ESL Resources

The Carringbush Reading Series features stories and language from everyday life that are relevant to adult English language and literacy learners. The materials are designed to be used as reading resources and as tools in the classroom to accompany lessons on themes such a daily routines, going to a doctor appointment, employment pathways, and other topics.

This website contains instructions for scaffolding reading texts and speaking activities for literacy level learners, resource lists, and videos of literacy level classroom instruction.

This collection of beloved theme-based readers for beginning levels of ESL literacy has been discontinued (in late 2024). They are no longer available at the Bow Valley College site. However, colleagues at the Immigrant Welcome Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, have a number of the readers posted (with permission) on their Adult ELL Pathway to Literacy website. This document outlines the changes and how to find these materials.

This curriculum builds literacy skills and incorporates level-appropriate Transitions skills identified by the ATLAS program's Academic, Career & Employability Skills (ACES) initiative, as outlined in the Transitions Integration Framework (TIF), into every life skill unit.

English language learners at many levels need additional assistance with building their phonetic awareness and strengthening their phonetic decoding abilities. The Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Kit provides a variety of activities that can be used with low-beginning to high-intermediate levels of English language learners.

This section of the Literacy Centre of Expertise website offers both interactive (with audio) and downloadable (PDF) student and teacher materials. There are phonics stories, "Interactive Foundational Stories" (dealing with oral language, vocabulary and comprehension), and stories dealing with word families and sight words, all written for adult language learners.