Why, Hello Spanish/English Diccionario!

I am going to teach ESL at Casa Marianella!!  And yes, this warrants two exclamation points because I am really excited about this!  Casa Marianella is a non-profit organization that provides shelter and a variety of social services to immigrants and refugees.  Many of the residents of Casa speak very limited English, and this can often affect their ability to navigate finding a job, social networks, etc.  Even just a trip to the grocery store or to the doctor could be really daunting.

I also have a bit of an ulterior motive.  My Spanish is very rusty; so rusty that I get all bashful about conversing in Spanish with anyone.  So this is what I thought.  A lot of the individuals in the ESL class speak Spanish fluently.  SO if I come in there with my rusty Spanish, and the students come to class with their developing English, perhaps we will find ourselves on a more even field and dialogue will be much easier for all of us.  And I will also need to use my Spanish some while teaching to make some points more clear, to respond to questions, etc.

After observing an ESL class on Tuesday, I think one of the biggest challenges might be finding something that the students will be interested in talking about.  Because really, what’s more awkward than being in a room full of your peers who you may have ever met, trying to please a teacher you’ve never met and whose words you can only somewhat understand, and then be expected to interact and join in conversation?  At least I’ve taken some language classes and studied abroad, so I have some concept of exactly how that feels.  I’m all about shared life experiences.  And about treating others with humbleness and dignity.  I think this will be a good experience.  I hope so much I can enable my students to learn!