Integrated English and Customer Service Training
Career Field: Retail / Hospitality
Adult Career Pathway: Retail Salesperson, Retail Supervisor
Type: On-ramp
Prepares Students for:
- Getting a job
- Entering a bridge program
- Engaging in their community
Target Student Population: ESL students, CASAS Reading 200 – 220, who are seeking employment
Access Curriculum: View Materials
Course Description: This course prepares students to work in customer service jobs or enter more advanced retail career education training. Students learn basic job search and employability skills. Students also gain knowledge of customer service and retail job-specific skills such as working with customers and following workplace procedures. The course integrates English language instruction and literacy skills. The learning experience is enhanced by having students volunteer weekly at an on-site food shelf.
Duration of Course: Two-hour classes, five days a week, 14 weeks = 140 hours of instruction
Curriculum materials: Includes daily objectives and suggested instructional materials. Each two-week unit has overarching objectives, which are laid out in a Scope and Sequence document. Draws from three primary ESL textbooks – At Work in the U.S., On The Job English, and ReadThis Series – and three primary online sources – changeagent.nelrc.org, newsela.com, and osha.gov.
Curriculum pluses: Includes very organized and detailed scope and sequence with daily lesson plans. Strong integration of language and literacy instruction. Well-defined objectives, standards alignment and a student syllabus are also provided.
Curriculum drawbacks: Most suggested instructional materials are drawn from a variety of textbooks that would need to be purchased. The volunteer aspect of the learning experience – working in a thrift shop – is not clearly integrated into the course.
Authors: John Ashby and Kaija Bergen, Neighborhood House
Created: 2017
Contact:
John Ashby
Neighborhood House
651-789-2522 / [email protected]