English Speaking Board (International) Ltd

Author: Liam Morton

  • Celebrating Success! 2019 Young Speakers of the Year

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. held its annual Young Speakers of the Year Showcase on Saturday, 16th November. Winners travelled from around the country to Liverpool to attend the celebration and receive their awards at the ‘home of champions’ Aintree Racecourse.

    Out of 12,000 learners who took ESB Speech assessments in 2018-19, 10 were selected as winners in recognition of their outstanding oracy skills. The Young Speakers each performed a poem recital, prose reading or gave a talk to an audience of family, teachers and friends.

    The 2019 ESB Young Speakers of the Year, pictured below with Chief Executive Tina Renshaw, are:

    • Alex lo Storto – Nottingham University Samworth Academy
    • Anagi Bartholomeuz – Formerly of Nottingham Girls’ High School
    • Archie Colville – Kitebrook House, Gloucestershire
    • Ayesha Ahmed – Bolton School
    • Ellie-Rose Heimans – James Allen’s Preparatory School
    • Flora Low – Formerly of St. Francis School, Wiltshire
    • Freddie van Daalen – Formerly of Magdalene House Preparatory School, Cambridgeshire
    • Maddie Exley – Wilmslow Preparatory School, Cheshire
    • Tom Lewis – Runnymede St Edwards School, Liverpool
    • ‘Jimmy’ Shixiang Wang – Formerly of Sherborne International, Dorset

    The celebration featured four additional categories alongside the Young Speaker Awards.

    The ‘Spirit of ESB’ Awards recognise and encourage the potential of all learners, rewarding individuals who showed great promise in their assessments.

    The 2019 winners of the Spirit of ESB Award, pictured below are:

    • Tim Ye – Plymouth Grove Primary School, Manchester
    • Guy Odams – Heathfield Community School, Somerset
    • Mason McNamara – Broadfields Primary School, London
    • Daniel Apetrei – Broadfields Primary School, London
    • Liam Hart – Broadfields Primary School, London

     

    The Burniston Bell Award recognises teachers who demonstrate exceptional commitment to teaching ESB in their centre.

    The 2019 winner of the Burniston Bell Award is:

    • Juliet Meighan – Associate Lecturer, Belfast Metropolitan College, Northern Ireland

    The prestigious Richard Ellis Award was introduced in honour of ESB’s former Trustee, Richard, to reward an individual who has shown outstanding dedication to ESB.

    The 2019 winner of the Richard Ellis Award, pictured below is:

    • Georgina Marland – Assessor and Teacher of ESB

    Finally, ESB chooses exceptional speakers to become Ambassadors. By representing ESB, they have the opportunity to inspire other learners and to promote ESB and its values. This year we have asked two former Young Speakers of the Year to accept the accolade.

    Our 2019 Ambassadors, pictured below are:

    • Sam Colyer – Formerly of Plymouth Grove Primary School
    • Lilian Bingham – St Bede’s and St Joseph’s Catholic College

     

    ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw, says:

    “The standard from all candidates put forward this year was very impressive indeed. It is wonderful to reward their achievements and then share their passions at our annual Showcase.”

     

     

  • ESB Launches New Speech Pathways

    We are delighted to announce that our ESB Level 2 Certificate in Speech (Grade 4) qualification has been updated and you can start booking today! The qualification now gives more options to explore oracy in the classroom. Learners can develop their oracy skills in a way that suits them, playing to their strengths and interests.

    Mr Carl Bennett with the learners of Ellis Guilford who participated in the 2019 ESB Level 2 Certificate in Speech (Grade 4) Pathways pilot.

    We have now implemented the following new Pathways to give greater flexibility to your learners – read about them below:

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    What do Learners and Teachers think of our new Pathways…

    To put our new Pathways to the test, we piloted them in 10 centres with over 300 learners and the results were impressive! These Pathways retain our core values that makes ESB an enjoyable learning experience, but add a new format of assessment with new learning outcomes. For each Pathway, learners improved their oracy skills in almost every category.

    Improves Communication Skills

    Teachers observed that an overwhelming 50% of learners felt that their communication skills had improved after their Pathways qualification, and there was a 44% increase increase in the number of learners who felt they became more competent in delivering short speeches and presentations.

    Boosts Employability

    The Speech for Employability proved a great success with participating schools. 75% of learners left feeling their communications in mock employment scenarios were ‘good’ or ‘very good’ – a dramatic improvement on just the 25% who felt they were at this level before the qualification.

    Mapped to the National Curriculum

    Our Level 2 (Grade 4) Pathways are designed to match the National Curriculum requirements in Spoken English at Key Stage 3 and 4. Teachers from the participating schools saw a dramatic increase in learners achieving the following KS3 criteria: discussing language and meaning, expressing own ideas and high competency in using Standard English competently.

    Personal Development

    The Pathways help teachers deliver Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, as well as the promotion of citizenship and British values. They also contribute learners’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development. The results prove that ESB qualifications benefit every learner, regardless of ability. In the Speech to Inform qualification, the number of learners who felt they had “bad” communication skills dropped by 50% after they had completed their assessment.

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    • Curriculum for Wales – The Pathways allow learners to meet the Statutory Oracy Requirements at Key Stages 3 and 4.
    • The Irish Curriculum – The Pathways meet the statutory communication related requirements for Language and Literature (English and Media) and Skills and Capabilities at Key Stages 3 and 4.

    We’re really excited to give your learners’ even more choice. They are available to book now!

  • ESB Learners Celebrate Success

    New City College in East London recently held its annual Student Achievement Awards Ceremony in recognition of the success of its high achieving students.

    From the 30 awards given out on the evening, two English Speaking Board (International) students were presented with awards. Ibrahim Kintu was awarded Young ESOL Student of the Year and Cristian Paredes received the Adult ESOL Student of the Year award. They both completed ESB’s Entry Level Award in ESOL Skills for Life (Speaking and Listening) assessment.

    Attending the celebrations, at the Leonardo Royal London City Hotel, were BBC news presenter Ashley John-Baptiste, ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw and ESB’s Business Development Advisor, Jackie Johnson.

    Says Tina,

    “We were honoured to celebrate the achievements of these two exceptional students. ESOL Skills for Life qualifications are designed for those who live, study or work in the UK. Many have to overcome obstacles to become successful so it’s always a privilege to hear about these success stories. They should be very proud of themselves!”

  • ESB News Autumn/Winter 2019

    https://user-jjql3di.cld.bz/Autumn-Winter-ESB-News-Version-12

    Autumn- Winter ESB News Version 1