Practice dictation with your students. They will be required to write one or more dictated sentences. The writing does not have to be perfect but must demonstrate that the applicant has a comprehensible amount of writing skills.A "comprehensible amount of writing skills?" Sheesh. Better test the copywriting staff at Hopelink first. The immigrants are probably already writing better than this -- after all, they've actually studied English.
In 1867, Matthew Arnold wrote "Dover Beach", a haunting poem evoking the "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" of the Sea of Faith. As a boomer who finished Catholic elementary school in 1964 and then watched my Church falter, I've found the roar all too audible. So here I wait, listening for the whispers of that Sea's invincible return.