WORKPLACE PLUS

Living and Working in English

Joan Saslow and Tim Collins


About the Authors

Workplace Plus: Living and Working in English is a four-level course that prepares adults for self-sufficiency in the three principal areas of their lives: the workplace, the community, and the home. Workplace Plus integrates the CASAS life skills competencies and SCANS Competencies and Foundation Skills with a complete language syllabus and relevant social language.

Communicative competence in English is of critical importance in achieving self-sufficiency. Workplace Plus applies the best of current second language acquisition research to ensure immediate survival, rapidly enabling learners to:

  • understand spoken and written general and employment-related language
  • communicate in their own words
  • understand the culture and behavioral expectations of their new environment and workplace.

Course Length

Workplace Plus is designed to be used in a period of 60 to 90 instructional hours. This period can be shortened or extended, depending on the needs of the group or the program. The Teacher's Edition gives detailed instructions for tailoring Workplace Plus to specific settings, circumstances, and student groups.

Course components include:

Student's Book

  • 10 study units, each followed by an integrated review section
  • Includes supplementary reference and vocabulary charts for reference and self-study
  • Do It Yourself! provides a daily opportunity for students of diverse abilities to put new language into their own words
  • Authentic practice activities create a "living language laboratory" in the classroom
  • A complete Scope and Sequence outlines the topics, the work skills, the life skills, and the SCANS Competencies and Foundation Skills in each unit
  • Each unit in the Student’s Book integrates five key areas:
    • Basic essential vocabulary
    • Practical conversations
    • Practical grammar
    • Authentic practice

Audiocassettes

  • Support the enriched listening comprehension activities found in each unit

Teacher's Edition

  • Page-by-page teaching suggestions, plus optional activities
  • Complete tapescripts, answers to all exercises, and useful language and culture notes
  • Interleaved format

Workbook

  • Additional reading and writing exercises for homework or in-class use
  • Standardized test preparation activities for each unit

Achievement Tests

  • Four-skill tests for evaluation

Teacher's Resource Pack

  • Reproducible extension activities for daily use, such as pair work and vocabulary flash cards

Placement Test

  • Simple-to-administer test places students accurately within the Workplace Plus series