Monday, April 6, 2009

My ESL Class

My ESL (English as a Second Language) class is going well, as well as can be expected. My students are adults and just like most of us, they have to juggle kids, jobs, and other obligations besides learning English. Some of them have temporarily dropped out because they had to go where their work sent them. You can't blame them for that one either.

It's just another one of the things ESL teachers have to manage. Juggling is a very important part of teaching--especially in a class where you're dealing with so many factors like differing abilities and cultural differences.

I vividly remember my second class of adults. It was at Good Will. Half of the class was from Cambodia and the other half was from Laos. I had heard that the two groups of people didn't really get along but I didn't realize they wouldn't even talk to each other let alone sit together. Thankfully, the students in my current class aren't like that. It's hard to practice communicating verbally when you won't talk to other people. LOL!

Did you know it takes between 5 to 7 years to develop fluency in a second language? That is when you actually have the time and resources to devote to studying it. If you've ever tried to learn a foreign language, you know how difficult it is. If you've ever lived abroad, where English isn't so commonly spoken, you also know how difficult and isolating that can be. So, the next time you're behind someone in line who does not speak English, I thank you in advance for your patience and kindness. I thank you, also, for your prayers for them and for my class.

Happy Scrapping!

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

I'm glad to heard it is going well. I lived in Germany for three years and it is difficult to learn a second language and I do applaud those in your class doing just that and you taking the time and being patient enough to teach them.