english for caregivers

Question:
Does anyone know if any online links to "English for Caregivers" materials? I have a lot of students that are involved in this field.

Answer:
In case your learners might benefit, (not sure of their level) here is a link to Project Care mostly geared to high-intermediate ESL students. It provides some case studies, multimedia (vocabulary and authentic listening practice) and projects on such topics as Depression, Alzheimer's Disease, Death and Dying. See projectcare.worlded.org.

Project Care is a World Education project.

World Education is dedicated to improving the lives of the poor through education, and economic and social development programs.

Workplace: Health and Safety

Health and Safety 101 is an e-course developed by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario, for workers 24 years old and younger.

The course also prepares you for the Passport to Safety test and online program. The Passport program is for people who want to get nationally recognized certificate, or Passport, to show employers they have a basic level of health and safety knowledge.

Go to Health and Safety 101.

Choose high speed if you are using a cable or DSL internet connection or low speed if you are using a dial up connection. If you use high speed, you can see videos and some of the information will be read out loud. If you use low speed, you will have to read all of the information so if you need help with the reading make sure a tutor is with you.

Look at the menu bar along the top.

Click on Safety Roles.

A menu will pop down.


Click on Your Rights - You will be looking at pages 12-21 of the Safety Roles lesson.

You can watch more, but that is the part we are talking about today.

Find out:
* What are our 3 health and safety rights?
* What are the 4 steps we can take if we are not safe at work

If you want to learn more about the Right to Refuse,
click here to listen to a story from the Learning Edge.

If you want to learn more about safety in different workplaces,
click here to see how well you can Fix the Hazard.

2. When you have looked at the websites, click on the comments link and tell us what you saw. Here are some questions to think about:

What websites did you look at?
What information was new to you?
What information surprised you the most?
What questions do you still have about health and safety in the workplace?
Where do you think you could find the answers?

Workplace: Health and Safety - Fix the Hazard

These virtual games from Australia help us learn to identify and solve safety hazards.

This was a way to get a certificate. You cannot get a certificate any more but you can still play the games.

You will need a high speed connection and the Macromedia Flash 6 Player to be installed on your computer. If you do not have the Flash Player installed, you can download the player by visiting Macromedia's Flash Download Centre and following their installation instructions.

To play the games, move your mouse over the pictures.
When the arrow turns into a hand, you have found a hazard.
Click on it.
A multiple choice quiz will pop up.
Read the options and click on the one you think is the best solution.

Choose the workplace you work in most and see how well you do.

Play the Safe Office Game

Play the Safe Kitchen Game

Play the Safe Hotel Game

Play the Safe Supermarket Game

Health: The Human Body

Click here to open The Virtual Body.

A new page will open up.
Choose English.

You will see pictures of the inside of your body.
The pictures will be cartoon like the ones on this page, not photographs.
Some people do not like looking at pictures like this.
If you do not like looking at pictures like this, choose another activity.

Click on The Human Skeleton.
Click on Bones Narrated and listen to the information.
You can read along.
When you have heard the information, try the Build a Skeleton game.

Click on Comments.
Write a message and tell us:

• which activity you did
• what you liked about it
• what you did not like about it
• 3 things you learned
• which activity you are going to try next at the Virtual Body
  

Health: Our Bodies

We are going to read and write about what makes us magic!
You can write a poem or a story.
You can write about your body or something that you can do that makes you feel magic.

Read the stories and poems below.
Write your own poem or story about how your body is magic.

Read a poem.
This poem is by a former construction worker called Kate Braid.

There is a story about Kate Braid in a literacy reader called Coast-to-Coast Reader by Joan Acosta. You might have it in your program.

These Hips
by Kate Braid

Some hips are made for bearing
children, built like stools
square and easy, right
for the passage of birth.

Others are built like mine.
A child’s head might never pass
but load me up with two-by-fours
and watch me
bear.

When the men carry sacks of concrete
they hold them high, like boys.
I bear mine low, like a girl
on small, strong hips
built for the birth
of buildings.

Read a story.

There is a story that you can read.
It is by a literacy student called Brenda Meyers.
It is about her favourite body part.
She wrote the story after reading the poem by Kate Braid.
You can see the story here.

Listen to a poem.

You can find the poem to listen to here.
It is called homage to my hips and it is by Lucille Clifton.
A homage is a way of showing respect to someone – or something.

In this poem, she talks about her magic hips.
She also talks about being sexy.
I do not think it is rude.
I think it is funny.
But everybody has different ideas about what is rude and what is funny.
If you think that this will make you feel uncomfortable, do not listen to the poem.
Or if you are worried about people in the program overhearing the poem – use headphones.

When you click on the link, wait for the poem to load – watch the blue bar grow – and then click PLAY.

You can read the poem below.

homage to my hips
by Lucille Clifton

these hips are big hips
they need space to move around in
they don't fit into little, petty places

these hips are free hips
they don't like to be held back
these hips have never been enslaved
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do

these hips are mighty hips
these hips are are MAGIC hips
I have known these hips to put a spell on a man and to spin him like a top.

Health: Nutrition

Think about a question you have about your body and how to keep it healthy.

Which story do you think will answer your question?

Pick a story that looks interesting.

If your question is about eating in a healthy way, these stories might help:
1. Ingredient labels
2. Less meat more beans
3. Nutrition facts
4. Men don’t eat enough vegetables

Write a review of the story you read.
Write your review as a paragraph.
Do not write it as a list of answers to the questions.
Make it interesting for other students to read.

Then read some of the reviews by other students. Which story will you read next?

Some questions to think about for your review:

Did the story answer your question?
Was the story easy or difficult to read and understand?
Was the story interesting or boring?
Would you recommend this story to other students?
How many stars (from 1 to 5) would you give this story?

Health: Taking Care

Think about a question you have about your body and how to keep it healthy.

Which story do you think will answer your question?

Pick a story that looks interesting.

1. Active living - Ken's story
2. Preparing for a doctor’s appointment – vocabulary and comprehension
3. Feeling the blues – vocabulary and comprehension
4. Menopause

Write a review of the story you read.
Write your review as a paragraph.
Do not write it as a list of answers to the questions.
Make it interesting for other students to read.

Then read some of the reviews by other students. Which story will you read next?

Some questions to think about for your review:

Did the story answer your question?
Was the story easy or difficult to read and understand?
Was the story interesting or boring?
Would you recommend this story to other students?
How many stars (from 1 to 5) would you give this story?