Even if your own college hasn’t yet created the kinds of contextualized ESL courses or career pathways for foreign-educated ESL students that other community colleges have, there’s a lot you can include in your own lesson plans to help your students prepare for better jobs.

A useful resource for ESL instructors who are teaching foreign-educated immigrants is WES Global Talent Bridge’s “Supporting Skilled Immigrants: A Toolkit for ESL Practitioners.” You will find plenty of ideas for lesson plans as well as links to entire curricula that can help you prepare skilled immigrants for the workplace.

Use this checklist to learn more about preparing your ESL students for the workplace:

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Checklist

Do you have the necessary resources to advise foreign health care professionals in your ESL classes?

Great. If you haven’t already, you should check out the English Health Train, a ready-made curriculum developed as part of the Welcome Back Initiative for international health care professionals. It consists of 320 hours of contextualized, communicative activities in five major modules and 40 hours of web-based listening exercises. The modular design of the curriculum allows you to pick and choose whichever parts you think would be most relevant to your students.

Your College should check out the English Health Train, a ready-made curriculum developed as part of the Welcome Back Initiative for international health care professionals. It consists of 320 hours of contextualized, communicative activities in five major modules and 40 hours of web-based listening exercises. The modular design of the curriculum allows you to pick and choose whichever parts you think would be most relevant to your students.

Do you have the necessary resources to advise a mixed group of students with a variety of professional backgrounds in your ESL classes?

Great. Another great resource to use in the classroom is the National College Transition Network’s curriculum, "Integrating Career Awareness into the ABE and ESOL Classroom". This publication includes a 210-page curriculum, complete with downloadable handouts, and provides support to ESL instructors who want to help their students set personal and career goals, inventory their skills, understand how to apply to college, and learn how to use the Internet to explore career options.

A great resource to prepare you is the National College Transition Network’s curriculum, "Integrating Career Awareness into the ABE and ESOL Classroom". This publication includes a 210-page curriculum, complete with downloadable handouts, and provides support to ESL instructors who want to help their students set personal and career goals, inventory their skills, understand how to apply to college, and learn how to use the Internet to explore career options.

Do you feel prepared to advise your foreign-educated ESL students about education and careers in the U.S.?

Although your college or department may already have procedures in place on how and when to refer your ESL students to an academic or career advisor, it’s still worth being aware of and keeping in mind the resources described in Chapter 3 on academic and career advising. The webinars and other links included in that chapter can readily be turned into speaking and listening activities for your intermediate and advanced ESL classes. 

Then it’s worth being aware of and keeping in mind the resources described in Chapter 3 on academic and career advising. The webinars and other links included in that chapter can readily be turned into speaking and listening activities for your intermediate and advanced ESL classes.