It's All About the Scenario

This past week, I met with a small group of people with whom I am creating some technology lessons for LiteracyNJ.org.  It's a daunting task, to boil down the technology we use every day, into relatable, sequential, useful mini lessons for the uninitiated learners who desperately need to use it. As we brain stormed on how to create these classes, we invented stories to propel the learners to use the facets of technology they learn, in a realistic setting.   We had fun with our characters Ana and Anish.  They are going to have two separate stories that eventually merge. 

I had been thinking about how we were going to write this curriculum for some time before our meeting.  Each time I mentally visited the topic, I changed my mind about what I thought before.  I'm an organized and logical person and I have decades of experience teaching.  Still, I was in a stall.   Ana and Anish's  scenarios were key for me and for the group with whom I am working.  Now, we're inspired.  Our inspiration should translate into a great course and in turn, tremendous success for all the tutors we train to teach their learners. 

If you are working on any ESL or literacy projects, try the scenario approach. You may find it the perfect glue, to hold all the bits and bobs in place, and keep your lessons in your students' minds.

Literacy for Life 2014

I was honored to have been a presenter at yesterday's Literacy for Life conference at Monmouth Community College, in West Windsor, NJ.  It was quite a ride in quasi-hurricane conditions, at the crack of dawn, but worth every ounce of inconvenience presented by the long ride and uncooperative atmospherics.   The venue was just right for our event - enough room, but not so spread out that it was difficult to navigate.  The catering was great and participants were treated to great beverages, fruit and snacks throughout the day.  No one left hungry.

My workshop was during the first time slot, concurrent with several other workshops. iTeach ESL was well attended and I had a lively group that was engaged. They had enough questions to signal me that they were really listening and I retained their attention until the end of my talk.   Since it was a tech talk, the "notes" handout I offered attendees, was just a cover sheet with a QR code to a page on this blog where I have provided URLs and some other pertinent notes.  

After my 9:15 AM workshop, I attended the Naturalization Information Session.given by a Community Relations Officer from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services, a branch of U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  She was a delightful presenter and extremely informative.  She gave us an overview of the process those seeking citizenship encounter.  We were recipients of plenty of resources for our students or our own edification. None of the English learners I tutor are yet citizens.

Lunch was after the second session.  The caterer did a great job with mixed baby green  salad, fresh fruit, Italian bread and butter, stuffed shells, chicken marsala, spinach, and risotto.  Dessert didn't disappoint. There was pumpkin cheesecake, I think a chocolate cheesecake, a traditional chocolate cake, fresh fruit, cream puffs, chocolate chip cookies and coffees and teas.  Yum.

The after-lunch General Session was informative and inspiring.  Dr. Erik Jacobson was the guest speaker and gave a presentation,  Problem Solving in Technology Rich Environments.  I first me Dr. Jacobson in August, when we attended a meeting at Literacy NJ.  He's a brilliant and passionate advocate for Adult Education, as well as an Associate Professor in the Early Childhood,  Elemetary and Literacy Education Department at Montclair State University.  

After Dr. Jacobson, this year's awards were presented:

• The 2014 Award for Volunteer Excellence went to Josh Lucchesi, Literacy Volunteers Association Capre-Atlantic
• The 2014 Award for Tutor Excellence went to Daniel Keohlhoffer, Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County
• The Alice M. Leppert Award for Outstanding Affiliate Achievement went to Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County
• The 2014 Award for Student Excellence went to the delightful  Carine Deye, Literacy NJ Union County Programs 

Following a short break, my third session workshop was Dr. Jacobson's Promises of Adult Education and Realities of the Workforce. He's a dynamic educator. I hope his university students appreciate his expertise and devotion to education. It was a great workshop.

I left the conference much richer in knowledge.  

I Am Observing

(It's been quite a while since I last blogged.  I have had and am still having a less than optimum recovery from a fractured wrist, but I'm doing my best to resume my usual activities.  Thanks for your forbearance over the long pause.)

I am observing, with all of my adult English learners, that -ing verbs are commonly used, but often without their auxiliaries.  Frequently, a student says, "I going to the store."  Of course I know what they are saying, I'm just a little unsure of when their trip will or did take place. I know that for the most basic skill level, that statement communicates enough.  However, all of my learners, already had varying levels of skill in English and desire to speak more properly.

I have been creating some tense sheets to help them.  There are several ways to say something in the present, but sometimes the present tense is more like a description of what one does routinely or for a living, and not what one is doing at that instant.  For example:

I play golf.    Well, that can be the answer to, What do you do to relax?  or What do you do for a living?

I am (or I'm) playing golf.  That can be the answer to, Hi, Dad!  Just wanted to call to see what's going on,  or What are you doing next Saturday morning?

The same goes for the other auxiliaries like is, are, was, were.

I have found it helpful to compare:

I play golf

to

I am playing golf

and

I played golf

to

I was playing golf

and so on.

Once the understanding of the progressive nature of the auxiliary word and the -ing verb are understood with simple repetition and description of the progressive aspect of the word combination, my students improved in their comprehension (because we frequently speak in this progressive action manner) and in their conversational usage.

If you or your English Learners are stumbling with this, and want to improve their accuracy, perhaps using these kinds of examples will be helpful.

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!

Anticipation

I'm in receipt of my certificate for completing the tutor training course I took during June and feel well-prepared to begin tutoring.  Since the first ESL tutor training class, I have become aware of things I encounter everywhere, that may be useful with an ELL (English Language Learner). The Ramsey Library has contacted me about a student on their waiting list who sounds like a good match because she is a native Spanish speaker and I speak Spanish.  While they make the necessary contacts and arrange for our first session, I have been continuing to compile resources such as:

• more photos for my picture files
• brochures that might be helpful
• "traditional" teaching aids
• "non-traditional" teaching aids

Among the above are a flier from the Post Office about Lottery Scams, foam numbers and math symbols to assist tactile learners, a few excellent iPad apps (Oxford Picture Dictionary Unit 1, Idioms, USA Learners 1, ESL Tests), and magazine photos of action scenes to add to my "What Are They Doing?" folder.  I also picked up some spiral notebooks for 50¢.  I found a great resource book  on  Amazon for 1¢ plus shipping.  It's one edition older than the current version, but much of its material is the same as the newer one.  Although I have and can borrow the current edition from the ESL collection at the Ramsey or Westwood Libraries, having my own copy, though older,  at home may be very helpful.