Hi, Donna, Janet and all

Janet had mentioned that many of the  VESL programs that sprang up in the 80s had disappeared and a lot of the curriculum developed at that time had disappeared. San Diego CC has had one of the strongest programs in the U.S. and they are still going strong.  One VESL option I had forgotten to mention is "bilingual vocational ESL" where the training is provided in the native language (Hmong, Vietnamese, Spanish). Students enrolled in the training attend a VESL support class that focuses on teaching the communication and vocabulary skills needed to interact with customers (or supervisors) who don't share the language of the ethnic community where folks will most likely go to work.

So thanks Donna for giving us all that detail - it's very useful for those of us who are diving back into the VESL as a viable approach for linking immigrant adults with training for jobs that one hopes can sustain a family.

And thanks also for the link to OTAN where curriculum for Cluster VESL and other forms of VESL are finding a home. I had mentioned that other countries are going back to VESL type integrated skills classes and that the new term there is "embedded learning" (the term is used for both ABE and ESL students/trainees).

Helen Casey from the UK just presented a report on their latest efforts in Montreal Canada and here is the link to the summary and the full report

http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=73

All the best

Heide

Heide Spruck Wrigley
Mesilla NM

From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Donna Price
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 8:37 AM
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Workplace 1550] Re: VESL and such

I have discussed and described our VESL program at the San Diego Community College Continuing Education program with Heide and others.  If you would like a description of our VESL program, go to www.sdce.edu<http://www.sdce.edu> and type VESL in the search box.  Click on the first link and you'll get a description and schedule of our program.  Then go back to the VESL page and read the testimonials by students.  They're very encouraging.
In our program, we do 'cluster' VESL.  Because of the attendance policy our district has of requiring 26 students in class every day, we had to put VESL students together.  Here's a typical class:
The classes are usually 3 hours.  The class consists of students who are high beginning and above level ESL (about a 211 on CASAS reading).  The students want to go to the vocational classes, but their basic English skills are too low.  Some of the classes they want to attend are welding, business information technology, certified nursing assistant and child care worker.  Other students have jobs and want to move up in their jobs.  Others want to get a job in retail or food service.  The first 1 1/2 hours, the VESL class is a pretty typical ESL class, including listening, speaking, reading and writing, but the theme is the world of work.  The topics would include how to make small talk, taking criticism, attitudes, etc.  The techniques would be whole group, small group and paired practice using cooperative learning activities.  The last 1 1/2 hours students work individually or are put in groups by their career field and they work on curriculum specifically for their field.  Most of this curriculum can be found on the OTAN (www.otan.us<http://www.otan.us>) website. Most of the curriculum modules include computer work, videotapes, language master card activities, worksheets and some interactive work.  When they complete their modules, they give a speech (a big deal is made of this graduation--we video tape it and invite the deans and president) and they go to the vocational class or hopefully get a job or go to ABE classes to get more basic skills.
This is a very quick description.  If you want more information, contact me directly off list at dprice at sdccd.edu<mailto:dprice at sdccd.edu>.
Donna Price
VESL Coordinator
San Diego Community College Continuing Education Program
________________________________
From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Wrigley, Heide
Sent: Thu 7/24/2008 5:48 PM
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List; agallup at essentiallanguage.com
Subject: [Workplace 1549] Re: VESL and such
Hi, Barbara and all

I'm weaving in and out of the discussion so forgive me but here are my thoughts on VESL

Ah, yes - definitions. Trying to come up with a definition of VESL brings to mind the exchange between Humpty Dumpty and Alice in Wonderland
Humpty Dumpty: When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.
Alice: The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things.
Humpty Dumpty: The question is: which is to be master - that's all.

Through the years, I've seen VESL (Vocational English as a Second Language) defined in various ways, including the following

# 1. An ESL support class that is attached to a vocational or occupational skills class and where the ESL instructor and the vocational skills instructor coordinate to some extent. Quite often, the major burden is on the ESL instructor, and the vocational skills instructor may pass on vocabulary lists or lesson plans, but as a rule the occupational skills instructor does not change his/her curriculum or teaching approach very much.

# 2.  An integrated class where ESL and job skills are well coordinated and both the ESL teacher and the occupational skills instructor are expected to work closely together either in an I-BEST model where the classes are team taught or in a coordinated model where the classes are taught separately but the curriculum is jointly developed. This model is often called "embedded training" in the UK or in Australia or New Zealand,

# 3. An occupation or industry specific ESL class that serves as a bridge class to training - sometimes called "cluster VESL"

# 4. An employment general (or employment-oriented) class that teaches English for Work focusing on the kind of English communication and literacy skills that students are likely to need in any job (e.g., explaining a problem; understanding or giving instructions; dealing with difficult people, working in teams; dealing with forms; understanding how workplaces tend to work; advocating for self and others; etc. Such a class may or may not have an employability and career exploration component (as might the other models)

# 5. Any form of ESL taught in a workplace or union hall.
I tend to use definition (1) or (2) when talking about VESL but I increasingly hear employers refer to workplace ESL classes (# 5) as VESL classes

Heide

Heide Spruck Wrigley
Mesilla, NM



From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Tondre
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 8:29 AM
To: agallup at essentiallanguage.com; 'The Workplace Literacy Discussion List'
Subject: [Workplace 1536] VESL

Amber's use of the term VESL caught my attention.  Business and industry is beginning to use this term but I'm not sure what they mean by it.  Do we dare include defining this term in our discussion?

Barbara Tondre

________________________________
From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Amber Gallup
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:05 PM
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Workplace 1531] Managing expectations

In response to Pat Sawyer's last message -

Several posters have alluded to the challenge of managing the client's expectations.  It's common to hear questions like that which Pat mentioned, "How many weeks is this going to take?"  I have found that it will take much more than one conversation before my clients really begin to understand  what I'm saying regarding the process and time commitment of language learning and the goals of the course (which we develop together as much as possible through the needs analysis process.)

I have found that the needs analysis itself is useful not only to identify students' and workplace needs, but also to bring out into the light of day the stakeholders' expectations....which are often unrealistic and/or conflicting with other stakeholders' expectations.  The needs analysis process provides an opportunity to do the very important work of getting all stakeholders on the same page...it's a little teachable moment.  If important stakeholders have different ideas of why we're doing this (say, union and management) and  how it will impact them....that can deal a death blow to a program!

I always use an example from a electricans' union for which I once put together a VESL program when I first began this work:  In the needs analysis, I did my language task analysis and I interviewed some workers, the union leaders, the apprentice coordinator, the organizer, and the contractor (the "big boss").  I felt good that this part of the needs analysis had been thorough and everybody shared an understanding of our goals.  Yet, by the end of the semester, the otherwise very successful class was almost done away with!....why?  Because the workers' foremen (who were not getting jobs finished on time because they lost some of their crew for a few hours each week) were angry and refusing to let their workers leave for the class.  I had neglected to make them part of the process, and their differing expectations and needs led to revolt.  We modified the course schedule and luckily continued on, but I learned some lessons about needs analysis.

Also, I liked Miriam's description of how she did her observations (language task analysis) BEFORE she interviewed the various stakeholders.  I'll be using that tip...it's a great idea - because it gives us more information on which to base our questions to stakeholders, and as Pat already mentioned, often the management (or HR, or union leader, etc.) will just say, "I want them to learn English," and not be able to go much farther than that.

Amber

Amber Gallup
Director, Essential Language
(202) 234-4565
www.essentiallanguage.com




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