Says ESB’s Product Development Manager, Anthea Wilson, “After listening to our centres’ requests for more resources, we are delighted to launch these new sample papers. Here at ESB, we aim to ensure all centres and learners feel supported from the outset, right through to completion of their ESB journey. We are committed to supporting teachers and helping them to encourage and fulfil the potential of learners. We hope that these new sample papers will enable teachers, tutors and learners to effectively prepare for their assessments and gain the maximum benefit from their ESB experience.”
Why should your centre take ESB’s ESOL SfL assessments?
ESB’s ESOL SfL assessments facilitate language development to help learners become competent in core language skills; reading, writing and speaking and listening, and to obtain the vital skills that support engagement in daily life activities, develop further learning and independence, and gain or progress to meaningful and sustainable employment.
Below are just some of the benefits of ESB ESOL Skills for Life qualifications:
If you believe that your learners would benefit from our ESOL Skills for Life assessments, we would love to hear from you. Please email our Business Development Team at business@esbuk.org to find out whether your centre is eligible for funding and support through our 70/70 Campaign.
ESB would like to wish its centres and learners a happy, healthy and heart-warming Easter break.
The officesof English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. will be closed from Thursday 14th April and will re-open on Tuesday 19th April, 2022. All queries will be answered as soon as we return.
ESB celebrates its 70th Anniversary in 2023!
2023 marks the 70th Anniversary of ESB. This important milestone is being celebrated through ESB’s 70/70 campaign that aims to reach out to more organisations where children, young people and adults face disadvantage. The 70/70 campaign supports organisations financially to access its wide range of speech and language assessments.If you believe your learners or young people would benefit from developing key speaking and listening skills, we would love to hear from you! Please email business@esbuk.org to find out whether your centre is eligible for funding and support.
Designed for learners who speak English as an additional language, ESB’s Graded Examinations in Speech (EAL) qualifications enable individuals to flourish in their ability to communicate with confidence – equipping them with the tools needed to thrive in education, training and employment.
Learners can develop their confidence and interactional competence as well as their speaking, reading and listening skills through ESB’s Ofqual accredited qualifications.
ESB’s Product Development Manager, Anthea Wilson says, “Updating the specifications for these qualifications has really highlighted what an exciting opportunity they are for our learners whose mother tongue is not English and who would benefit from developing confidence by working on their speaking and listening skills. At ESB International, we stretch the most able and support the least confident, and using these Speech EAL qualifications alongside or instead of the Awards in Speech mean that all our learners can achieve their full potential.”
We encourage you to consider these qualifications for your learners if you are looking for assessments that:
promote oracy
help learners to use their voice effectively
accommodate the linguistic development of English language learners
support progression onto the mainstream school curricula
enrich cultural capital
are mapped to the National Curriculum in England in relation to its requirements in Spoken Language and Reading at Key Stages 1 and 2
reference the descriptions of language proficiency at A1, A2 and B1 in the Common European Framework Reference for Languages (CEFR)
Can you combine ESB’s Entry Level Awards in Graded Examinations in Speech EAL with ESB’s Graded Examinations in Speech to suit learners’ needs?
Yes, the structure of the ESB Entry Level Awards in Graded Examinations in Speech EAL qualifications allows learners to be assessed in a group of six, alongside learners entered for the ESB Graded Examinations in Speech. The diagram below shows recommended combinations based on the content of the assessment and the timing per learner.
ESB celebrates its 70th Anniversary in 2023!
As demonstrated through its 70/70 campaign, ESB is passionate about closing the disadvantage gap. Steadfast in its determination to reduce the impacts of disadvantage on speaking and listening skills, it wants to reach schools where learners facing disadvantage due to socio-economic factors, special educational needs and disabilities, and/or migration status and enable them to embed Oracy education and access its qualifications.
If you believe your learners or young people would benefit from an Oracy journey which includes ESB assessments, we would love to hear from you! Please email business@esbuk.org to find out whether your centre is eligible for funding and support.
Since its inception almost 70 years ago, ESB’s never-diminishing focus and mission to unlock learners’ potential – to stretch the most able, support the least confident and close the disadvantage gap – is more poignant than ever as we celebrate Neurodiversity Week!
ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw with ESB learners at Belfast Metropolitan College
According to theDepartment of Education in England, 15% of studentsin the United Kingdom have a learning difference.
Founded in 2018 by Siena Castellon, an advocate for autism acceptance and neurodiversity in schools and the workplace, Neurodiversity Celebration Week celebrates people with learning differences.
The initiative aims to encourage educators to recognise the strengths and talents of neurodivergent learners and aims to educate teachers on how to identify and support them. Despite the significant percentage of students being neurodiverse, in England, teachers often do not feel sufficiently trained to provide a curriculum where the needs of neurodiverse learners are met.
Parallel to Siena’s vision – to educate and foster supportive environments for the neurodivergent, and to change the way they are perceived and supported – is ESB’s vision, reflected in its dedication to embrace inclusivity and to empower all its learners, through its assessments, to achieve their potential.
“By celebrating the strengths of neurodivergent individuals, we can begin the seismic shift of changing the way neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported, empowering them to achieve their potential”.Siena Castellon
ESB’s long-term commitment to supporting neurodivergent learners is demonstrated by its unique Speech portfolio of qualifications for learners with significant special educational needs and disabilities. By enabling its learners to develop key oracy and communication skills, ESB’s Speech assessments enable learners with special educational needs and disabilities to develop a sense of belonging, encouraging autonomy, as well as facilitating the fulfilment of potential.
Speaking at the Oracy APPG launch in April 2018 about his perspective on social mobility as a learner with Asperger’s, one of ESB’s Ambassadors commented that although recognising that like many people who live with Asperger’s he had good language skills, he felt that oracy training enhanced his communication skills. He recounted:
I wanted social communication but didn’t know how to go about getting it. That changed in Year 4 when I found ESB, which was so beneficial to me. It helped me with presenting skills, it helped me with eye contact which I used to struggle with a lot, it also showed me how to interact with people. It also helped me to listen to people, I didn’t know how to see things from other people’s perspectives but talking to people and learning to understand them was brilliant. I also experienced an unparalleled sense of achievement with every qualification I got, which boosted my confidence even more. Oracy Skills, developed from an early age can help bridge the social mobility gap for people like me, with disabilities such as Autism.
Tina Renshaw ESB’s Chief Executive, says:
We all want to be seen, be heard and understood, and for our strengths to be appreciated and for barriers to learning to be removed. ESB’s purpose to positively impact and provide inclusivity and the same opportunities for learners with significant learning disabilities is part of a wider campaign – its 70/70 Campaign. ESB aims to reach out to disadvantaged learners (those facing disadvantage from socio-economic factors, migration, and special educational needs and disabilities) and will support their schools, colleges and organisations financially to access its assessments, support and training. ESB’s trainers share with teachers classroom activities to build oracy skills and knowledge as well as guiding teachers to understand the levels of performance and its assessment criteria.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week is about promoting acceptance, tolerance, and understanding of difference. With its work and through its 70/70 Campaign, ESB endeavours to ensure that every learner reaches their full potential and embraces their unique super power!
If you are interested in our refreshed portfolio of Speech qualifications for learners with special educational needs and disabilities, we would love to hear from you! Please contact a member of our Business Development Team at business@esbuk.org for further information.
