| With the continuing expansion of English as an integral | | | | languages; True Cognates have the same or similar |
| communications tool for education, science, technology, | | | | meanings, usage and connotation in different languages |
| business and commerce, post-secondary education | | | | while False Cognates have different meanings, usage |
| technical students are increasingly finding themselves in | | | | and connotation in different languageso Connectors - |
| positions requiring them to manage high-technology | | | | words that join simple and complex sentences with |
| studies in technical English. If you teach EFL, technical | | | | others. Examples of connectors are: and, but, or, so. |
| or business English, or teach a technical subject in | | | | They can be of different types, depending on their |
| English, you can use ESP workshops to successfully | | | | function. There are connectors which express addition, |
| promote enhanced reading and comprehension in LEP | | | | contrast, time sequence, choice, cause or resulto |
| learners. | | | | Referents - words that refer to others that have been |
| A group of my Limited English Proficiency (LEP) | | | | used before. They are used to avoid word repetition. |
| students studying an Electronic Engineering class on | | | | Commonly used ones include such parts of speech |
| antenna design had an American textbook in English, | | | | (words) as: pronouns, determiners, quantifiers and |
| so it was necessary for me to convert chapters of | | | | proper nounso Affixes - consist of prefixes and |
| the text into a series of ESP reading and | | | | suffixes. A prefix is a syllable added to the front of a |
| comprehension workshops designed to allow the | | | | root word to make another word with a different |
| students to practice strategies for de-constructing the | | | | grammatical function. A suffix is a syllable added to the |
| written text as an aid to understanding it. | | | | end root of a word to make another word with a |
| A Series of Workshops | | | | different grammatical function |
| When my LEP Spanish-speaking Law faculty students | | | | In addition, a list of key, high-frequency vocabulary is |
| were required to study aspects of Capital Punishment | | | | prepared along with a glossary of technical terms |
| used in the USA, I again produced a series of materials | | | | which may prove to be difficult for the learners. |
| as both written workshops and full multi-media | | | | Pre-reading activities, while-reading and post-reading |
| presentations. | | | | activities are incorporated into the written workshop to |
| For my LEP Economics students to do comparative | | | | complement and round out the total package. A |
| population studies of Colombia (population 44,222,000) | | | | variety of exercise types are used to provide |
| with:o South Korea (population 47,700,000)o Poland | | | | in-context practice with the lexis and grammatical |
| (population 38,587,000)o Argentina (population | | | | elements of the reading. Comprehensive support in the |
| 38,428,000)o South Africa (population 45,026,000)o | | | | form of graphics, photos, diagrams and pictures are |
| Ukraine (population 48,523,000) | | | | included, as are video, animation and sound files when |
| A series of ESP workshops and multi-media | | | | reading and comprehension workshops are produced |
| presentations proved to be invaluable in promoting their | | | | online in websites, blogs or class pages. |
| reading and comprehension of their program's technical | | | | ESP written reading and comprehension workshops |
| materials in English. The process of creating effective | | | | can be an invaluable aid for LEP learners who need to |
| ESP written workshops is not easy, but is well worth | | | | understand and apply technical material related to their |
| the effort required. It both benefits the learners in | | | | field or study or employment. A good workshop may |
| reading and comprehension of difficult written material | | | | take from three to five hours to prepare, but is |
| and develops the resourcefulness and skills of the EFL | | | | timeless and can be used and re-used for years. With |
| teacher. | | | | regular and frequent practice in ESP workshop |
| Preparing the Workshop | | | | preparation, teachers can often reduce preparation |
| In preparing an ESP written workshop, the reading text | | | | time significantly. The benefits to the learners are |
| is broken down into manageable segments which can | | | | uncountable. |
| be more readily understood by LEP learners. Students | | | | If you'd like some examples of complete, prepared |
| are taught to identify in context such elements as:o | | | | ESP written workshops, feel free to e-mail me for an |
| Cognates - words which look the same in different | | | | immediate reply with samples. |