The Month of March

March 31
Today was a little hectic. In addition to registration for the next session going on, today was designated as a review day. The problem with registration day was that people who haven’t come in weeks showed up, students showed up late because they couldn’t park nearby or were confused with the process (current students registered in-class and new students waited in line to register in an office), and class was constantly interrupted by forms coming in and going out of the class room. Another problem was that I didn’t have any knowledge of or access to the test the students will be taking next Tuesday. I handled the registration problems as they came, limiting the effect on the review going on. As far as reviewing for the test, I addressed a few issues that I remembered were difficult for the students and let the rest of the class be a Q&A/student-led review. I thought that would be a good way to approach it because they had experience with the test and are aware of some of the areas that are troublesome. All in all, I think it went well. The students seemed really confident when the class ended.
One bit of homework for me is to try to come up with an explanation of when to use –en and –ed as verb endings. I was asked, but when I started to explain I realized I wasn’t sure. I told the student who asked that I would research it and get back to her before the test about it. It’s better to be honest and do a little work then possibly mislead a student before a test.

March 29
Tonight was my observation. It is impossible to completely ignore the fact that a new person is in a room, especially when you know you’re being watched by them. But I think my students and I both acted pretty naturally. I think the students were a little less relaxed in the beginning of the class because they nearly cut back completely in their Spanish use, but as time went on, the Spanish became more present. Since my meeting with Cindy, I only had a class or two with them to work on cutting back the Spanish use. I tried to encourage them to use more English and less Spanish in the classroom and as much as possible outside. I used the upcoming test as motivation. I think inconsistency between the other teacher and me is a contributing factor to the ongoing Spanish use.
Back to tonight’s class: I really like the lesson. Taking what the curriculum was covering (job applications, interviews, and the first day at a job), I made it more meaningful and realistic to the students by using real classified employment ads, had students write an application to the job they selected, and then perform mock interviews for that job. I think the students enjoyed it and got meaningful exposure to useful English. Additionally, a mini side-lesson was created on the fly when a student mispronounced mechanic. I addressed the alternate /k/ sound of ‘ch’ in English.

March 24
I definitely enjoyed working with Level 1 this week, but I miss the (semi-)structure of Level 2 that I have by being the teacher and planning and following my own schedule instead of being an assistant teacher and following someone else’s plan (that to me seems like no plan). I understand Mary’s reasoning, if it is that she is going at their pace to ensure they learn. That is good to an extent, but I think a few of the students are being held back by some others. Expanding on that, if the students that are learning quickly and waiting for the others to catch up never get exposed to the more than half of material that’s left before the test, they will not be able to move up after the placement test.
Tonight was continuing from Tuesday’s discussion on food, having and not having, and requesting, but it moved on to shopping at a store and planning ahead of shopping for bargain hunting. I planned a really cool exercise using shopping ads. Sadly, only four students showed up, including the “problem” student that doesn’t like to participate- just play on his iphone. We warmed up with some vocabulary they may come across with sales, i.e. buy-on-get-one-free, 50% off, etc. They told me what they thought it meant, which were almost all correct, then I asked them to compare pairs of sales terms and decide which one was actually better. The students worked in pairs, which was the plan, searching for competitive pricing among grocery retailers in English-only sales circulars. After they comprised their lists of bargains, they followed shopping lists to see how cheap they could get their bill. At this point coupons were incorporated. The last activity, students worked alone and came up with what they would buy with $15 if they had to make it last as long as possible.
The one student I was worried about was a pain and a distraction, however not to the extent I was expecting. The students did a good job of encouraging him to participate, and I deflected his random outbursts and profanity as much as I could. It was like handling junior high students, so I had plenty of practice.
Another student and I had a really good-quality conversation during the break between hours. I can’t remember who initiated it, but he had a lot to say, so I let him talk. It was really cool to watch his fluency get better and better as he talked with a little dip in accuracy. But without major interruption, he was consistently getting better in his production. This is one reason I really believe strongly in implicit correction. Occasionally I would use a little recast or ask for clarity, but for the most part if I could understand what he was saying I would let him go with it.

March 22
I wasn’t sure what to expect today. When I was leaving last Thursday, I stopped and asked Mary where she left off and wheat pages I needed to cover. Her reply was that she doesn’t follow the syllabus we were given but takes it slowly, moving on as they understand the material. My problem with this is that it completely lacks structure. It makes it incredibly difficult for me to “sub” for her for a week if the students and I don’t have expectations to base our progress on.
I took one of the Level 1 books home to look over what they have been doing and give me some ideas of something I can do, but ultimately I decided to just practice the vocabulary and grammar out of the book and try to develop activities as time went on. I relied mostly on a couple of the more advanced students to keep me on track with what Mary was doing. Actually, not many students came- and only a few were on time! Spring Break was extra long, I suppose.
I don’t think tonight was a waste- the students got to practice English and I received some exposure of a situation I want to avoid, thus learning from it- but I definitely think it could have gone better if I had a goal or direction.

March 10
First of all, it was great to teach a consecutive class-week. I’m looking forward to not sharing a class in the future. Being able to know exactly how the last class was left off help me prepare for tonight. For the most part, I taught from the book without modifying the lesson greatly because I haven’t had much time to prepare for it, but I made a conscious effort to “step away” from the book.
Also, I think because I taught both nights this week, it’s helping cut back on the Spanish spoken in the class room. I’m less against it when Guillermo is being helped, but I think it makes it easier to start speaking a lot of Spanish to everyone.
Looking back on tonight, I really wish I was more creative in altering the lesson. But the class dynamic is so good that we always have a good time and the students push themselves to learn. My favorite moments are when the discussion gets a little of topic from what I planned because it’s something they have pretty well mastered or are comfortable with and they want to know about this question they had about something else. Or sometimes they stay on what I planned on teaching, but they hit me with questions from an angle or part that I didn’t think about or that I thought they already knew so I swept over it. They’re pretty good about getting on back on track when I need them to, but I definitely need to work on classroom management.

March 8
We had a meeting tonight about the end of this session and preparation for the next session. I’m going to get Level 2 to myself next time! I’m excited.
The lesson was pretty average. I put the book down and referred to it as little as possible. As far as activities, when it came to practicing the conversations in the book, I adapted a new process. First I role play both parts by myself. The students got a kick out of this because I switched positions for each role. After going through it a couple times, I would say a line and then the class would repeat it after me. After two times of that, students practiced in their own pairs.
To address the amount of Spanish being spoken in the class, I reminded them that a test is coming up in a few weeks. They agreed to speak less Spanish, but I still had to remind them a lot.
My goal is to start focusing on addressing the areas for improvement from the video, but I’m not sure how much I can improve with class since I’ll have a week away from them. I can still practice stepping away from the book, appointing the appropriate number of students to work together for activities, and some classroom management in the way of L1 use in the classroom when I’m subbing in Mary’s class.

Back to Level 1

Since it was Thursday, I didn't teach my usual class. I ended up back with Mary in Level 1. She was glad to see me because she needed help with this lesson. She put together a little store scenario to supplement the lesson about shopping, paying with and receiving cash, and receiving and making change. I was really impressed with her ingenuity. I got to help her by participating in the role-playing, writing words on the board as she demonstrated, and explained terms and concepts.

I think I really like this class now, too. It might be my new Thursday home. The students enjoy my company and like to talk during their break.

Tonight I learned to be resourceful- being creative and using easily available household times to enhance a lesson, finding a way to make poor-conditioned supplies work (our dry erase board was not cooperating), and finding a means somehow when a problem occurs because a good teacher does what (s)he can to make the lesson enjoyable and effective.

Sadly, I still noticed her correction. It wasn't as bad tonight as it was the first time, but a new form was added: utterance interruption and completion. She wouldn't give most students a chance to complete an utterance if they started to slow down or falter. She would complete it for them and move on. My philosophy is let them try. Often they will catch their mistakes. Let them try to fix it. If they miss it, can't figure out how to fix it, or ask for help, then chime in- and only if it can be done without interrupting the flow of speech.

It's easy to criticize others. I hope I can actively remain aware of this when I'm teaching and be open to constructive corrective criticism.

Tuesdays are my favorites!

Tonight was great. I really look forward to Tuesdays. Tonight was unique. One student, usually the hardest worker, had a "whatever" attitude. She literally said "whatever" a few times when she had trouble pronouncing some words. The other students and I encouraged her lightly to keep trying. Eventually she started to lighten up and readopt her diligent attitude.

Tonight I kept in mind how much I talk about myself. At the beginning of the lesson, as people entered the class, we spent a moment talking about the weather changing from cold to warm and about Valentine's Day. They discussed work, and I talked a little about my own classes. I mentioned that the previous night I gave a demo lesson on teaching articles and that it didn't go as I planned, to which they got a kick out of my story. Less than an hour later, articles came up in a grammar segment. Ironic. We spent a little more time than planned on articles, but it was good because they had many questions and really wanted to practice. I made a drill up of the top of my head using a few practice dialogues in the book and altering them. The students loved it! The students began following a pattern in the book and then started using their own creativity. Their motivation seemed to be part pushing themselves and part trying to stump their partners. It was really inspiring to see the success. I partially made up a drill on the fly as a response to their curiosity and necessity, and they took soaked it up, took ownership of it, and expanded further than I planned or expected.

Even though we got off topic with the articles and dialogue drills (and a couple guys took an extra-long break), we still ended up ahead of schedule. We decided to press on and tackle comparatives. That was great! They caught on pretty quickly to pronunciation and when to use -er, -ier, and more. Sadly, we ran out of time to attempt superlatives.

Another Thursday...

Tonight I asked to observe the lowest level, "Literacy," instead of level 1. I want a variety of experience. When I introduced myself to the teacher, she was more than welcoming. I ended up assisting her! I really enjoyed the low level. The teacher was very good about making the students pronounce things correctly without impeding the flow of the class. However, she did tend to get off task quite a bit by talking about herself and her life and family. This could be beneficial to some degree as it means added exposure to English, but too often the teacher trailed off or spoke at too quick of a rate for the students to understand while not repeating or clarifying. It seemed to be a waste of time and detrimental (maybe inefficient is more accurate and less harsh) to the learning environment. I am going to be cautious about this. I occasionally include my own experiences when they relate to the subject discussed, but I am fairly confident that it is not too much. I think it helps build a relationship between the students and teacher while showing how a topic actually applies, giving clarity to the student in what could seem ambiguous.

I was really impressed with the speaking ability of these students. Some students seemed to be more advanced than the level 1 students I encountered during my observation. Placement tests always confound me. I see so much overlap, I wonder about their accuracy.

My experience with this lower level definitely revealed an interest I have with a lower proficiency. I would really like to experience a lower level, if possible.

After the Snow/Ice Comes.... more ESL

After missing a week, I was glad to be back. Classes were were smaller; mine was down by about 3. The teacher on Thursday, the one keeping me from teaching a class consistently, didn't even show up. The teacher that filled in on Thursday ended a little behind, and, in addition to that, missing a week due to the weather put the class a a little over a week behind schedule. My job was to catch the class up as much as possible.

I had to adjust as we went along through the lessons, picking what was most important and what could be skipped. Luckily there seemed to be a lot of repetition of material already mastered by the students or too redundant where it wasn't necessary. I think I did a good job of skipping over things. At first the students thought it was strange that I was skipping many items, sometimes a page or two at a time. They soon caught on and helped me by telling me if they already knew the material or not.

I remembered watching Mary teach level 1 when I observed her and put into practice what I wanted to, having more interaction with the students that caused them to practice more, and avoided excessive correction, which I think is probably the opposite of my problem.

I really like this class and wish I could teach it on Tuesday and Thursday.

First Thursday: Not My Ideal Situation

Tonight I found out that I will not be teaching the level 2 class on Thursday nights. Some other guy wants to come on Thursday nights only to teach and wants only that class. I don't know how I feel about this.

Instead of teaching tonight, I observed a class. It was a level 1 class. The students were really eager to learn and participate, full of energy. The teacher, too, was very energetic. Watching her teach, I picked up on a couple of techniques I wish I had employed on Tuesday. First of all, I should have had students repeat what I said more often during pronunciation drills. Also, I should have used more individual pronunciation.

One thing that I noticed the teacher doing that I would not do was her high level of explicit correction. She corrected so often that it impeded the students' production, often because she interrupted them and occasionally because they were too hesitant in production to maintain a constant rate of fluency. Instead, I would bring the class's attention to the pattern and address it.

My First Class @ LIFT

After my brief meeting with Teresa in the morning, I had some idea of what to expect, but one can never know completely what to expect. Having essential supplies, i.e. textbooks, a syllabus, white boards and markers- even pens, pencils, and paper, already provided helped take some of the burden off of preparing. However, the markers don't always want to release ink. I showed up a little early to review the lesson to be taught and let the jitters subside. As the students started showing up, I felt comfortably and naturally in place. The lesson was easy to teach and, at least as it appeared, easy to learn.

During the second half of the class, we were interrupted to take a placement test. The test, as I was told, should only take them 20 minutes to complete. This clock in the classroom did not work and my phone died, so I had no way to tell time. The test was completed by the last person as we heard other students leaving their classrooms, meaning the test took nearly an hour. It put us behind but not that much.

I noticed a couple things I need to improve on. The main one is rate of speech. Not just slow down, because for the most part it was okay, but be constant and consistent. I would catch myself speaking too quickly and then slow down too drastically, almost to the point where I felt patronizing.

The class provided great immediate feedback and were very encouraging. My personality and charisma fit well with this class, making a great dynamic. I look forward to many more nights with them!