Dear Waves,

You sound less stressed today.
I am happy you had a talk with her.

M

Waves,

Keep on keeping on.

Where are you time-wise? Are things wrapping up for you?


M

Thanks Mari.

i am gathering my wits and seeing i have a lot to learn. it's ok because at least, i feel like i am doing something humane and useful. i am also rather partial to English () so it feels good to share something i like with others.

this week, i have had to work my butt off with migraines ongoing, because with only 3 classes left (now only 2) i wanted to plot them all out to try to optimize the time. i am preparing material "optimistically" in case she can get through it, but we will only do what we can reasonably do. i may need to pick and choose as we go along.

Well, after today, we have 2 sessions left. short test on the first of those, but i may grade it at home to save time. we have Good Friday and Easter Monday off so next class is next Wednesday.

the "big" remaining themes i'd like to cover are:

• asking for/giving basic directions, esp. street directions. (imperative) - no preparation yet. these are going to have to be VERY basic.
• time/calendar - lexicon ready, time unit ready. i have also taught her odd things along the way.
• simple past - argh, i really want to give her some notion of how to express a past action!

future is a "nice to have" so i will prep it, but i don't think we'll have time. we will basically have 2 hours to do whatever new material we can. the other 2 hours will be taken between test, homework corrections (i don't provide corrections - i nudge her through what she got wrong, which takes time), and course wrap-up.

i have given her present progressive along with "to be going to," which does provide an intelligible option future-wise. she knows the word "will" and that it is for the future tense - we use it in end-of-class greeting (i will see you <day of week>). so i'll put together a unit for it... if there's a little time i might give it a once over and she can email me her exercises after the course - she did very well with can.

on the general program and probably getting nixed is "must". time and calendar will probably be grossly simplified. some indefinite quantities are getting nixed because she is having difficulty on the very basic ones. everything after simple past/future is getting nixed.

basically i want to do somersaults to get that past tense in. clearly it will only be for some verbs. i will have to pick carefully.

i want to spend time in the last class going over her subjective doubts and weak points i've observed. i also want to have some good dialog time ... the newer stuff opens up lots of options there.

i have also just given her an essay assignment, but i've told her just to look it over so that if she comes across useful tidbits as she studies, she can "collect" them any old way. She can compose it and turn it in later, even email it after the last session. i remember my first essay assignment in my first "foreign language." simple as it was, i recall there being a huge degree of satisfaction in being able to string together several sentences that are related to each other and talk about a topic in particular.

all in all not bad. i see many mistakes i have made. i wouldn't even have had a "chance" to make them if i had had a textbook. most were the very mistakes i was afraid of making, yet knew not how to avoid... without a textbook (or maybe several decades of ESL teaching experience). well i guess we learn from our mistakes eh?

i'm still a bit migrainey. hope to be ok by tomorrow.

thanks for asking. i hope i didn't burn your eyes out reading this manuscript of an answer!

thanks so much for your advice and support too. it has been invaluable to me.

~ waves ~

Waves,

I lost a post while on this crummy monitor at work. I will try again. The post I lost was beautiful. ( ) lol This is the best I can do for now.

Perhpas, the last two sessions focus on reinforcement.

In case you have not thought of it, consider getting a written evaluation of her feelings about the sessions. Even if the course is never offered again in the way it was this time, you can still benefit from having a document from her for yourself and for possible future employers.

You could ask what did you you like most / least about topic X?
OR
The instructor
was well prepared for class
presented material in a clear and well organized
was knowledgeable about the subject
was able to interest and motivated students
spoke clearly and was easily understood
answered questions satisfactorily
was responsive to feedback and suggestioins

This one is too complicated but I searched and found it
http://kyae.ky.gov/nr/rdonlyres/cb09...nstructors.pdf
Choose 5 -8 questions maybe.
http://buckhoff.topcities.com/esl_words_of_wisdom.htm
Maybe there is something you can use here.

If you choose to do this, you can think of it as a learning experience for her. She has to think about what she has acheieved. You might gain a sense of satisfaction from this as well.

M

Dear Marii'm sorry about your losing that beautiful post, and also that i didn't get to see it! it sucks when computers eat our stuff!
well, 2 of the 4 remaining hours would provide some of that, but we could certainly do with the extra time to strengthen her ability to use what she has done, rather take on more. it could go far in helping her feel more sure of herself too.

on the other hand, she is aware of the three topics i mentioned as "things we would get to" so i am concerned she might feel disappointed about some if not all of those. she has asked me about time and calendar specifically, and seems rather keen on past tense (don't blame her!)

i won't prep future, i've been mulling this over tonight and there is no way in the world we could do all that. realistically and not optimistically speaking, in 2 hours, we'd be lucky just to get through 2 of the 3 topics i mentioned. SO.... what i shall do is prepare those three topics and then ask her how she'd prefer to invest the remaining time. i can ad lib if she just wants to practice/review. heck i can ad lib future tense too, should she request that instead of one of the other things, lol.

one thing i wanted to do, which perhaps was always unrealistic timewise, was to take her outside on the street for the giving/taking directions lesson. That way i could just speak to her in English, point to real things, use gestures to have her repeat, etc. the school is in a dense commercial area, there is every imaginable establishment, traffic signs etc, a variety of transport systems and their stops... just perfect for a "field session" on directions. oh well! guess i'm a bit of a dreamer.

~ waves ~

Dear Mari
yes. and no i had not thought of it. the school might do it. if so i would feel weird asking her to do a second one for me. i will check with the school first. if they don't do it, i will. it is a good idea and will take 5 minutes. i like your questions too. i will check the links too later on. thank you for finding these for me.
~ waves ~

She said that she wants to continue with you...so save the out side directions outing for the next class!
you are doing a great job!
((((HUGS)))))
bizi

Dear Bizi

thanks so much!

what i meant was, i thought that idea might not be realistic in relation to how the school runs these courses. i still don't have a really strong feel for that. but i could certainly ask specifically.

if she requests a personalized by-the-hour course next time it will be easier since she and i will determine the content and duration. if the school has no issue i will see how she feels about doing this directions "in the field." she is very self-conscious about speaking (fairly common) but the level of anxiety i am seeing is high enough to disrupt her focus. I have to intervene to slow her/calm her down. The presence of others outside might be too overwhelming and inhibiting for now. if she doesn't seem keen i'll propose it further down the line, as review rather than for new material.

that's assuming she does continue with me. she's said she wants to. but sometimes things just get said...

(((hugs))))

omg its nearly 5 am!!!! sheeeez! i gotta sleep!!!!

~ waves ~