ESL Tutoring Post #1

February 20, 2012

Hello Everyone, 

This past Saturday morning I had a tutoring session which will be the subject of my blog today. 

Before I do that though let me introduce you to my students.  They are both in Elementary school.  The younger one is in the third grade and the older is in fifth grade. Currently they are both in ESL.  

What I have been doing recently is trying to gauge what they are most interested in reading/writing about.  The younger student loves Pokemon and the older seems to be more partial to stories about animals.  Recently I have been going to the Boulder Public Library and picking out a variety of books that they can choose from.  After they choose a book, we read it together and then they talk to me about what the story was about.  After they have related the events in the book I use the hamburger visual organizer (Introduction (bun); three layers (first, second and third); and the conclusion (bun) to get them to tell me the story and then I ask them to write about it in the same format.  I draw a hamburger on a blank page and then they fill it out.I have found that using a model like this helps them learn to organize a paper and use appropriate transition words (such as: first, then, after, next, etc. )

With the older student, I used the same model (hamburger) for a while and then he showed me how he was learning to write summaries in school.  He  showed me a grid that his teacher has him use.  The first part is I (identifying information meaning the title of the book and the author), the next part is V (verb, i.e does the book describe or explain etc.) and the third part if the grid is F (final thought, where the student wites what he/she thinks the main point of the story is, what the author wrote about).  After that, the student will write a list of events beneath the grid using bullet points.  Finally, they will put stars next to big events, checks next to other important events and minuses next to small events.  Afterwards they will synthesize the points and the grid into sentences in order to create a summary of the book.  Since this is what he was doing in school we decided to use this model for him and not the hamburger model.  It is a much better representation of what he is capable of and I am still able to teach him about transitions and other interesting tidbits along the way.

I was very impressed by what he is able to do. To reward them for reading, speaking and writing I give them stickers.  In Target I have found a wall of stickers that you can purchase for not a lot of money. It is about $1 for one sheet. Amazing! Their folders are covered in dinosaurs, monster trucks, super mario, animals, and many other kinds of stickers.  I have always appreciated how little it takes to motivate children. In fact, I had a sociology professor at CSU who said that if he had to choose again, he would either work with elementary age kids or college students.  In a way there is wisdom in those words.  Both demographics are fairly easy to manage in their own special ways. 

 I also really like working with these kids.  Though they don't always cooperate in the way I would like they are very bright and have tons of potential.  I was not so advanced in ESL at their age, I know that for certain.  

I have another session with them tomorrow night which is when I'll probably blog again. 

Teaching Narrative

This narrative repeats a little of what I stated in my previous blog.  However this is what will be in my Course Portfolio so I would appreciate any and all feedback. 

Teaching Narrative/Personal Statement

There is nothing as flexible as language. What intrigues me about studying languages, especially English is that a slim chance and fat chance can mean the same thing and that it is possible to park in a driveway and drive on a parkway”. I came to the Unites States with my family as a refugee from Bosnia in 1995. I started taking an English as a Second Language class when I was placed in the third grade and it was in ESL that I discovered a love for learning language. I noticed that my ESL teacher, a woman named Linda Neuenschwander was able to communicate with me regardless of my lack of literacy in English. This was as amazing as it was comforting and perplexing since none of my other teachers could. I was able to learn English with confidence and ease because of her skill and patience. I would consider it an honor to learn what she knew about English that made a ten year old refugee able to learn language with confidence. It is also my hope that one day that I can be a successful ESL teacher.  I believe that it is one of the largest ways that I can make an impact, and there is little else that I consider more valuable than teaching English as a Second Language. 

 As a Colorado State University undergraduate student, the lion’s share of my volunteer work has been geared towards English Language Learners at the Intensive English Program.  It thrilled me to participate in Conversation Groups that help students learn English just as I once had. I am happy to see that my background provides helpful support for their own efforts to learn English. 

I grew up speaking two languages: Serbo-Croatian (my native language) and English. Growing up with two languages helped me become a good language student because knowing how to compare and analyze differences between the languages I knew made learning new ones easier. In High School I started learning French, which began a lifelong interest in learning language.

Each language I studied opened a door to a culture that was foreign from my own and I have never had a single regret. Studying Linguistics has offered me the chance to use language in ways that would open my eyes further to different ways of communicating across many demographics of people.

Another deciding factor in my decision to pursue Linguistics in Graduate School was my time studying abroad. Last summer, in order to increase my French fluency, I traveled to France to study at the Institute for American Universities in beautiful Aix-en-Provence. I decided to study in France in order to test my communication skills learned in my French classes.  Returning from that trip made me all the more determined to pursue my language studies. Learning language and language teaching has become an integral part of my life and I am confident it will lead me to a successful future.

The concentration of “language” that I chose within my major was my introduction to the field of Linguistics. CSU does not have “Linguistics” as a major but I have found ways to supplement my curriculum with Linguistics classes. Dr. Gerald Delahunty, my academic advisor, is also a Professor in the Graduate TEFL/TESL program. After taking one class with him at the Undergraduate level, he advised me to take a Graduate Level course. I began taking some of his classes such as  “Semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse Analysis” and “Phonology/Morphology” and found that I was truly interested in Linguistics.  This was also a way to prove to myself that I would be successful in Graduate School. I have been devoted to it ever since because I found it easy to apply the languages that I have learned to what was presented in class and see how people learn about the structure of languages they do not speak.  

  The perplexities of English in particular are something that could be studied within the course of a lifetime and still remain mysterious.  No one language can ever be frozen in time because there are so many parts of communication that are so ephemeral they must be studied in the moment that they’re born. This is partly what makes teaching emergent bilingual students, students who are adding a language or languages to their repertoire, difficult.  An ESL teacher has to face these issues in ways that other teachers don’t and he/she must be dedicated to their students because their futures depend on it.  I would be an honor and a lifelong endeavor to be an effective ESL instructor.  

BLOG 1. Hello Everyone and Welcome to my BLOG ^_^

Hello everyone,

January 15, 2012

I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's Day!

I would like to welcome you all to my blog! my apologies that it is a little late coming to you. 

Here in this first submission I'll start by introducing myself and a little of what I'm going to be blogging about until my practicum begins. 

My name is Nada. It is not an easy name to have in the U.S.A because most everyone I meet is familiar with the Spanish translation.  Therefore, every-time I introduce myself, I must have a 5-10 minute time frame to explain the origin and intended meaning of my name. Not to leave you guys on tender hooks for long, it is a Bosnian name.  I was born in the Eastern European country of Bosnia-Herzegovina and 'nada' in my native language means 'hope' . Funny our world isn't it? But I digress.

My family came to this country in 1996, and at that time I was an ESL student. Now, I would like nothing better than to be an ESL teacher. I always found it remarkable how my ESL teachers were able to connect with me and teach me English without the support of knowing my native language.  

When I started University, I was a Biology major! I know, difficult to believe. I thought I wanted to study veterinary medicine until I took a few classes and realized that I liked animals a great deal more than I liked learning abut them.  The classes where I found refuge were my French language and my literature classes.  I have always liked language. Can't help it. So I swiftly changed my major from Biology to English Language, French, and International Studies.  Currently, I am a graduate student of linguistics, with a specialization in TESOL. It has been a rocky road, but I've loved it.

As of now, I am waiting to start my TESOL Practicum at the International English Center in Boulder CO.  This practicum will be starting in March. I suspect that it will be with beginning or intermediate students, but I cannot be sure.  Until that time comes, I am going to entertain you with details from my tutoring job (of two Korean elementary school students) and a few notes in regards to a observation based practicum that I participated in last year at the IEC. 

Thank you all for your time.