As class wound up two weeks ago, it was bitter sweet. I had one on one appointments with all the students to go over their progress. One however sticks in my mind. He came in and really tried to describe what he wanted to say in English but said he had to use Spanish to get his point across. (Mind you my Spanish is not great, but I listen pretty well.) Here is the gist of what he said. He had tried to study a few times before but had failed. He indicated that it was at other schools. He said that he thought some of his problem was that he could not get along with other Spanish speakers. However, when he walked in the room that first day (he came a few weeks late) he felt a certain ambiance that he couldn't describe that made him feel comfortable. He had a girlfriend with him. She broke up with him within a week and this just cemented the idea that he was not going to be successful. However when she stopped coming, he did not. He felt that certain ambience which he could not describe. He sat at a table with Chinese students (one of my highest and two of my lowest students in the class) for two reasons he said.
1) He did not want to speak Spanish 2) He was afraid to get into some argument with the other Spanish speakers. He said that every day he woke up and the only part of his day that he looked forward to was class. When he came to class, he knew he would learn a lot and have a great time. He repeated that a few times and I could see tears starting to well up in his eyes. He said over time, he started to mingle with some of the Spanish speakers and even felt a bit comfortable to talk with them. He said I was very special to him and for that he was so thankful. Tears were starting to well up in my eyes as well. I wished him well and sent hi on his way. Saying thank you to him all the way out. So this week it is a new beginning. I have a high beginning Speaking class and a high beginning writing class. My speaking class was last night. None of the students are on the Portal from their last class...sigh...so I will have to get them all on the portal for Wifi access. I went over the syllabus with them and pointed to the sentence, "I use your phones. Please bring them charged." They looked at me in disbelief. I said does every one has a phone? They gave the look like (Yes of course we do). They don't have wifi though. All students except for 1 could use their own wifi for the time being. I will bring in my hotspot for those who have no access. I need to make a reservation in the lab to get them on the portal. I wish all teachers would get them this access. It helps with retention because they might just come more often if they can access the wifi on campus freely.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Susan Gaer
A veteran teacher tackling the lowest levels of ESL instruction. Archives
August 2017
Categories |