss the seriousness of plagiarism and the consequences of such actions.
The teacher carefully monitors student writing and preparatory research notes, provides opportunities to
complete writing in class, and diligently tracks the writing process. Prewriting strategies, such as
brainstorming, webbing, mind mapping, and posing questions, need to be taught explicitly. Students need
encouragement and opportunities during class time to produce a readable first draft. They may need to be
directly taught the difference between revision and editing. Revision focuses on the content or the ideas
of the piece and the structure or ordering of those ideas, while editing is the refinement of surface
features of language, such as grammar, spelling, or word choice. Throughout the course, students
continue to revise and edit their work.
Ideas about choices and identity are introduced in Unit 1 and taught throughout the course. These themes
are important because many students are at stages in their lives where they may be struggling with
separation from family, searching for their own identities, and making choices that impact their futures.
Through an exploration of several genres, students consider their own personal choices and goals and
complete an independent research project on future educational and career options. In Unit 1, students
have time and opportunity to research information and to learn from their peers before writing their own
reports on career possibilities.
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• Bridge to English – Open