Be careful what you wish for ...

Last week I came across a fascinating, rather alarming and very readable paper on the Canadian literacies online site (Issue 8, Spring 2008)
It's written by James Simpson, University of Leeds, and I recommend having a good read especially if you: teach ESOL, hate unnecessary paperwork, and/or don't believe ESOL is a "Skill for Life".
Skills for Life in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or Be careful what you wish for
It's also available as a PDF and, apparently, there is a forthcoming book.

First Blog - welcome!

The idea behind this blog is to encourage feedback (positive and negative) from http://www.skillsworkshop.org/ users.

I have been 'meaning to get around' to this for quite some time and would like to thank resource contributors Ginette and Amanda for their enouragement to get started.

Activity on the site will be slowing down over the summer but please use this Blog as a place to discuss, or get help with, with any site-related or Skills for Life topics.

Here's a few suggestions to get you started!

• Resources you love!
• Resources that didn't work for you / your learners
• Amusing student stories
• How you have used / adapted resources for your own learner groups
• Resources you would like to see on site
• Resources you have used but now can't find on the site
• Vocational topics you would like to see covered in the contextualised resource area http://www.skillsworkshop.org/context.htm
• Functional skills
• How you would improve the site
• Why you have never sent in a contribution
• Why you have sent in contributions

Hope to hear from you soon...