We then had them write short paragraphs about themselves and their goals. One that really struck me was the man that I later got to work with who said he wanted to get his degree, sustain a job, and get married and have three beautiful babies. They all willingly shared their goals with each other and were excited about hearing our goals as well. I was really struck by this especially, because I think they enjoyed the fact that we were taking part in writing with them and stating our life goals. I didn’t expect them to ask to hear ours but they seemed very eager for us to participate as well. From what I’ve already learned about these students, I was not surprised to find that each one of them placed a great deal of emphasis on their goal to continue their education, get degrees, and better their English.
After we all wrote and shared our short paragraphs we had them do a noun tense fill-in-the-blank sheet that they completed with little trouble. They went around and gave their answers orally, and when they all seemed to be getting them correct, we quickly realized they were advanced even more than we thought; we’ll have to bring more challenging exercises for some of them. We also learned through this exercise that some of them are much better when reading and writing, but are much more shy and apprehensive when speaking. That they are so advanced in either areas truly impresses me and I commend them for their efforts in learning the new language.
After we went over the noun tense sheet, we split up and did some one-on-one teaching, and this was by far my favorite part. I think that it would be best if we could continue breaking the class up in this way – having the first half devoted to learning as a group and then giving one-on-one attention to each student for the remainder of the time. I was very impressed with the man I worked with, because not only could he read, write, and speak really well, he also knew quite a bit about grammar rules. We went over nearly two pages of the college entrance exam for English together and he got almost all of them correct, even pointing out independent and dependent clauses. I was disappointed, however, to find that because of his work schedule he will be unable to attend our classes each week. He told me he had already taken the GED and had only missed 10 over the limit for the reading section. This really saddened me that he had gotten this far and done so well, only to learn that he did not pass. Likewise, I knew by then that he would not be able to come and work with us, so I’m hoping we can send along some exercises for him to work on. Also, my two students from last week were not able to come so I’m hoping they will be attendance next week.
Already I’ve learned so much about their cultures and I’ve been touched by their enthusiasm and joy. Even though, as we’ve been reading in Little Bee, they may have come from violent and awful situations, they smile, laugh, and tell their stories to us, excited and eager to be learning and sharing with one another.
One image that has really stayed with me this week is when we left the cafeteria where we teach – we were met by dozens of families leaving the gymnasium where some kind of basketball league was ending for the night. I watched the contrasting faces leaving the building – the African refugees excited about the new English words they had learned and can now take out with them into their workplaces and the white middle-class families toiling over the wins and loses of a youth basketball game. It really occurred to me, as it sometimes does, that in America we have very flawed perspectives and priorities. We all left the building together, but some of us would be carrying many more privileges with us, while others would be struggling and striving to make each moment and opportunity count.
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