Decodable readers for adult and young adult learners
Decodable readers for adult (or young adult) multilingual learners, anyone? It sounds like an obvious part of a literacy program, but they are SO hard to write as relatable stories, with meaningful context. (I say that as someone who has tried – and given up!) So it was wonderful to discover that someone else has persisted – Lauren Piovesan, from … Continue reading
Beach Safety: An updated ESOL resource list
Counting down to the release of the first four books in the new Read about Australia series, including one on Beach Icons… and it made me realise that it’s been a while since I looked at resources that focus on beach fun and beach safety. In fact, last time was in February 2018, so here’s my update. I’d love to … Continue reading
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
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
