ESL Teacher Reflection #1

Language Arts has always been my favorite subject throughout my educational career.  I am highly interested in English, and now thanks to our LLT 307 class, I am learning how interesting it can be to teach it.  Our class discussion has made me think back to my TE 250 class, where I was able to volunteer at East High School in Lansing, MI. 

            Since I am an Elementary Education major, I remember being nervous about helping out at a high school, where students are only a few years younger than I am.  This was my first opportunity working with students at this age and I was worried that they were not going to take me seriously.  I thought students would look at me more as a classmate or friend, rather than someone that could help them with the schoolwork that they struggled with.

I spent my time in an after school help program, where students from seventh to twelve grade could come and seek help from a teacher and other MSU volunteers.  These students ranged not only in age, but most (if not all) of the students were learning English as their second language.  My first visit turned out to be like most, with the students being more interested in playing games on the computers, online shopping, and showing each other the latest YouTube hits.  I was thinking that my fear of not being looked at seriously was coming true.  It became extremely difficult for me, as well as the other volunteers, to break through to these students and help them with their homework or other projects that they were assigned. 

However, during the end of the year I made a break through with a ninth grader from Nigeria.  Instead of saying, “I don’t need help” like the other students, we began reading short stories from the Internet.  She was very soft-spoken at first and I often found myself leaning in to hear her as she read out loud.  She took each word very carefully and would occasionally stumble on words that we may see as simple such as “it”, “in”, and “is”.  These words became especially difficult if they were placed together in a sentence.  However, she was able to read longer words rather quickly, hinting that she was second-guessing herself on the shorter words.  As we continued to read, I could tell she was becoming more and more comfortable with me when her voice began to rise and when she smiled when I commented on how well she was reading.  We read about twenty different short stories together before I had to leave, and she told me that she was excited to keep reading with me next week.

After having such a rough start with this volunteer experience, I learned a very valuable lesson.  She taught me that when being pulled away from her friends, Facebook, and other distractions, there was someone willing to learn, if given the chance, and the patience she can surprise you.

Amanda