Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries
TWR Canada has recently completed a 12-week video-led small group curriculum for groups wanting to expand their cross-cultural skills. Twelve different missions ministries from across Canada contributed teachers, and it is now available without cost through an online portal. You can access the full course by signing up here or view all the videos by visiting […]
Editor’s Note: Over the past year or so, issues of racism and discrimination have been much in the spotlight. This only helps to highlight the realities that some of our ESL students may be faced with day to day. The following is a piece written by a friend of SOCEM, an ESL teacher, about her […]
The following is excerpted from a website. It is a good topic to talk about with your students. Do you have more to add? Send them to eslministries@gmail.com. What are some (more) unwritten rules in Canada? Don’t raise your voice in public places. It’s done in another English speaking country that shall remain nameless, but […]
In the following reading, Nancy Masterson Sakamoto explains the difference between Japanese and American conversational styles. Born in the United States, Sakamoto has lived and taught English in Japan. She is currently professor of American Studies at Shitennoji Gakuen University, Hawaii Institute. The following selection is an excerpt from her textbook, Polite Fictions (1982). [download […]
By Greg Thomson, Version .9, December 2006 LANGUAGE LEARNING IN THE FIRST DIMENSION For school-educated people around the world, understanding language learning from a socio-cultural viewpoint requires quite a change in thinking.[1] So get ready! In fact, I find the issues in this dimension of language learning much more difficult to grasp initially than those connected […]