This is a current article in Melbourne's The Age newspaper and I think it could be an interesting one for ESL students to engage with. Aside from the growing number of families having the grandparents mind the children so that both parents can work (more) in Australia, this is very often the traditional way many families operate in many other countries (quite possibly ESL learners' own home countries or here in Australia as well).
There are also some interesting general statistics about childcare and costs in the article - plenty of good discussion points to explore.
Here are the activity/resource sheets I've developed to go with the article:
3_VPAU505_EL1_Grandparents_bear_greater_share_of_childcare_duties
3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Grandparents_bear_greater_share_of_childcare_duties
Certificate III in ESL (Access) unit/element/performance criteria:
Unit C24 (VPAU505): Read and write a range of straightforward informational, instructional and other texts.
Element 1: Analyse a range of informational texts
Performance Criteria 1.1: Scan informational text and identify the context and topic
Performance Criteria 1.2: Identify the main ideas or issues
Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting information or examples
Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify conventions of informational texts
Performance Criteria 1.5: Analyse the structure and discourse features of the texts
Performance Criteria 1.6: Respond to the text, outlining any opinions expressed, and state own opinion about the topic
You can find more English Oz materials and teaching ideas for ESL here.
;-)
