John B. Kirk, Director
AOK Basic Skills Project (a personal retirement project, not an organization)
Portland, Maine
E: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
W: www.aokbasicskills.gratis
An Overview of the AOK ESOL Workshops
Introduction
How are some adults able to study about five hours per week and in 1-2 years’ time learn more ESOL than the average university student learns in six semesters? The answer is “Independent Language Learning” (ILL). In some universities in a number of countries you can study a language on your own, take a test, and earn university credits. The 10 AOK ESOL workshops use different aspects of the EU system, which teaches ILL. To briefly get an overview about ILL and the AOK workshops, please read below.
In the last decade, the interest in learning English has grown remarkably. Currently, about 1.5 billion people study English around the world. Some new tools for language learning have developed for ILL such as the following: a large number of free Internet sites on which to practice, and a number of new techniques and strategies like applications for smart phones.
If you use the ILL approach, you have chosen what works best for youself from the above and have your own system for learning a language.
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the European Language Portfolio
In the EU since 2001, the the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), a popular set of objectives for learning a foreign language, and the European Language Portfolio (ELP), a language learning tool, have introduced a large part of the above ILL changes.
The CEFR lets even young students understand their learning objectives and do self-assessments, while the ELP (see below) is a tool with which students can accomplish their language objectives while they are learning to become autonomous, ILL learners.
The CEFR and the ELP comprise much of the official European Union system for learning foreign languages. The CEFR can be used as a form of self-assessment, or students can take one of several free tests on the Internet to more objectively determine the same information.
The three sections that make up the ELP are the biography, the dossier and the passport. The biography is the section where you record and plan out your learning, the dossier lets you demonstrate it, and the passport summarizes your progress. The ELP serves for the student to determine how s/he learns best, which is an ongoing process. In the EU, having a formal ELP or “Europass Language Passport” is a work requirement if one wishes to work outside of his or country – about 100 million Europeans have them.
The use of the ELP and CEFR is presently predominant in Europe and is becoming very popular in N. America in grades 1-12; it is presented their through a similar approach called Linguafolio. In Japan, Australia, New Zealand , ILL is gaining popularity at the university level, where you can study a language on your own, take a test, and earn university credits.
The 10 AOK ILL Workshops
AOK introduces different parts of the EU version of ILL in its 10 ESOL workshops . The workshops consist of:
- One for parttime salespeople in the local craft markets for foreigners – level A1. It connects with the following website for families and is at the bottom of the second major website section on the AOK website: “Pre-K 12 & Adult Education Wkshop”;
- One for families and adult education students – levels A1 & A2 – in the third major website section: “ESOL English Workshops” at the top;
- Four for students from high school through university and and for working adults – levels A1 – C1 (advanced), including one for English clubs – in the third major website section: “ESOL English Workshops” at the top;
- Two for students who want to study abroad, including one for the TOELF-iBT and one with information for scholarships and inexpensive universities – in the third major website section: “ESOL English Workshops” at the top;
- Three for instructors, including two for teachers and 1 for professors for methods instruction workshops – in the first major website section “AOK, ESOL Teachers & Articles.
Language Achievement Levels of the “Common European Framework” (CEFR)
Levels A1 – A2: beginner & elementary
Levels B1 – B2: intermediate & advanced intermediate
Levels C1 – 2: advanced & proficient
The long-term purpose of the workshops is to involve the participants in helping the UN to meet the 2030 Global Goals through their self-education efforts; it’s also to encourage the UN to provide an ILL website by 2030 in support of its Sustainable Development Goal No. 4: Quality Education.
The website would provide ELP training and list the websites to facilitate it. To do this, AOK will ask the workshop hosts if the participants could take part in the website project by completing voluntary and anonymous workshop evaluations. If not, AOK would still appreciate the opportunity to present the workshop to the group.
The Internet has many websites for studying English, but they are not well indexed. In the workshop, AOK will distribute two files of over 200 free, annotated websites in total – one for children and one for teens and adults. It will also distribute a series of handouts to help explain the life skill presentations. With this information, adults, families and students will have a new starting point for their studies.
Conclusion
To learn more about ILL, the CEFR, the ELP, and the Europass Language Passport, please see the following articles: “Courses or ILL”, “ILL Tips for English”, and “The Development of ILL” at the bottom of the first major website section: “AOK, ESOL Teachers & Articles”.
For the objectives of each ESOL workshop, read the corresponding pages of each application letter on the website.
AOK workshops are free and without obligation: today on the Internet there are many free EFL learning sites for teachers and students that are only available for non-commercial, individual use. As AOK uses this information in its workshops, its services are also free and without obligation. Contact AOK Life Skill Workshops for more information.
Sincerely,
John B. Kirk, Director
kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
About the writer: John Kirk is a retired ESOL teacher over 65 and lived in Quito, Ecuador for over 10 years. To learn more about the details of his program please refer to his website www.aokbasicskills.gratis where you can also read about the 20 basic skill workshops that he’s offering. AOK is John Kirk’s personal retirement project; it is not an organization. The theme of the presentations is “How you can use the Internet to improve your knowledge of important life and educational skills without cost”. John holds the following degrees: M.S. Ed in Reading Education K-12, 1976 & MATESL, 1992.