I am so thrilled and blessed to have gotten my certification to teach ESL, and my first class is on Saturday. I will be teaching an entirely Spanish speaking group, for the time being, and they are my friends and sisters. It's a mission within my church, to help the women to be better equipped (and to quit calling me when they want to order a pizza, lol.)
It's not a "Hey, pat me on the back" type of thing - for those of you who have heard some of my history, this is certainly the first "thing" I've done with my life in a long time. (Wow, I've been gone from mamapedia for a long time. I bet you all forgot me! Hah.) I'm just really happy to be "doing something with my life" (ugh, as my mom puts it.)
So, if you have any experience with this - I would love your best advice, helpful hints, materials you've loved, etc, especially since I am doing my first class with dear friends to gain the experience I need to do it in a more public setting. ANY advice is very welcome! I am truly nervous.
Thanks for the encouragement and advice, ladies! Truly appreciated. I have been blessed over the last several years to be completely immersed in the Spanish language and have become fluent - after seeing how easily it can be done with immersion, I was inspired to hopefully return that favor to the women. Of course, I by myself cannot immerse them the way that they've done me with Spanish, but I'm going to do my best!!!
The Minnesota Wisconsin Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Missions Board offered me the chance to be certified in ESL through their discipleship training because it's a real need in our areas of MN/WI as we have an ever growing population of Hispanic immigrants. I was so thrilled to be given the opportunity - for free, no less - because I had been checking into it and it is a bit expensive. But God answered that prayer for me. I would suggest a church might be a great place to start inquiring about certification because they often want to provide that training, as an ESL mission can be a great way to share the Gospel as well. I've heard some ESL missionaries from other countries say that the Bible is one of the best ESL texts they have!
I don't have any suggestions, but welcome back, and good for you!!
You will do fine. What a great way to contribute. :)
I teach. Its so rewarding! I love working with internationals. Some of my students are illegals, but a lot of them are political or medical refugees from Burma, the Middle East and Central America. I've had students from Asia, Russia and Africa as well.
Your going to be using a lot of hand gestures and drawing alot, so make sure you have a classroom size white board or chalk board.
Our curriculum starts with the basics. Vocabulary building, spelling and pronunciation are woven in each lesson:
week 1 - name, phone, address
week 2 - family, alphabet - spouses name, husband, son, wife, daughter...
week 3 - rooms in the house, numbers - living room, sofa, lamp, bathroom, shower, sink...
week 4 - around town, street map - church, grocery store, bank, library, bus station, gas station, directions, prepositions (behind, in front of, right, left...)
and so on and so on. Bring pictures and magazines to show different things. My students, no matter where they're from, seem to love simple arts and crafts (for Easter we dye eggs, Valentine's Day we cut out hearts) I hope you have a great experience and meet a lot of amazing people!
Congrats! I have worked with ESL over the years as an assistant and sub/bilingual tutor, at various time. Please if you have a chance can you let me know how you got your certification.I just never got to that part. Best advise is repetition, plunging in and nowdays there are so many free programs on the computer!
Second note: my husband didn't know English and I didn't know Spanish when we were first married nineteen years ago. We are now a bilingual household.
Best tool obviously: a dictionary.Next continuous use.
Another bit of advise I am learning (currently assist in a Spanish class) is that the teacher makes the students converse with eachother in that language. No English.
Flashcards. One English -one spanish.
I'll keep thinking.
Our church has an ESL program for adults...... they teach the adults usable English skills, while their children are in childcare programs/homework programs throughout the church.
Children are taught ESL through the schools, but the adults are left to flounder on their own. Hopefully this will help them!
I'm glad you are doing this, also.... it is great to reach out to the community this way!
