Friday, 4/30 was my last conversation class at ArlingtonReads! Luckily, an undergraduate student from Lori's linguistics class, who had come to my ELI conversation group last Monday to make up some service learning hours because her student had cancelled some classes, and I invited her to come to Friday's class. The great news is that she is going to continue with the conversation group - which is now a constant turn-out of 4 people each Friday - so there won't be any interruption for the students.
As delighted as I am to leave 'my' students in good hands, I would be less than honest to say that I was a bit disturbed by what seemed to be a bit of a 'whatever' attitude on the part of the program organizers. Likely my inexperience is showing here. I have finally gotten comfortable with stepping and stepping up in terms of organizing the class and making simple lesson plans ... but I keept looking over my shoulder to check with those in charge of the program ... is this how they have forseen the program? am I operating within the bounds of the services they offer? I know that a program like ELI, or Intensive English at UT Austin is quite differently organized, and highly structured ... but it is comforting to know what the inclement weather policy might be, and, if students want a field trip, it is possible to arrange that and notify everyone ... instead of wondering if this is the week that 16 new people will show up between 10:40 and 11:20, expecting a teacher and a class at the library. Worst was the computer class that was scheduled, still don't know by whom, in the room where the conversation class is held. The teacher basically, unpleasantly, and almost physically, tossed us out. The students launched a discussion on manners that day: is this how you do things here in the US? What should we say to people like that, etc.? It was wierd. But, I have to admit ... it WAS good for conversation!
Now, I sense that the organization I describe may be more than a bit lax, but I'd like to hear from you what you feel is a reasonable expectation for working in volunteer ESL programs.
Thanks! This happened a couple of weeks ago, and it has been a little hard to talk about.
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I have also struggled this semester with the notion of volunteer ESL. The instructor with many years experience felt it was good for the students to have some investment in the class, even if it was just buying the book. In Japan, I was used to students paying $70 plus dollars for a single class and buying tickets in books of $3,000 sets. Of course, they wanted a return on their investment and had goals as well as time set aside to study.
ReplyDeleteVolunteering to teach some ESL seems to have a different spin. The students are less invested and might have less time set aside for study and even less self-directed goals. They seem to need more socializing in class and ‘fun’ time. I think it is still useful to add structure into the sessions but perhaps in more manageable chunks for their expectations. In the end, I decided it was more important that the student come to class which less of an issue if the student is heavily invested in it.
Of course, I was working with Catholic Charities and they have good organization as an entity. Still, the students and classes themselves, I suspect are less structured and organized than many ELI programs.