Teaching and writing materials for migrant learners in Australia
2015 Dec 08

A new link for those free reading books: ‘Bad Hair Day’

Bad Hair Day cover

A kind teacher just alerted me to an out of date link…for the lovely ‘Bad Hair Day’ ESOL/EAL reading resources by Karen Barber (who also wrote the Carly and Kumar books). These readers were free on the Central AMEP website, but now I see the link has changed.. UPDATE: It has changed again, and the readers are now on YouTube! There … Continue reading

2015 Sep 20

My job really is the best…

Front cover of My Job is the Best

My Job is the Best: a new ESL Extras title I have a new ESL Extras book out, but this time it’s a free download. My Job is the Best is another very simple set of Australian ‘stories’ about different Hope Street characters. It has an illustrated, very simple story, with ‘cut-up’ pages, exercises and teacher/tutor notes, like the other books … Continue reading

2014 Aug 31

More Carly and Kumar and ‘catching the reading bug’

Karen Barber with her new book

I finally met up with Karen Slikas Barber and asked about her new book, More Carly and Kumar, from Read Me Again Press. Karen, you’ve got a new set of Carly and Kumar stories out – what inspired you to start writing again? My students were reading the Carly and Kumar stories, saying they were funny, then heading to the library … Continue reading

2014 Jun 09

New ESL Easy Read ebooks

The English Chip ESL E-book

If you’re exploring the site and you’ve been here before, you’ll notice a couple of new ESL Easy Read ebooks. A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-32 is a (very) abridged version of an amazing 21-year old woman’s best-selling account of her journey to the Victorian Goldfields in 1852-53. The English Chip is a real-life-with-a-hint-of-fantasy story, … Continue reading

Meet Karen Slikas Barber, author of Carly and Kumar (Read Me Again Press, 2013). Karen, tell us about Carly and Kumar – your short stories about Carly and her housemate Kumar. You were inspired by George and Nina and Jeff and Lisa, right? That’s right. I was working with a multi-level class, and they enjoyed stories that were funny, short, … Continue reading

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