58 The Approach The course in which the Community Fair took place was presented in a blended learning format that included approximately twelve hours weekly of face-to-face classroom time and three hours of digital skills learning and English practice in a language lab equipped with desktop computers. In keeping with prescribed Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLBs) for the students’ stage of development, the objective of the Community Fair assignment was to have students demonstrate speaking and writing competencies and document them in their ePortfolios. The speaking competency was demonstrated by interviewing representatives of a community organization, sharing the information with fellow students, and recording a self-assessment feedback session on video. The writing competency was demonstrated by preparing a printed information sheet distributed at the Fair. In preparing for the Fair, students enhanced their online research skills, made use of resources posted to the Avenue eLearning platform, and learned how to use new apps, for instance the Moodle Choice activity which allows users to make selections from multiple possible responses. Interested in Learning More? Instructor Profile Context In Paul’s Own Words Application of Technology Standards Instructor Profile: Paul Carter’s career as an ESL instructor and online resource developer began soon after graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a B.A. in English. After dreams of being a professional musician (“I wanted to be Leonard Cohen”) didn’t pan out, he enrolled in a Teaching English as a Second Language course offered by the University of Manitoba School of Continuing Education. Following a successful practicum at the conclusion of the course, he was recruited by the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISS of BC) in 2008 to teach LINC classes at what would eventually include all CLB levels. During the 9 years he spent with ISS of BC, Paul was also active in finding ways to harness technology to improve language learning. Beginning in 2010, he and several colleagues participated in a pilot project using Moodle to create an in-house learning management system (LMS), develop some early online courses, introduce online Portfolio-based Language Assessment (PBLA), and pioneer the delivery of blended learning instruction to ISS of BC students. In Paul’s words: “I tried to leverage the learning management system to support language learning as much as I could. I thought at the time “This could really take off” – and it did!” Today, Paul works as a New Language Solutions/LearnIT2Teach mentor, and builds interactive LINC course activities for Avenue and related platforms. Context: For many good reasons, newcomers to Canada often gravitate towards communities where sizeable numbers of people from their home country already reside. Moving to a new country can be daunting. Settling in a community where people share their language, culture, and traditions offers newcomers much-needed comfort and support. The downside to seeking this familiarity is that newcomers may find themselves in a “bubble” where they communicate, work, socialize, and access CC-BY-NC-SA 2025 New Language Solutions Avenue Instructor Standards for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning, version 1.2
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