Who knows what this year holds? Take a cue from the motto of Penrith FC – res non verba – and be resolved that losers let it happen and winners make it happen.
Why not set yourself an achievable career goal or at the very least deal with any backlog of module worksheets?
Whatever option you plum for – indolence is not acceptable – may your efforts be richly rewarded.
CYBER CHUMS
Many students have emailed their occasional sense of isolation on a distance learning course and sought advice from their tutors.
May I remind all students that there are biographical notes available which identify course participants and are for circulation to other course members. The final entry is often used by students to state their email address and thereby signal their willingness to contact others for support and an exchange of ideas.
If you do not have such a booklet, please contact Eurolink Head Office in Sheffield.
Once established, so-called buddy groups will close the loop on what can be a solitary learning curve.
ROUND THE CLOCK
The shortest day of the year is a timely reminder for us to respect time zones. Email cris de coeur come from all corners of the globe and are timed at source, but the moment of reading and reply may be considerably delayed because of the time differentials, which can be a source of irritation both for anxious students and possibly otherwise-engaged-at-the-time tutors.
Phone calls from students I have received, mostly at acceptable UK times, underline the 24/7 commitment of Eurolink’s insomniac intelligentsia!
ESOL FOR WORK
The above examination is the latest addition to the University of Cambridge’s portfolio and is currently accredited and funded at E3 and L1.
The generic work-related qualification is unitized and so allows for separate assessment of reading, writing and speaking/listening, but all modes must be passed for certification and funding.
The flexible on-demand delivery of the test is matched with a fast and accurate evaluation of level; an interesting assessment feature is the computer adaptive testing of the reading and listening modes, which can be sampled on www.esolforwork.org
For general information visit www.cambridgeesol.org
A general website trawl will reveal other examining bodies also offering certification in ESOL for Work.
EX CATHEDRA
We all have our favourite educational theorists and practitioners. One of mine is in the unlikely person of Mary Poppins, who advocated that in every job to be done there should be an element of fun!
A gap-fill with a difference comes in the shape of the Beatles’ hit “When I’m 64”.
The choice of words to be deleted from the lyrics is a matter of individual choice depending on the level of the class, but the completed worksheet could be performed in unison, once the vocabulary and cultural significance have been examined.
Next song? Try “Clouds” or “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell as a running dictation with a more advanced class.
Simon Cowell, are you listening?
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner