WANY ESOL Level 2 Supplemental Materials & Resources
Asthma: The Soap Opera
Breathing Room by Anna Mockler
A touching story of how a family deals with asthma in the youngest child. The whole family becomes involved in researching causes and environmental triggers and coming up with solutions.
Breathing Room Lesson Set (Level 2) developed by Kyra Cubukcuoglu and Moira Taylor
This lesson set of repeated activities focuses on consistent vocabulary development and learning strategies for vocabulary development. Through regular independent reading, journal writing, vocabulary work, face-to-face, question formation activities and several open-ended grammar activities, students learn to take responsibility for their own learning. There are also several lessons geared specifically toward ‘Breathing Room’ which address the health issues raised in the story. Although the lesson set is intended to accompany ‘Breathing Room’, many of the activities could apply to another book.
“Air Pollution and Asthma”: A lesson set for Breathing Room developed by Elaine Roberts
“Air Pollution and Asthma” is a lesson set designed to engage students at a low intermediate level through interactive and purposeful activities focusing especially on vocabulary and goal setting. Students read both a nonfiction book on air pollution as well as the CUNY-produced text, Breathing Room. Work with these texts is supplemented with short, informal research projects. Students are asked to think critically about sources of pollution in their neighborhoods and what impact their actions have.
Title: The ESL Safety Book
Location: Health shelf
Content: Two-page reading with questions called “Asthma and Children”
Title: Your Body in Health and Sickness, Adult Readers Library
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 4 “Breath of Life: The Respiratory System”
Stop Domestic Violence
Title: Reading Changed My Life
Location: Biographies shelf
Content: 3 women overcome abuse and complete their education as adults.
Title: The Literacy Review, volume 7
Location: ESOL Readers Shelf
Content: See “Everybody Deserves the Best” by Carla Martinez (p. 131).
Title: The ESL Safety Book
Location: Health shelf
Content: Two-page reading with questions on calling 911
Title: Women’s Health, A Quick and Easy Guide
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 8 (Violence Against Women)
New Life Café
America is my Fourth Country Lesson Set(Levels 1-2) developed by Kyra Cubukcuoglu
This set of eight lessons demonstrates a variety of communicative ways of working with a book integrating the four skills and grammar in context. America is my fourth country was written by Kati J. and Cyndi Casey and combines immigration issues with those of health literacy, specifically nutrition and exercise. The lesson set includes project-based learning on health issues and publishing a class book.
Maria is a Healthy Person (Level 1) developed by Carol Cage and Cyndi Casey
This is a health curriculum. There are 7 units of varying lengths—Being Healthy and Naming the Parts of the Body; Food; Exercise; Stress; Sleep; Visiting the Doctor; and Making Healthy and Unhealthy Choices. The activities range from small, cooperative groups to whole-class, with both manipulatives and handouts, and free and structured practice. The materials come from books, websites, and original artwork. To supplement the curriculum with higher-level materials, we created a small book based on a real person's life and experiences with the health topics included in the curriculum.
What is Good Food? (Low level - low literacy) developed by Janis Levine
Students learn about food groups, the nutritional value of different foods, and the roles that different nutrients play. The course culminates with students planning a nutritious meal for an end-of-semester party. The curriculum features dialogue practice, short readings, games, and explicit grammar practice using language and structures related to the theme.
Al Gets Sick by Cheryl Georges
A family story about the impact of diabetes on the whole of the family unit: How one person's health can pose difficulties - financial and emotional - on everyone involved.
Sugar by Gretchen Johnson. Illustrated by Frederick Johnson
An account of the history of the sugar trade, its connections with slavery, and its long-term effects on sugar-producing countries.
Title: I Could Leap Through a Cheerio
Location: Health shelf
Content: Student testimonials about diabetes
Title: The ESL Safety Book
Location: Health shelf
Content: Two-page reading with questions on “Visiting a Doctor”
Title: Beyond Prescriptions—Meeting Your Health Needs (A Plain Language Workbook about Health)
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 3, “Making a Health Plan” and Chapter 4, “Supporting Your Health”
Title: Women’s Health A Quick and Easy Guide
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 2 (Exercise)
Title: Staying Well, FYI Series
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapters on How Healthy Are You?, Healthy Eating, Exercise, Keeping Your Weight Down, The Doctor’s Part
Title: Lerner’s Consumer Guide to Health Care
Location: Health shelf
Content: “7 Minutes with the Doctor—How to Get the Most Out of a Doctor Visit,” p. 87-91 and “20 Ways to Save Money on Health Care,” p. 155-159
Title: Learning for Our Health, The Learning Centre Literacy Association
Location: Health shelf
Content: Exercise, Healthy Weight
Title: Medical Language, A Survival Vocabulary (Globe Fearon)
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to visiting a hospital, clinic or doctor
Title: Can’t Stop Talking
Location: Listening/Speaking Shelf
Content: See Unit 16, “Opening a New Restaurant” for an outline of a discussion activity for students to design their own restaurant.
Title: Room and Board (Connections Readers)
Location: ESOL Readers Shelf
Content: A woman struggles to support her uncle with diabetes (fiction)
Title: The Literacy Review, volume 7
Location: ESOL Readers Shelf
Content: See “The Worst Doctor” by Michelle Kao (p. 24-25).
The Hospital
Title: Medical Language, A Survival Vocabulary (Globe Fearon)
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to visiting a hospital, clinic or doctor
Title: More Thematic Activities for Beginners in English
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to health care
Title: Florence Nightingale (Lerner Books)
Location: Biographies Shelf
Content: The biography of a 19th-century nurse who wants to do more
No Smoking
America is my Fourth Country Lesson Set(Levels 1-2) developed by Kyra Cubukcuoglu
This set of eight lessons demonstrates a variety of communicative ways of working with a book integrating the four skills and grammar in context. America is my fourth country was written by Kati J. and Cyndi Casey and combines immigration issues with those of health literacy, specifically nutrition and exercise. The lesson set includes project-based learning on health issues and publishing a class book.
Title: I Could Leap Through a Cheerio
Location: Health shelf
Content: Student testimonials about quitting smoking (levels 3-4)
Title: They Were My Friends
Location: Health shelf
Content: Student testimonials about quitting smoking (levels 1-2)
Title: The ESL Safety Book
Location: Health shelf
Content: Two-page reading with questions on “Visiting a Doctor”
Title: Alcohol and Tobacco (Globe Health Program)
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapters 6-8 on Tobacco, Smoking and Kicking the Habit (reading with comprehension questions)
Title: Women’s Health A Quick and Easy Guide
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 3 (Smoking)
Title: Staying Well, FYI Series
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapters on How Healthy Are You?, Exercise, Keeping Your Weight Down, Quitting Smoking, The Doctor’s Part
Title: Your Body in Health and Sickness, Adult Readers Library
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 4 “Breath of Life: The Respiratory System”
Title: Addictions, Issues & Answers
Location: Health shelf
Content: Chapter 8, “Tobacco—The Devil’s Weed”
Title: The Human Body
Location: Science shelf
Content: Unit 7, “Health and Smoking,” readings and cloze exercises
Title: Medical Language, A Survival Vocabulary (Globe Fearon)
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to visiting a hospital, clinic or doctor
Web Sites
“New Limits Set Over Marketing for Cigarettes,” August 18, 2006.
See, for example, “Special Report: Internet Tobacco Sales”: “Kids as young as 11 were successful more than 90 percent of the time in purchasing cigarettes over the Internet…”.
See, for example, “Fact Sheets” on Cessation and Fast Facts. Order up to 5 free publications such as cessation posters or booklets.
See, for example, “Tips for the First Week of Smoking Cessation,” “10 Inspirational Quit Smoking Series,” “Gathering Supplies to Help You Quit Smoking,” “101 Things to Do Instead of Smoking.”
Access “Health Topics A-Z” then Smoking Cessation. See, for example, “New York City Smoke-Free Air Act of 2002.”
Publications by the New York State Smokers’ Quitline (1-866-NY-QUITS). See, for example, “Welcome to the New York State Smokers’ Quitline” (an introduction to their services), “How to Deal with Nicotine Withdrawal,” “How to Help a Smoker Stop Smoking,” and “4000 Chemicals Are Found in Cigarette Smoke!”.
Stay in School
Lesson Set for Jesse’s Story (Level 2) developed by Kyra Cubukcuoglu and Moira Taylor
A young boy works through changes and solves the problem of depression. This set of 15 lessons works on skills to guide students in reading the book Jesse’s Story. The activities guide the students in becoming active language learners as well as pro-active health conscious citizens. The lesson set combines the health literacy issues in the story with communicative activities that build on the grammar and language of the book.
Title: Rich and Poor Schools (New Readers Press)
Location: ESOL Readers Shelf
Content: Short story and non-fiction summary about inequality in education.
Title: Carmen, Fitting In (Everything’s Different Readers)
Location: PDF
Content: Carmen transitions from the ESL program at her high-school.
Title: Donna, A Helping Hand (Everything’s Different Readers)
Location: PDF
Content: Donna struggles with starting a new school.
Welcome Parents
Raising a Child(Level 1)developed by Jenny Kim
This curriculum is designed to serve students who are parents of young children. The general goals for the students are as follows—to share the experiences of being a parent, to acquire the communicative skills to introduce ourselves and our families in both formal and informal settings, to become more aware of issues they face as parents in New York City, and to become aware of the resources that the city has to offer to kids and parents. Although the curriculum is designed for parents, there are many activities that can be adapted for other contexts.
Title: The ESL Safety Book
Location: Health shelf
Content: Two-page reading with questions on “School Safety” [parental involvement]
Love and Money
Money: How it Works for the Consumerdeveloped by Mila Milan
This curriculum introduces students to basic economic concepts relative to decision-making around money issues. Students practice reading, writing, speaking and listening to English while they learn about the history of money, differences between goods and services, and buying and selling. They also explore practical issues such as how to make a budget, whether to use credit, and basic banking. Communicative activities are often task-based and involve students in prioritizing about real-life economic decisions based on the materials they have read.
Taking Action for a Safe Workplace (Multi-Level ESOL & Pre-GED) developed by Marsha Love
Immigrant workers have the most dangerous jobs in New York City. Help your students learn to identify hazards on their jobs, understand their legal rights to a safe workplace, find appropriate medical and legal assistance if they become injured, strategize about measures to improve their working conditions, and discover resources to assist them in exercising their rights —while they build their English vocabulary and practice contextualized reading, grammar and writing activities related to these issues. Adopting a problem-posing method and a Freirean approach, this curriculum uses picture stories, role plays, a jazz chant, body mapping and other techniques to help students ponder their work lives and what they can do to improve them. In addition to activities for students, this curriculum provides teachers with basic background information about the OSHA law and workers’ compensation system. You don’t need to be an expert in these areas to teach this curriculum.
“Fairness at Work” developed by Hillary Gardner
Students discuss the issue of fairness at work through the story of Ruya, a Turkish immigrant mother who loses her job when she fails to follow the rules. Did her boss discriminate against her? How will she solve her problem and who will help? We will cover how to read, community resources to solve real-world work issues, and classroom activities to bridge reading with speaking skills. Students love this story because Ruya’s family experiences many different kinds of problems as new immigrants to the U.S. While the main theme of the curriculum focuses on jobs and issues on the job, students who do not work still identify with the text.
Title: The ESL Safety Book
Location: Health shelf
Content: Two-page reading with questions on “Work Safety Organizations”
Title: English for Living, The Restaurant
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Read and understand a menu, order a meal and talk to the waiter or waitress
Title: Clothing Language, A Survival Vocabulary (Globe Fearon)
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to buying clothes, what to wear
Title: Your Money at Work, Taxes (Heinemann)
Location: ESOL Readers Shelf
Content: All about taxes
Title: Everyday Banking, Consumer Banking (Heinemann)
Location: ESOL Readers Shelf
Content: Bank accounts, loans, credit, etc.
Title: Mina, Stop Thief! (Everything’s Different Readers)
Location: PDF
Content: Mina learns what to do when her wallet and bank information are stolen at the mall.
The Wedding
Companion Guides to Take the Subway, Neighborhood Places, Which Way is North? (Level 1) developed by David Hellman
These short CUNY-produced books deal with immigrant experiences in getting around NYC. The companion guides work on reading strategies and build on the language structures in the books. Take the Subway and Neighborhood Places are project-based and conclude with students creating a book or conducting research on the NYC Subway.
Where am I? Where am I going? (Level 1) developed by Jenny Kim and Leah Youman
This set of eight lessons uses basic geography (World, US and NYC) as a context in which to learn English. Students work in a variety of group formations on activities including: reading, creating, and describing various maps; a neighborhood scavenger hunt; writing and giving subway directions; a field trip to a museum; and using the Internet to view satellite images of NYC neighborhoods. Students are given ample opportunity throughout the lessons to relate the information to their lives and to learn about each other.
Title: Transportation Language, A Survival Vocabulary (Globe Fearon)
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to methods of transportation
Title: Thematic Activities for Beginners in English
Location: Picture Dictionary/Vocabulary shelf
Content: Word attack exercises related to methods of transportation
Title: Beatriz, A Designer’s Dream (Everything’s Different Readers)
Location: PDF
Content: A seamstress must figure out how to take over her aunt’s business.
All Episodes
New York City(Level 2) developed by Nadine Boosin and Cheryl Georges
This curriculum, intended for beginning and intermediate ESOL and ABE students, familiarizes students with New York City and American history through readings, conversational practice, and class trips. The core text for the curriculum is New York City Then and Now. The curriculum includes a field trip.
New York City through the Senses(Level 2)developed by Gayle Cooper and Monica Gonzales
This curriculum features an adapted version of the text A Natural History of the Senses. It contains an introductory unit and units on hearing, seeing, and smell. Each unit contains poetry and expository material related to the physiological and cultural aspects of sense and includes reading, writing, speaking/listening and grammar activities. Units also include activities which require students to explore their communities while focusing on the sense covered in the unit. Two of the units include field trips to local museums. See also: New York City through the Senses expanded and adapted for High Level 1 – Low 2 by Kyra Cubukcuoglu.