ESL Teachers' Blog of Substance

You are welcome to email me with your questions and ideas.

Football Lesson for Superbowl Game

February 3, 2012

I created a three-page lesson about football for ESL teachers and students. It has nine photos and simple explanations about the game. If you look near the bottom of the pages, you'll find downloadable worksheets. The men in your class will appreciate it, but so will some of the women. I'm not a football fan, but many people are. I usually just find someone in my class that is a football fan and ask him or her questions about which teams are playing and what the odds are of each team winning.

ESL Teachers Learning Spanish

February 2, 2012

I learned a little bit of Spanish when I was teaching in the classroom, but not enough to carry on a conversation. I promised myself that I would make it a goal to learn more, but I never stick to my promise. Sooner or later, I'm going to buy a computer program like Rosetta Stone and really start applying myself. Sometimes I use Google's translation app to learn a few words here and there, but I'm not good about sticking to it.

Lessons for the First Week of ESL Class

September 8, 2011

The first week of a new semester is exciting, but it's also stressful and hectic for teachers and admins. I tried to make things a little easier for beginning level ESL teachers by posting lessons for the first week of a new school year.

Five Years Before the Economy Recovers

June 17, 2011

I filed for Unemployment Insurance, and I am hoping that it goes through with no problems. I'm worried because the ball is in their court. An article in TIME magazine says that the recovery is going to take five years and that some jobs will never return. Darn, by the time the economy recovers in five years, I'll be 60 years old and almost ready to retire. Another thing to worry about!

My Last Day of Teaching ESL

June 8, 2011

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching ESL. I'm sad and yet excited. I'm sad because I have a great group of students at Longfellow Elementary School in Compton, and I'm going to miss them. Some of them have been with me for all three years! But I'm also excited. I'm going to move to a new state, and hopefully work on my website full-time. I might even go to school to learn computer programming. I'm not sure about that last point, but it's a dream of mine. I have a ton of ideas about ways to improve this site, but I don't have the skills and money to see them to fruition. We're having a party in class tomorrow, after break, of course. Teaching has been a great experience, but it's time for this gal to move on and hopefully, up, up, up. Peace.

Summer School Lessons for ESL Classes

June 6, 2011

Looking for some fun summer school lessons? I just posted a list of lessons for summer school, but you might want to use them for the last week of school. I'm just about done for the semester. I'm giving the CASAS test to my class for the last time, and I figured that we could use some light and easy lessons to wrap up the end of the 2010-2011 school year. Here is the link: Summer School Lessons for ESL. Enjoy!

Settlement Agreement - Compton Unified and Compton Education Association - Adult Ed School Closure

May 4, 2011

Compton Unified in California is closing its adult education department. I asked for and received verbal permission on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, at the end of the meeting between the Adult Ed teachers and the Compton Education Association to scan and post the agreement to my blog. I did not post the last page because it has signatures on it. It is a four-page document, and you may need to enlarge it to read it clearly on your browser.

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN COMPTON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, COMPTON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, AND SIGNATORY COMPTON ADULT SCHOOL RESPONDENTS
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

I'm very sad to see the program close. I'm sad for the students, the community, the state, the other teachers, and myself! I wish the city of Compton and the school district the best and hope things will improve. Compton is a place where the need is the greatest and the resources are the fewest. (P.S. - I will post the name of the attorney and the representatives who were at the meeting when I can confirm their spelling.)

Osama bin Laden

May 1, 2011

I was surprised to hear the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by US operatives. It's been so long since 911 happened that some of the steam was gone from the urgency of the issue. I watched President Obama's announcement, and he seemed cautious. It's interesting that bin Laden's death came on the heels of the protests in the Middle East.

ESL Teachers Protest Budget Cuts

April 29, 2011

ESL teachers and students in Los Angeles, California, had a protest last week in downtown LA. They marched to protest against budget cuts in Adult Education. If I had known about the protest, I would have joined them. I came across an article about it and then followed a link to a YouTube video. Here is the link to the video: Adult Ed Protests in LA. It's short and sweet, and I left a comment. I hope you will too. If you're at work, you might have to wait until you get home to view it. Most school districts block YouTube.

White House Egg Roll

April 25, 2011

Get Up and Go is the theme for this year's Easter egg roll at the White House. The tradition was started in 1878 by President Hayes although some historians point out that Dolley Madison had a similar event. Tickets for this year's event were distributed by an online lottery that reqired an application.

Google Invited Me...!

April 12, 2011

Google has invited me to an AdSense conference in Irvine. I'm thrilled. It's from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. They discuss how website owners can improve traffic and ad income. The neatest thing is that they also give one-on-one customized SEO recommendations for one of your sites. I imagine they will have some great suggestions about ad placements and colors. I think they are also interested in signing people up for their Double Click program. The notice they sent said that 400 people in Southern California attended last year's event. It's invitation only, so I'm glad I made the list. Can't wait to hear what they have to say.

Teacher Jennifer

April 11, 2011

Yes, she's a real person! I finally met "Teacher Jennifer". She is the owner of the popular US Citizen Podcast and Blog. She lives in northern California, but she drove down to Long Beach for the 2011 CATESOL Conference. She's a very talented and busy person. Besides owning several websites, she teaches numerous classes, sews clothes and quilts, and raises birds. Her newest website is for vocational ESL. I'll blog about that later. She is also going to start a website about her birds. I'm looking forward to the photos.

One Day Without Shoes

April 5, 2011

Today is One Day Without Shoes. We are supposed to go shoeless today so we can see how it feels to be too poor to buy shoes. People who don't wear shoes are at risk for infections and injuries. I didn't get around to creating an ESL lesson on the subject, but you can learn more about it at the official website for One Day Without Shoes. The site was busy this afternoon, so I couldn't read the articles, but you might be able to access it.

Library Week is April 10-16

April 3, 2011

Library week is a time to honor libraries and librarians. I found a great site that explains National Library Week. It has a video that author John Grisham made for the event. He says that he spent a lot of time in the library when he was a kid because his mother didn't believe in watching much television. He also explains that when his first book The Firm came out, independent bookstores and librarians helped it become popular. I also created an ESL lesson about libraries. You can find it listed on my holiday page, which can be reached by going to the home page.

Earth Day Lesson

March 28, 2011

I finished a three-page lesson about Earth Day. I felt guilty about not covering the subject, so I forced myself to hop to it this weekend and get it done. The worksheet links are near the botton of the pages. I'll try to go back and add more downloadable resources before the holiday, which is Friday, April 22. Here is a link to some some great Earth Day lesson ideas from teachers on the Scholastic website.

ESL Teachers Applying for Unemployment

June 25, 2010

Like many other ESL teachers, I'm off for the whole summer this year. Bummer! I usually work summer school, so I'm going to miss the income. I filed for Unemployment and had my phone interview on Tuesday. I filed using the online form on California's official website. You can go to www.ca.gov and click on the link near the top that says "Jobs" and then select "Unemployment and Disability".

If UI denies your case, be sure to appeal. I was denied benefits last year, but I won on appeal. I cited a California legal case called Cervisi et al. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. You can look up this case online and learn more about it. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't want to mislead anyone.

Here's a quote: "The Superior Court concluded that "under the statute, an assignment that is contingent on enrollment, funding, or program changes is not a 'reasonable assurance' of "employment." The Court of Appeal adopted the Superior Court's findings and held that a contingent assignment is not a "reasonable assurance" of continued employment within the meaning of Section 1253.3."

Hope this helps. I'm glad we live in a country where the courts protect our rights. (I'm going to leave this blog post up so that you can find it next summer.)


Copyrights to the pictures and photos on this ESL/EL Civics website belong to individual photographers. We have purchased the rights to use them. Do not copy the pictures/photos on this site. Permission is granted to copy any of the worksheets for classroom use. Permission is granted to link to any page of this website. Contact Christina Niven, Web Developer, at christina@elcivics.com. Please send corrections, comments, greetings, and requests for new units. Copyright © Christina Niven, 2007.
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