Looking for ideas!

[CarinaRomer]

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking around on this website for quite some time already, but never really had a reason to post anything. However, now I do and I am hoping you can help me.

I am going to teach a group of ESL students this summer and am looking for teaching ideas. The students are all women from the age of 20-70, they come from all around the world (China, Russia, Mexico, India, Sri Lanka, Poland, Iran, Iraq etc!), the group attendance is usually 15-25 each week and new people arrive every other week as it is a drop-in class. So I pretty much have all odds against me in the sense that I can't give homework, I am dealing with beginners, intermediate and advanced in one group and therefore have to present differentiated tasks, the age gap is huge and last but not least the students have different goals. Some of the women are there to socialize more than anything and others (in particular the older women for some reason) are there to bring home knowledge!

Do you have any ideas as to what I can do with this group? I wouldn't say I am desperate, but simply looking for inspiration. We typically play games, discuss topics based on very simple texts, sing songs and talk in pairs about ourselves. So far I have "just" been the teacher's assistent, but now I am taking over while the teacher goes on vacation!

I am planning to focus on: pronunciation, vocabulary, conversation skills and perhaps some grammar if possible.

Please let me hear what wonderful ideas you have for me out there!

Best regards,
Carina Romer

[Sally Olsen]

Lucky you! I did this for about 10 years and it was so much fun and so rewarding. I did all you are doing. I also scouted around and got some old computers with basic programs and got them started on learning to type and writing things for their children and grandchildren. We took pictures or they brought in pictures and wrote stories which everyone then wanted to read. I brought in magazines and newspapers and I stopped by the local radio staion for the morning news script. Before I left in the morning I taped the morning news - about 5 minutes - and then got the script from the newscaster on the way to school. You might be able to do this by Internet these days. I copied the script for everyone and we spent the first hour going through this. It was a rock station and so there was a lot of slang and of course, it was interesting to get their views of the news and we had lots of good discussion. They often borrowed these tapes and scripts to "teach" people at home. We cooked as there was a kitchen; we made a recipe book and of course had a party for every birthday. We went to the library and had a tour and several local businesses, the police station and I taped the talks the tour guides gave us and we went over the vocabulary they used. People use so many idioms - I never realized. We visited the local schools to talk to the teachers of the women's children to see what they could do at home to help them out (the best advice was to read to their children in their own language and give them a good grounding in their own language and culture). We played games they could play with their children and read the books that they brought from the library for their children. The most important thing was the volunteers. I put an ad in the local paper and in all the apartments nearby for volunteers and they came and worked with the students individually or in small groups. There were so many friendships from that and the students were so eager to have their own volunteer and worked so hard for them. Eventually some of the better students became volunteers in turn. We celebrated every holiday of our country and all the holidays of their countries and made little books about holidays for the students to read and read each other. We volunteered at the school to help out on sport's days and so on and they heard the children speaking and got to see their children and grandchildren interacting with others and of course had a lot of discussion about that! It was so rewarding to help out with difficulties and we got to know the problems and who to ask for help. It seems that a teacher can often do something that even a social worker can't do in some cases. I still have ex-students phoning and writing at Christmas to tell me how they have done in their lives. Makes your day, as they say.

[LarryLatham]

Fellow teachers!

If you are not inspired by this post of Sally's, then you are a stone! A piece of wood! (I am reminded of a Chinese idiom I learned in Taipei which translates, roughly, "Dumb as a wooden chicken!" ).

Larry Latham

[CarinaRomer]

Hi Sally,

Thank you so much for your reply, which I was very inspired by. So sorry for not thanking you sooner. My in-laws came to visit from back home. I will most probably use the idea with the newspaper articles and probably try and use some news transcripts from the internet. Also I have planned to practice a lot of tounge twisters and play games and do roll plays. Have to go, but thank you again.

Cheers,
Carina

[CarinaRomer]

Hey Sally,

I just realized that we are "closer" than I initially thought. First of all, I currently live in Vancouver, British Columbia, however in 3 months my husband and I will go back to Denmark after 3 years in Canada. I have strong ties to Greenland as my father lived there before I was even thought off and my older brother is from his first marriage to an eskimo/inuit. Hopefully in the future I will be able to convince my husband and daughter that Greenland is our next destination!

Looking forward to reading more inspiring posts from you.

Carina

PS! You are right about the Greenlandic not being very assertive, but it isn't neccessarily a negative thing, is it? The problem as I see it is that they are taken too easily advantage of by people that are overly assertive. Just a thought!

[Sally Olsen]

May I have your job when you leave?

No, of course, it is not a negative thing to be less assertive, but it seems that you can't get a good mark in English if you are not. The censor told me that he was looking for students who could state their opinions, back them up, stand up for themselves, show creativity, admit their mistakes and ask for help and that is exactly what the students did who got 13. He said some challenging things and they jumped right in and challenged him back. I also encourage those students, even if it is unconsciously because they are so much fun to teach.

Yes, of course, it sets the ones who are not assertive up for being taken advantage of. It happens all the time in school and in other aspects of their lives. It is something we talked about over and over. Of course, the students who believe that they are following the Greenlandic way of life think that they will win in the end and I sure hope they do.

It sure is a small world. Hope to meet you in Vancouver. Please come here. I am sure you would love it. If you come you will have lived in two of the most beautiful places in the world and if you add Rio, you will have really lived in three of the best.