Today, I will take you to work with me.
I am hanging out in the school library. When the students glance up and realize that I am lurking here, they nudge each other. They look at each other with a she's-watching-you-no-she's-watching-YOU look. What?! I'm not watching...exactly... I'm observing! It's different!
Unlike the other teachers, who have eight groups apiece, I only have three. That's because I'm the director and (to quote one of my colleagues) need to have time for "director-ing".
My most basic group is studying occupations, learning to make sentences like "I am a teacher. He is an artist."
My high basic group is working on maps and directions: "Turn left, go straight ahead."
And my intermediate group is reading a short passage about RFID chip technology, and what we are "are able to" do with it. They are studying "can" and "be able to".
Everyone also spends quite a bit of time chatting and discussing things that come up spontaneously.
I'll listen in.
"'Get up' means the same thing as 'stand up'" [Or does it? Because you can get up from a sitting or a lying position; but you really only stand up from a sitting position....]
"Do you want to write it on the board? Here's a marker. "
I have a sister who have a little pet named "Coonie" and now she use RFID.
I like that hospitals use the RFID to newborns because I think they can prevent kidnapping.
"What does battle mean? See where it mentions the battle against France?"
"What do you do for Day of the Dead? Only go to the cemetery and put flowers."
"What do you think of the weather here in Utah? Do you like it? Why?"
"Like snow." "What about summer?" "I like summer." "Why? I like summer for vacation!" "How about autumn?" "Autumn?"
I'll wander downstairs and see what is happening in the English for Certified Nursing Assistant class. Body systems. "Contracture. What is that? Stiffening. What is stiffening? When you can't move the muscles. Normal changes of aging include.,.. muscles weaken...bones lose density and become more brittle." Pause for practice pronouncing "brittle".
Just little snippets from my day.
I think the English for Certified Nursing Assistants could be interesting to observe myself :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Hmm. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to languages. I can speak a little French, and I mean a little, but that's it. I wonder how English compares to other languages?
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting job! Our floor janitor speaks mostly Karen and he and I are teaching each other. I never realized just how weirdly put together English is until I had to try to teach it.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE these snippets. I was just thinking yesterday about how confusing phrasal verbs are for non-native English speakers, and rightly so.
ReplyDeleteI mean, for a random addition to what you laid out in your post...