Kay McNamara, Izabela Skorka

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to share the practical ways in which teachers at Kelvin Grove State College (Qld) have attempted to improve contact between international and local students using the award winning Teaching Emphases for English Proficiency Levels (TEEPL) http://www.kelvingrovesc.eq.edu.au/asp/teepl/teepl_cover.asp (presented at ISANA conference 2005).

TEEPL is a comprehensive database of suggestions to support students both academically and socially at the various stages of their development as outlined in the NLLIA ESL Bandscales (McKay, Hudson & Sapuppo, 1994) In addressing the issue of poor rates of interaction between local and international students at KGSC, ESL staff drew on suggestions in the TEEPL database to develop workshops designed to increase the quantity and quality of contact between domestic and international students. Weekly workshops conducted over two terms, were supplemented with between workshop activities (BWA’s) involving practice of skills learnt with an expectation to feed back in the ensuing workshop.

Keywords: Social, Success, Interaction, Strategies, ESL

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