Survival Skills Resources

Today, while working with one of my ESL learners, medical office terminology was one of the topics we discussed.  I used a new patient information sheet that I downloaded last year from my endocrinologist's web site. The medical history lists and questions offered us plenty of vocabulary and discussions.  We want to continue discussing medical situations. 

I have requested a book from a network library, on the topic but in the mean time, I have found 3 books in my local branch, that will we will use both for medical terminology/scenarios as well as other life circumstances.  That's Life is a series by New Readers Press. In 2 of them (Introductory and Low Beginner), I found chapters about doctor visits.  I also borrowed a book called English Interplay, Surviving,  which I will use in addition to the aforementioned ones, in preparation for next week's meeting.

I like these books because the crucial words are contained in the short, simple. realistic stories. There are pictures and very short workbook style pages. They're perfect for a learner who wants to be prepared for medical encounters.

Strength and Determination

The courage and strength of English learners is something to which I never gave a thought until I took ESL tutoring classes. My only recollections of  being unable to communicate were in some Spanish classes, when I was in Jr high and high school.  I was fortunate enough to have a Spanish teacher despised by most students, but an excellent language instructor.  He never spoke a word of English in class.  i have a musician's ear and am an aural learner.  I was also raised with a maternal grandmother in our home who spoke pigeon English mixed with Polish and a pair of paternal grandparents who didn't spare us Sicilian lingo, so I had heard and liked the sound of other languages. I never faced having to cope with speaking a new and  foreign language at a hospital or bank. I have such respect and admiration for people who forsake comfort for opportunity by coming to the United States and trying to integrate into society, business, places of worship, schools and every other walk of life.

My students have been here for a while, but they still have some significant linguistic needs.  Some are practical, and day-to-day kinds of things and others are extremely specialized.  

The best advice I can give tutors is to be warm and informal, but being certain to be appropriate. These students need to feel comfortable trying to express with what they think they need help and they need to be able to freely convey the order of importance and priority for those things. It will not always be easy for them to tell us what they need, but we must not impede them by our comportment, tone, impatience or haste. 

Although I have not been working with my students for long, their success is of paramount importance to me. It's my job  and joy to balance what they need and how best to lead them through their growth and understanding of how we use English in the United States.  

New Student Tomorrow

I will meet a new ESL student tomorrow morning. She is Korean. It's a sweet irony that her husband is a Pastor and I am planning to offer an ESL class at our church, beginning some time in 2014. I understand her husband is also on the ESL list, so perhaps I will work with him, or a small group from his church. 

Over the past few weeks I sat in on the ESL tutor class I took over the summer, just as a refresher. I didn't hear anything new, but being a musician, I recognize the effectiveness of repetition. The primary benefit I derived, was once again, I heard about the contents of an array of books in the ESL collection. I had combed through them over the summer but had not been back.

I have also done a little research on Korean customs, gestures, social practices and so on.  I certainly don't want to make my student uncomfortable by doing something inadvertently offensive.  

Here's to a great learning experience for both of us!