Dee Publications
DEE Publications Ltd is an award-winning publisher of English Language resources now based in Christchurch. Donald Stark has been writing and producing resources for over 24 years, starting with Japanese and now more well-known for his English Language publications.
He has taught English Language at university and high school level and was the International Dean at St John’s College Hamilton for many years. He draws on those experiences to write resources that are practical, achievable, enjoyable and graduated in their learning.
“I often think of my former students from SE Asia, the Pacific Islands and Colombia when I write resources. I think of their needs and their challenges as English Language Learners. I am a New Zealander writing for students in this country and that is an important dimension to what I produce. I also remember having one class of students at various levels and thinking how would I cope? That was a light-bulb moment for me in terms of what I needed to produce in order to have successful teaching and learning.”
Some key points to consider:
- Welcome to New Zealand was written to support the Code of Practise and a special thank you to Penny O’Connell of Halswell School who prompted and encourage me to produce this resource, along with my daughter Catherine Nakajima.
- It is useful to have a workbook around which to base your classroom activities.
My English Workbooks 1 & 2 are for the beginners. My Stories Books 1 & 2 for upper beginners / intermediate level students.
- To improve writing skills, use Sentence Combining Books 1, 2 & 3. Once the students have mastered the new language patterns, encourage them to use them in their own writing.
- For students to learn new words and use them successfully, they need to see them at least 12 times. Words Books 1 to 8 cover all the key words from the wordlists that students need to master. The Academic Words are covered in Books 7 and 8. Give each student a book at their own level and in this way, you will cope admirably with differentiated learning.
- To complement, revise and revisit the words in Words 1 to 6, I have written Assess Words 1 to 6. Assess Words 7 & 8 will be available shortly. The short passages with cloze activities test understanding, encourage reading and by reading often students will gain a sense of how English works and when they come to write, hopefully they will find the task easier. The more they read, the better EL students they will become.
- When you order the PDF versions, I will put your school name and logo on the cover as this is an ideal way to promote your school in the international setting. Similarly, if you order class sets of 10 or more books, the printer will do the same. This applies to all the resources, except for ‘My Stories Book 1’ which was printed in bulk in colour in Malaysia.
- With the advent of CAA Literacy, the above resources are also key to supporting
students to success, not only internationals and new migrants but also Kiwis who need extra literacy support.
I know at times it can be daunting teaching students who are English Language Learners, especially if you are new to this space and/or you are the sole charge teacher. However, I am here to support you and provide you with quality resources.
Finally, a genuine thank you to my loyal supporters in schools up and down the country. However, after COVID, I realise there are many new teachers who may not be aware of what I can offer. Please email me so I can send you sample units to trial with your students and be on my mailing-list.
I am still very passionate about language learning and writing so there will be more resources. Please visit my website www.deepublications.com or contact me by email. I do look forward to hearing from you and being part of this exciting space.
Best wishes to you all,
Donald Stark
Author / Director