[puddyd]

Good morning to you all,

-Does anyone out there use the AWL in their lessons?

-How do you teach it?
-Do you have a dedicated Vocab lesson or do you just try to bring an awareness of the list/words during your lessons.

We have found that our students are not properly prepared for what is expected of them academically after they have completed foundation(which is where I teach). Their level of English isn ´t very high in our college.They enter on an IELTS band of +- 1.5 /2 and exit on about 3 / 3.5 (i.e from foundation ) which isn ´t great, but it ´s the best we can do .Their attitude towards foundation is that it is ´fundation ´ and they only wake up when it ´s almost too late in the academic year. There are various reasons why it is the way it is, but too many to bore you with for now and it isn ´t really pertinent to my question...s . ;o)

I think by introducing and using the AWL will bridge the gap in all genres and I would like to introduce it in my study skills class and then get the weeks words recycled in all their other lessons [...a tad ambitious, but possible] and would like to get some suggestions from some of you on how you present it, integrate it into the syllabus , how to ensure retention and ensure it is recycled and how to assess it ?

I know I ´m asking a lot , but we are busy brainstorming how to turn the general attitude of the students around and how to change the syllabi ´s to prepare them better for their Diploma and Bachelors courses and so I thought that I would bounce it off you to to get a wider field of expert knowledge into our ´think-tank ´.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing some suggestions
Have an awesome day!!
Rgds
Andrea