Letter 1

Hi Hania,

My name is Brenda Murphy, founder of the newly launched OnlineSchool.org - a new and expanding project that allows users to search and locate all non-profit higher education institutions with online course offerings. Seeing your reference to AccreditedOnlineColleges.org here hltmag.co.uk/feb13/lett.htm, I wanted to make you aware of OnlineSchool.org's existence as a credible additional resource for those immersed in the college search to refer to.

Online schooling is an increasingly viable and a particularly economical higher education solution for individuals of all ages. Through the project's robust search function, we have created an experience that allows individuals to search and locate the non-profit online college solution best suited to them. A resource that is 100% free, I'd be honored if you would post a link to OnlineSchool.org on your website as a college search resource for prospective students.

Please let me know if you have any questions at all. Thank you for reading and please let me know if you do decide to post a link!

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Kind Regards,
Brenda Murphy

Letter 2

The Phrasal Verbs Machine

A FREE app for phrasal verbs practice

Install on iPod , iPad or Android

This new app helps students to discover the fun in learning phrasal verbs and improving their knowledge of English. Each verb is explained and illustrated in a memorable context, with plenty of practice. Translation in five languages will be helpful to learners with low level of English.

Try it today and recommend it to your students!

Check out other Cambridge apps here.

Letter 3

Dear Hania

I teach students at C1 level. How is the Disabled Access Friendly campaign useful to me?

One of the joys of teaching at C1 level is that your students’ level of language is by now sufficiently advanced to allow you to explore abstract as well as concrete issues with them. The difficulty is finding suitable material that not only builds and practises skills, but also stimulates your students’ interest and motivates them to participate in discussions and follow up activities.

Of course, both you and your students know that education is not only about acquiring knowledge and skills; education embraces social justice, respect for others, and the promotion of well-being, truth, fairness and equality. Your students want to come away from your classes feeling that their eyes have been opened to something more than just the difference between the past simple and the present perfect. Raising awareness about the world in which we live in order to improve the lives of others and to leave the community and world a better place than you found it, is a cornerstone of education. Most course books up to C1 level will already have touched social responsibility issues. An issue that is not often touched is the challenge faced by people with mobility disability.

The voluntary Disabled Access Friendly campaign focuses on these issues and paves the way to changes being made both in attitude and infrastructure so that people with mobility disability are less isolated, have better access to the world, and are empowered to live more independent lives. The campaign’s EFL website, www.disabled-accessfriendly.com, provides teachers with free online lesson plans and reading texts. These can be used as additional material, for project work or examination practice. At the same time they provide students with the information necessary to allow them to put themselves in the shoes of someone with a mobility disability and stimulate them to understand others and to think how others feel.

Why not consider using some of the campaign’s graded reading texts with your C1 students to stimulate discussion and critical thinking, as the campaign’s text allow readers to see things from someone else’s perspective?.

It may be helpful at this stage to have a look at some of these texts in more detail, so you can see how you could use these with your C1 students.

“Being a tetraplegic isn’t a lifestyle choice” is a text suitable for older teenagers and adults, and talks about some of the advantages of being a wheelchair user, which may come as a surprise to readers. The text shows ways of description by contrast and expression of advantages and disadvantages.

A personal account of the emotional effects of becoming a wheelchair user entitled “I use a manual wheelchair every day”, starts in a similarly positive way but goes on to talk about loss of identity and how hard it is for the writer to come to terms with the fact that he could do so much more if his body hadn’t let him down. This is a moving piece, which can lead to an extended discussion.

A text more suited to young adults and entitled “Meeting the parents” is again written from the point of view of a wheelchair user and asks what the parents of your new girl/boyfriend are truly afraid of when they find out their child has a relationship with a wheelchair user.

The best teachers have always done more than just prepare students for tests. They raise awareness of the world in which we live and try to make it a better place. We invite you to visit our site www.disabled-accessfriendly.com for material to help you be one of those teachers.

Best
Katie Quartano