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ESB celebrates Mental Health Awareness Week!

To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week, ESB is reflecting on the importance of individuals possessing key oracy skills in order for them to express themselves, their thoughts and their emotions, clearly.

Says ESB’s Product Development Manager, Anthea Wilson, “Here at ESB, we recognise that a focus on speaking and listening in today’s world is crucial to enable individuals to build successful relationships, share their experiences and thoughts, and listen to others. With the pandemic and its ensuing limitations in respect of face-to- face communication, ESB believes it is more important than ever that people realise that their voice has value, and our assessments enable learners to do this.

“ESB enables individuals to develop the confidence to embrace their individuality in a world with social media.”

As a member of the Oracy Network, the group supporting the work of the Oracy APPG, ESB has been successfully offering oracy qualifications to boost learners’ confidence in communication and promote wellbeing for nearly 70 years.

• According to the Oracy APPG’s inquiry, two thirds of primary teachers (69%) and nearly half of secondary teachers (44%) said school closures had a negative effect on the spoken language development of disadvantaged students.
  
• Evidence from Wexham Court Primary School, submitted to the Oracy APPG Inquiry emphasised: “Oracy has a strong role and impact on…wellbeing and mental health. Everybody needs to feel confident enough to talk and share their feelings at any given time, not just children, [but] adults too.”

ESB recognises the importance of giving learners the opportunity to find their voice and communicate their views but at the same time, it places great significance on the development of learners’ key listening skills.

Its wide range of speaking and listening qualifications provide opportunities for learners to develop their speaking, listening and learning skills through a range of assessment activities across four sections.

Not only does ESB gives its learners the option to choose what they wish to talk about, but also offers them a platform and a chance to be heard and gives them the freedom to speak passionately about what really interests them.

If you are interested in our Speech qualifications, we would love to hear from you. Please contact a member of our Business Development Team at business@esbuk.org for further information. Once you contact us you can also find out whether your centre is eligible for financial support through our 70/70 Campaign.

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from Monday 9^th May – Sunday 15th May and is the UK’s national week to raise awareness of mental health.

ESB introduces a new sample set of ESOL Skills for Life (SfL) Reading and Writing papers from Entry 1 to Level 2.

Centres can view the new Sample Set 7 (Set M) by accessing the Resources tab on ESB’s website or by clicking on the links in the table below.

	Reading Set 7	Reading Mark Scheme Set 7	Writing Set 7
	Entry 1 Reading	Entry 1 Reading MS	Entry 1 Writing
	Entry 2 Reading	Entry 2 Reading MS	Entry 2 Writing
	Entry 3 Reading	Entry 3 Reading MS	Entry 3 Writing
	Level 1 Reading	Level 1 Reading MS	Level 1 Writing
	Level 2 Reading	Level 2 Reading MS	Level 2 Writing

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.

Guidance on how to book your assessments can also be found on our website here.

ESB would like to wish its centres and learners a happy, healthy and heart-warming Easter break.

The offices of English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. will be closed from Thursday 14^th April and will re-open on Tuesday 19^th April, 2022. All queries will be answered as soon as we return.

ESB celebrates its 70^th 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.

ESB thanks its centres for its continued support.

Best wishes,
The ESB Team

ESB updates and improves its Entry Level Award Graded Examinations in Speech (EAL) qualification specifications.

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)
• foster collaborative working.

The revised specifications include details about:

• how to use the ESB Entry Level Awards in Graded Examinations in Speech (EAL) at A1, A2 and B1 in combination with the Awards in Speech
• coverage of the National Curriculum in England
• CEFR coverage of communicative language activities and strategies for young learners at A1, A2 and B1
• assessment and grading
• ESB International assessment rationales and outcomes.

Please see the list of updated specifications below:

ESB Entry Level Award in Graded Examinations in Speech (Entry 1) (EAL-A1)
Target learner group is Year 3 – £30.00 per learner.

ESB Entry Level Award in Graded Examinations in Speech (Entry 2) (EAL-A2)
Target learner group is Year 4 – £31.00 per learner.

ESB Entry Level Award in Graded Examinations in Speech (Entry 3) (EAL-B1)
Target learner group is Year 5 – £32.00 per learner.

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 70^th 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.