I am very well aware that many teachers are under pressure, due to COVID-19, to produce distance learning arrangements for their students very quickly. So, I am working hard to adapt teaching material on this site for Student Access purposes. Most of the existing teaching pages were primarily designed for teacher use – for teachers to present the material in their own way, face-to-face, and adapted to the needs of their particular students. Distance learning pages in this site, identified as ‘Student Access’, are intended to be presented directly to students, to be studied online … the same material as on the parent page can be used, but instructions have to be given, and the format changed.

This blog, then, is to update everyone on where to find Student Access pages, and to summarise what is available.  

The main body of Student Access pages can be found under ‘Themes, 2018 onwards’. If you look on the sitemap, scrolling down this column, you will see titles beginning ‘TASKS…’ – these are Student Access pages, subordinate to the parent page, and containing much of the same material, adapted to distance learning. Typically, such pages contain these types of tasks:

‘Read & reflect’ – students are asked to read the stimulus text(s), reflect on their responses, and make notes  

‘Detailed reading’ – usually, one or more online quizzes, testing comprehension through MCQs, gap-fill, and the like

‘Writing’ – a writing task, drawing on the subject matter of the stimulus text, and intended to practice one of the required text types

As an example, have a look at the page TASKS Skim reading...new normal 

When appropriate, ‘TASKS’ pages will also contain a ‘Discussion’ task (where you can set up an assignment for students to participate in an online chat). I am working to insert more of such discussion tasks.

In addition, I strongly recommend the Guest Pages written by Beata Mirecka-Jakubowska. You can find these at the start of each Theme section (‘Identities’, ‘Experiences’, etc) – their titles all include the word “unit” e.g.  Identity unit: Beliefs & values . These pages were written as models for how to plan face-to-face teaching, but they contain a mass of useful tasks, based on links to videos and reference materials, all of which can be adapted to distance learning.

Now, Student Access pages are not just found under ‘Themes, 2018 onwards’. Have a look at the following:

Diagnostic tests – you’ll find these under ‘Language System’, and they offer a series of grammar tests, based on gap-fill exercises. Note that these can be done as a full exam comprising three texts; or you can use each of the three texts as individual tests. The texts are ranked by difficulty of grammar items - #A is the easiest, #C is the more challenging.

Key Language Issues  – also under ‘Language System’, most of the pages in this section are available for Student Access. They offer simple and clear explanations of important elements of grammar, for students to study on their own.

And finally…

The qBank – a system that provides over 1000 grammar-based questions for you to compose into online exercises for your students. You can access this by, in the Home page, clicking on ‘Student Access’ (top left), then on ‘qBank’ … and just follow instructions (refer to ‘Help’ as necessary, and have a look at the introductory page The qBank, which explains how the system works). The data base of over 1000 questions is sub-divided into sections dealing with common language problems that students face, so you can target exercises at individual difficulties. The two important sub-divisions can be found in the following pages:   qBank - basics & common flaws  and  qBank - transferable academic language (TAL) .

That’s enough for now. I just wanted to give you a concise, clear review of the variety of stuff available, so that you can start drawing on it. Remember that over the next month or so, I will be adding newly adapted Student Access material – a new page every day, if I can keep up the pace I’ve managed recently!

(PS - All of the above refers to materials usable within the Student Access system of setting assignments, monitoring completion, and recording marks. You can use ALL of the teaching material on the site, by (a) downloading the handouts of the stimulus material + worksheets, as for a face-to-face class; then (b) sending these to students by email, for them to print out and complete; and finally (c) requiring the students to email your work back to you for monitoring and marking. Not quite as smart and convenient as the Student Access system, but perfectly effective, and offers the widest possible selection of resources.)