Hi,
I was wondering if anyone delivers any of the SQA ESOL units in a community setting? What units do you use and how do you assess? Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated :-)
Avril Morrison
In Inverclyde we have delivered all the 'old' units - access 2 - Higher etc and now we can deliver National 2 - 4 and we have recently put several learners through the ESOL: Preparation for Literacy qualification in order for them to progress to the local college.
Hi Avril,
Yes,we* do all the units too.
Which levels are you looking at? We're currently working on simplifying the assessment packs to make things clearer for our assessors. Happy to send you them if that helps.
Cheers,
Justin
*Edinburgh College, Community-based ESOL
Hi Justin,
I've sent you a PM, it would be great to know the course codes and how you assess. We are looking at offering Levels 2-4.
Thanks for your help.
Avril
Can't see your message Avril. Might have misclicked and deleted it somehow.
Can you email me? justin.sales@edinburghcollege.ac.uk
Hi Lisa,
That's interesting to know, how do you assess the old units, do your learners sit an exam or can you do it by portfolio?
How does offering National2-4 qualifications work in the community, do all your learners start in September and sit an exam in May?
I've seen the ESOL literacy support materials on the SQA website, but I'm not sure what course code they link to? Ideally we'd like to offer something similar to a Core Skill, that learners can start at any time and we can evidence by portfolio, but I'm not sure if that is possible?
Avril
We no longer deliver the old units as they are obsolete.
The unit code for the ESOL: Prep for Literacy is HA1R 72.
We support learners 1-1 or in small groups to prepare for assessment and then use the unit NABS.
HI Lisa,
That's useful to know and sounds similar to what we aim to do. Thanks
Avril
Hi Avril We do ESOL for Everyday Life in Angus Local Authority in a community setting at N2, N3 and N4 and assess using the NABS available.
Best wishes
Neil Paterson
Hi Avril,
we deliver N2 through N4. The majority of our learners are N2 level but we also offer classes at N3 and N4. For N2 we do the assessments ourselves, for N3 and N4 we prepare the students but they have the assessment performed at the local college. Although we prefer students to join at the start of a term, we are fairly flexible. We also don't tend to offer the SQA qualification to the majority of out students as we have found that most of them don't have a great interest in a qualification, more just learning the language for work and social purposes.
We assessed 10 people on the HA1R 72 - Preparation for Literacy, earlier this year and 8 students went to the local college and were assessed for ESOL SQA N3.
For the preparation for literacy we used the materials that SQA provides on their website, along with One Stop English materials and various materials from New English File and Upper Headway.
Hope this helps.
Hi Lorna,
Thanks for your reply. Our local college use the New English File and we also use some of the Headway resources. It's useful to know the course code for the preparation for literacy though, so thank you!
Avril