Selecting the Right Units for your Learner

What are your learners' language needs and goals?

One way that you can determine your learners’ language needs and goals is to interview them either one-on-one or in small groups (either in English or in their native language).  This can provide valuable information about what learners know, what their interests are, and what they hope to gain during their time with you.   To begin this conversation with your learner, you may want to use this list of questions:

1. Why are you studying English?

2. Which language skill is most important to you? (Reading, writing, speaking, or listening?)

3. Why is this skill important for you?

4. When do you use this skill in your daily life?

5. When is that skill difficult for you? Think of a time when you could not do something in English.

6. What do you want to be able to do when you finish our time together?

If you find that your learners are more interested in improving their ability to participate in conversations in English, you might focus primarily on the Speaking and Listening modules of the ESL Health Units.  If you find that your learners are most concerned with being able to read the newspaper, or to read and fill out forms, you might want to focus instead on the Reading and Writing modules.   

As you work with your learners, you will gain a clearer picture of exactly what your learners language needs are.  Perhaps, for instance, they have very little ability to convey a sense of time when they speak.  You may notice that they can only use the present tense, causing confusion when they are giving a personal health history, or that they have difficulty pronouncing numbers.  As you become more familiar with your learners needs you can also choose lessons from the units that focus specifically on the development of these particular skills through grammar or pronunciation activities.  For example, the lessons of unit one focus on using the correct tenses to tell personal health stories.  

Please be aware that these units are not exhaustive in their presentation of new vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation points.  As you work through these activities, please keep in mind that they were designed based on an assumption that this would neither be the first nor the last time your learner(s) would be exposed to an instructional point (for example the present perfect tense or prepositions).  If the learner has a special interest in developing a particular skill, you may want to supplement the lesson with further explanation and/or practice opportunities.