Writing from your own migrant heritage: thoughts and tips from Lauren Piovesan
I interviewed Lauren Piovesan about her ESL Reads project back in 2022 and 2023. As always, it’s so exciting to have Australian resources written for multilingual learners. However, this time I wanted to talk about how her own family’s migrant experience had informed her writing of EAL/D resources – like her latest reading book, ‘Linda’s Busy Week’. I also asked … Continue reading
Authentic cross-cultural stories for English language learners: an interview with Claire Kamber
I’m always excited to see reading books that reflect the real-life experience of multilingual learners here in Australia. These stories for high school and young adult students are all about settling in, living a new life in a different environment, while missing parts of the old life…how to find a new sense of belonging. I hadn’t heard of Milpera Publishing, … Continue reading
Where are they now? Australian ELT teacher-authors
All the teachers-turned-publishers whose resources we’ve loved over the years… Self-publishing is not for the faint-hearted. There’s more to it than creative fun, and there’s always the risk that it will become an expensive hobby, rather than a business. Yet teachers still do it, creating the resources they long for – but can’t find. In this post, I want to … Continue reading
Australian EAL resources: What’s free? (an update)
I just answered an email enquiry about free resources – and realised that my last post on this topic was 5 years ago… oops. So I’ll do a quick update, and I hope you’ll let me know if I’ve missed anything. Of course, there are gazillions of ‘free ESL worksheets’ online, but I’m sticking to Australian resources aimed at adult … Continue reading
What’s new at ESL Reads? An interview with Lauren Piovesan
How things change! Back in March 2022 I talked to Lauren Piovesan about her new readers. The stories offered terrific cultural and language support for learners with low literacy / refugee background, at four reading levels. She had so many plans and goals for her ESL Reads project, and such a lot has happened since then, including an expansion of her … Continue reading
