I tutored again tonight for the first time in 10 years. This time two kids at once which is a real balancing act I must master.
Although I want to proceed with my medic training, I'm stuck at the moment for various reasons, so I applied for this tutoring job yesterday and they called me and asked me to come in for an interview this morning, and then come teach THIS EVENING! "Thrown into cold water" the boss said.
I was nervous because I've taught enough in the past that I know the dynamic must be right between students and teacher, and if it's not, well, you're out. I had this one class that just hated me from the moment I walked in, and they got me "fired" from their class.
I've taught business English to businessfolk and really enjoyed it.
I'm no teacher though, which leaves me with a huge streak of insecurity. Especially cuz my husband is a schoolteacher, and he spent 8 years in college getting that training. I have little training in this subject. So today I spent 5 hours looking up how to teach ESL, taking notes, reviewing all the grammar rules and tenses...Future Perfect Continuous, get out. BTW, Future Perfect Continuous is "will have been doing" which is something native English speakers use without even thinking about it, but is nearly impossible for anyone else. I would feel sorry for them except the Germans have SIXTEEN WORDS FOR THE WORD THE.
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In my pursuit of humor I wrote on the board, in English, "You can say you to me." That's funny because in German kids have to use the other word for their elders and since we're talking English, there is only the one word. I also said, "Did you know German has 16 ways to say the word "the"? Well, lucky you, in English we have one. OK no one ROTFL but I hope they got it.
Then I told them I'm like a YouTube video, they can speed me up if I speak too slowly and they're bored, or they can slow me down if I'm too fast. What, doesn't everyone do that on YouTube? Half the videos I watch are on 1.5 speed cuz people speak too slowly. But it's great to be able to slow down the fast talkers.
I also said, "I"m not allowed to speak German in this class." Which isn't true, but a good language teacher will not lapse into the students' language for more than a moment. It seemed to have an effect on the kids, and later I learned their last teacher explained everything in German. Yikes. That's no way to learn English. I was proud of myself for keeping my German words/phrases extremely short and only when necessary and asking the other student to explain something if there was a question.
Man you learn a lot on the Internet:
1. Let students answer other student's questions.
2. The students should be talking 70% of the time, teacher only 30. Wow that is challenging! But HEY...guess what, I'm not a teacher. I do not have that teacher-talking-power-streak that every teacher I know has. I think I could become adept at prompting speech, while not overflowing with words myself.
I'm a good listener but for this job, I could become even better, maybe!
Frustrating was:
1. What are they teaching children in schools these days? For pityssake, their English was so bad. OK that's why they're in tutoring but my gosh, they've had several years of English and don't even know how we pronounce the alphabet? The SIMPLE past? Why is everything past perfect? Oh right, Germany.
2. I'm not in practice at interpreting textbook instructions. It was my own language and I couldn't help the kid understand what he was supposed to do in the exercise. And in one of them, there was an error, it said, "One of the following is an infinitive" and at least *3* were!
3. When I'm helping one kid, what does the other do? She had no homework, and not much motivation to go over her old homework. Now that I know this might happen, I know to go to the library and get her an appropriate workbook. She did, though, help us interpret the shoddy technical writing in the boy's exercise book.
Rewarding was:
1. They freaking loved the games I'd designed for them. I spent all that time researching today, and one thing I learned was something about movement/physical activity that helps kids remember things. (If you're a teacher reading this, please tell me more!) So I brought a colorful juggling ball to class and had them play "Hot potato" and whoever got caught with it, had to answer questions I'd pre-written, such as:
How far away is the sun, exactly? (About 93 million miles away....and that's why it looks so small.)
Which is faster, a turtle or a rabbit?
What is the population of Germany? The Earth?
Do horses wear shoes? (In Germany they are not called shoes so that was a trick question.)
Do fish blink?
What is the temperature where you are excused from school due to extreme heat?
How do you feel?
Star Trek fans will get that last question.
Actually I learned today that asking open ended questions like how do you feel is really helpful in getting people to talk. But if they say "fine" you have to ask "why?"
2. The way they jumped at the opportunity to play English Hangman - actually, I had it written in my notebook of games, and little Lias said, "Can we play blah blah blah?" (German hangman) so I pointed to my notebook, "It's right here, it's the next game." He rushed to the whiteboard, delighted to be "in charge" or in the teacher's spot. And even though Lara said she did not want to play a game that involved drawing, she happily rushed to the whiteboard when it was her turn to pick a word. To see the enthusiasm was great. Although their grasp of the alphabet is abysmal....
3. "Will you be our teacher from now on?" I admit, being asked this in eagerness was a real compliment. I said, "I don't know. I never stepped foot into this building until today. I think it depends on you guys, whether you think I can help you or not. If you do, tell the boss."
Lara smiled and said, "Oh, I WILL!"
Did I mention she has horses? *grin*
I started up another game - simply name the letter of the alphabet, one at a time, and name an animal whose name starts with that letter. What is funny, was Lias thought letter meant the kind you send by mail. Which is fine, little buddy, just.....it also means something else. Surprise?
He was thrilled and we started the animal naming game until we reached I and none of us had any idea for an animal that starts with the letter I. I still do not, unless it's some obscure African deer. Even J cannot help me find an animal that starts with I in English *lol*
Lias had to leave early and in those last 15 minutes I got Lara into real conversation, which she desperately needs. She has no confidence at speaking. I asked her hobby - horses - and that was it! She told me she has a Haflinger and a Shetty. I asked their names and, well, all about them, and she brought out her cell phone to show me pics. How wonderful!
Then the conversation evolved to the point Lara lost all confidence and started speaking to me in German. I only spoke English to her and was terrified someone would open the classroom door and hear her speaking German in an English class! Eventually she tried to speak English again but repeated to me how hard it is for her.
I told her I'm not going to correct her in conversation unless she asks, because it's more important that she find the nerve to speak at all.
I don't know if that is a good strategy. She told me, "But I want to be corrected." But.....her English is so bad. I dare not discourage her every half-sentence. At least, that is what my instinct tells me.
Am I wrong?
Anyway I may never know if I was helpful in Lias' homework, I felt good about it but...*shrug* His youthful enthusiasm and bravery at speaking was wonderful to see. He hasn't had time to become self-conscious.
I was asked at the end of my shift if I prefer the younger or the older of the students. At first I said, "I cannot say!" (I'm new here.) But in the end I said, "If you need an answer, I want to do both age groups." (Lord help me if I'm mistaken.)
What a day.
I know in the future I will be using the phrase, "In a complete sentence, please" much more often. One word answers do not teach a language.
Lara admitted to me that the previous English teacher spoke German way more than me, which really encouraged me because that was my top priority, to speak ENGLISH and not be sucked down into uselessness. I'm also pretty sure they didn't play as many language-learning games as I'm about to throw at them.
If I get the job!
Below are the images I captured today to show the kids, to guage their understanding of English.
Sadly, they did not laugh, as I did. But they did think about it, and that's something.
The Lord of the Rings one is 'specially funny cuz Germans use the reflexive tense when saying the word "meet" - which we do not do. I ROTFL.
OK now I know these Memes are too advanced for these kids. That was a chance I had to take.
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15 comments:
ibex, it's a wild goat.
glad you are having fun, helping others is always rewarding.
My kindergarten grandson son was very impressed with his teacher yesterday. She balanced an apple on her head while reading a book about apples! I'm guessing the entire class paid close attention to that one! They're learning to read sight words right now & she's managed to keep it fun.
Iguana. Ibis. We had so many of both in Florida. Also: insect.
Your class sounds like so much fun. My French teacher in college only spoke French to us: we were forced to learn by immersion. We could only respond in French. (Yes, I don't just know English and Spanish; I also used to be quite fluent in French. I took 3 semesters of it.)
I like your tactic with Lara of not correcting her English for now, just to encourage her to speak. When I first moved stateside, my accent was so heavy that I wouldn't talk because I HATED every time someone corrected my pronunciation. It made me incredibly self-conscious. Once I started working, I was forced to speak and my accent eventually diminished. It's very much still there, but it's harder for people to recognize it as a Spanish accent: people usually just find it exotic. Unless I'm talking in English with a bunch of other people with Spanish accents: then it's recognizable. So yes: I approve of focusing on just convincing Lara to speak and then later gently start correcting her grammar and pronunciation if warranted. The more she uses the language, the easier it will get. :)
Caron, DANGIT, I had that on the tip of my tongue (ask J, when I got home, I pushed him about that animal.) I lacked confidence and you don't wanna show that around middleschoolers *lol*
Camryn, wow!
Saiph, IGUANA, dangit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 of course.
That lady tonight, the boss's helper, was a black girl who taught French and English but her English was slightly off, and I realized French was probably her native, since she pushed me off onto her English class. And again next Thursday with 11 graders?!?!
Pronunciation, before grammar? I wish I could only pick one of them. No, it's always grammar. I cannot say the word in German for fruit, plural. Never impeded me so far.
I'm glad you agree with my strange intuition about not correcting her, despite her asking me to. I sincerely hope she is my student again, and I can help her.
totally agree, having learned two other languages, that you should not overcorrect verbal language skills. As confidence builds, you can start occasionally correcting. But most of the correction will happen organically and on its own. (by watching movies / tv, hearing others speak).
Im happy to see that you have found something you enjoy and that leverages your skills. Plus you can get some private coaching from J.
And so you are a natural teacher. I knew you would do well because you are a good teacher with Mag.
Very cool opportunity... I have never taught anything, so I would be freaking out. lol
Here in my region of Canada, we have a lot of French speakers speaking English and a lot of English speakers trying to learn French. I think not correcting her all the time is a good instinct. Getting her to try to speak and have fun is a great start. You can correct more advanced speakers as they are capable of understanding the correction. (speaking from my experience learning French, Spanish, etc.)
You can say "ELL" (English Language Learning) instead of ESL. That's what we use in schools these days.
Teaching is fun, but exhausting. Having the kids work in groups or teach each other is an excellent strategy, I used it a lot. Not only do they listen better to peers, it saves the teacher's voice :-) And yes: talking a LOT, correcting pronunciation not so much. Even correcting grammar. Get them talking first.
Have them tell stories! As you discovered with the horse kid, they want to talk (in any language) about things they do. Jut pray you don't get a Pokemon fanatic, lol. With your horse kid, ask her to describe her grooming routine, or her latest riding lesson, etc. Many words there.
Ghost stories are always popular with the middle school crowd, and they all know them. But you have to be ready to tell one yourself. Urban legends are good, "vanishing hitchhiker", etc. Here's my version of that, if you tell it, change a few details so it's YOUR story. http://haikufarm.blogspot.com/2011/10/in-which-we-celebrate-halloween-witha.html
Here's something for you, don't show your students because they will go crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05WDZHddoKw
Ibis, Impala, and more: https://a-z-animals.com/animals/pictures/I/
This sounds like a great thing for you to do. I too yelled out IBEX when I got to the part about the 'I'.
ND, I learned today the "help me" expression and realized that I can correct someone mid-sentence with this look: )
KB, We'll see but thanks for the encouragement. I've had a lot of fails in my life.
Laura, you mentioned freaking out. I ran to the toilet THREE times today between 3:30 and 6:30, I was so nervous my stomach was in knots despite eating very little today. (But I asked the students, "May I go to the toilet?" (hee hee) Not sure they're usually ASKED.)
Aarene, You're right, but today there was no way to get anything out of some of those kids. Not a single freaking sentence. Somehow I have to learn to teach kids from 5th to 13th grade. Huh. Ironically, some of the much older kids are much worse than a 5th grader!
Ghost stories - I don't know if there will ever be time for me to spend so much time speaking. What I learned on ESL sites is I need to speak 30% of the time, and the kids 70% (which was a total fail today cuz AGH).
Telling stories is such a great idea, it's one of my "games" I wrote in my notebook. Ask kids to tell me what their most terrifying experience was, most surprising, most fun....
Karena, thank you.
Teresa, Ibex, really? *lol* Maybe not such a hot game to play if I cannot even think of an animal for every letter??: )
Aarene, very funny, your alphabet video! *scowl* : )
OMG, I had to stare at that Gary Larson cartoon for a full minute before I got it! :D Good for you for teaching. I suspect you will be a super cool teacher; and they will find your America cultural commentary engaging, which will suck them into learning language by accident!
Some things I remember from my German prof in college, who was so kind... He played guitar, and had us sing German folk songs in class, which was another fun way to learn/practice and also a springboard into cultural discussions. I could envision silly American "campfire songs" if you ever went to camp? Those are fun because you don't need musicality, you can almost shout them, the rhymes and rhythms help you remember them, and they all have embedded wry humor. "Old lady Leary took the lantern to the shed, and when the cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said, 'there'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!' FIRE FIRE FIRE! WATER WATER! SAVE MY CHILD SAVE MY CHILD! JUMP LADY JUMP!" Did you ever sing those? :) My great, great, great grandma was a Czech immigrant, and I still remember a nursery rhyme song taught to us in Czech as kids, just because songs stick in your memory...
As an assignment, my German prof required us to call him on the phone and make an appointment to meet (in German). It's even harder to speak a foreign language on the phone than in person! Then when we met, we had to make casual conversation- about anything, really. It was killer hard and terrifying tho, just to fill like a half hour. I think what he did to keep the conversation flowing was, if I would say something poorly, he would politely repeat back in understanding, but in more proper German. So it didn't feel like "correction" so much as affirmation, allowing me to nod and keep going.
E.g. if I would say "I take dog for walk in park last afternoon" he would just reply enthusiastically "oh, really? You took your dog for a walk in the park yesterday evening? How nice, what kind of dog do you have?" So I could digest the grammatical correction, but then we would just move on."
HTH, good luck!
MC, wow. Although I didn't sing those, the phone is still a huge issue with me. In fact, I simply do not answer our land line. It's not gonna be a salient conversation: )
If I have to call someone, it's a real chore, even after 12 years, because ...phone.
I wish I had a teacher like yours.
Your example of the dog in the park - interesting. That's what I found myself doing for poor little Jan tonight, and ok, all of them. *sigh* I hope I'm doing it right. I know they think it's tedious when I say, "COMPLETE SENTENCE PLEASE." and don't just accept "no" but I want to hear, "No, I've never been to London." That is hard. But just tonight I started reinforcing that I really do require a full sentence, even if the students think it's not worth it/tedious/impossible. ????
Thanks for the tips.
It sounds like you are doing great, hopefully their recalcitrance will fade with time and curiosity. Ugh, phone, yeah, I know.
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