[Now, let me preempt this post by saying that having less than two weeks of teaching under my belt and having only taught one private lesson so far, I am in no way, shape or form an expert on ESL classrooms, but here is my initial reactions to the ones I've seen.]
Last week officially started my endeavor of being an English Language and Culture Assistant by day and a private tutor by night. Having worked previously in several classrooms during my time studying elementary education in college, I felt like I would run into occasional difficulties that were similar to the American classrooms I had been part of. I figured, hey, whats the worst that could happen? I'll be learning Spanish in my free time, and teaching English to kids at a school. I'll be going through the same difficulties of learning a new language as they are. We'll be together in this struggle! Well, well, well, Miss Molly, how could you be so naive (Speaking in third person?! What is happening to me)?
Aaanyways, I work in a bilingual school in a satellite city/suburb of Madrid called Móstoles. This school is full of eager students, kind teachers, smiling faces, and a whopping 3 native english speakers. That puts into our responsibilities about 100 students spanning 2 different grades EACH. I was blessed with Tercera (third grade) with Mary Jo, or rather Maria Jose, and Quinto (fifth grade) with África. I walked in on day one of my job and was flooded with get-to-know-you questions.
- "What is your name?" --> "Molly!"… "Huh? Repeat" "Mawl-eeee." "Mow-dee!"
- "What your favorite color?" --> "Errr, yellow?" "Amarillo, no?" "No, yellow…english"
- "Where are you from?" ---> "Portsmouth, New Hampshire…? North of Boston…? Ok, Boston."
- "Do you have any brother or sister?" --> "I have one awesome older sister named Emily… Em-ill-eee." "Emehdee!"
- "Who is your favorite futbol player?" --> "Tom Bra-shit- Cristiano Ronaldo!" "YAYYYY!!!"
- "Do you like Casillas?" --> "Of course!" (Duh, obviously, he's from Móstoles. Its basically unlawful to way no.)
- "Do you have a boyfriend?" --> Uncomfortable silence…
- "Can I be your boyfriend?" --> More uncomfortable silence…
- "Can you speak Spanish?!" --> "No! None at all! I only speak English." "Ella no entiende nada, jajajaja!" (Yeah, yeah, yeah, enjoy it while it lasts. I hear everything! And understand! Well, some of it)
I laughed and found myself yearning to know each of their names; each of their stories. But rather than being solely excited, I was immediately overwhelmed with the magnitude of nuances in their speech. The habits that had been created through years of only speaking english as a requirement. And only speaking to people who had learned it in addition to their first language as well. The same nuances I'm sure I have acquired from years of on-and-off spanish classes with mostly American teachers. Its unbelievable how quickly our brains become hardwired to only make certain sounds. Like rolling our "r's" or making a long "zzzzz" sound. Or how accustomed we become to the rhythms in speech that we find; the longstanding hope that in order to make something plural or in the past tense, a single rule can be applied. Within moments of finishing answering the questions of my new students, I found myself hating the english language. Despising its rules and exceptions; its reasoning or lack there of.
The teachers I worked with both were (and are continuing to) making incredible strides with their students, but the number of times that the reason for a certain spelling or pronunciation was, "thats just the way it is," pissed me off. Not because it was a lazy answer, or an invalid answer, but because it was the RIGHT answer. Enter the orange poster I stumbled across at the top of this post. Like, what the fuck? What is english? How am I going to teach this?! I started flashing back to a class on phonetics and phases of learning to read. My instructor at the time would write a word one letter at a time, while we made the sound that word would make. For example…
- C
- CH
- CHO
- CHOI
- CHOIR
Did you try it? And all of the sudden get to the last line and, without a beat, say CHOIR in your head flawlessly? How did you do that? Simply through recognition. Its a word that doesn't follow the regular rules, and so, we memorize it. After years of seeing strange vocabulary in textbooks, and hearing our parents say them at the dinner table, seeing them on TV, and overhearing them on the radio, they become ingrained in our minds. But keep in mind, this takes YEARS. Years in an environment that boasts high literacy of the language at hand. And the reason I can see CHOIR and pronounce it flawlessly is the exact same reason why whenever I encounter rolling r's or long spanish words, I freeze up. I grew up in a home that was endlessly rich in english literacy, and completely void of spanish.
So now, back to my Móstoles kiddos, these brave little learners are not only broaching the acquisition of english in an english class, but in science and social studies classes as well. The third graders are reintroducing the letter Z into their vocabularies through words like ZEBRA. They're describing elephants and snakes and tigers. They're correcting themselves but not without finding frustration first. The fifth graders are creating plant and animal cells, and labeling them with words like ORGANELLES (which, like my name, is tricky because normally LL=Y), and CHLOROPLASTS. These kids are warriors up to battle with the ever changing rules of english language. They focus and unfocus ten times a minute, not because they're poor learners, but because their brains are tired. My brain is tired just watching them work. I try my best to sit with every student for at least a little while, using 7 different synonyms of "I can see you're working really hard, good job."
In the midst of watching this tug of war within each student between letting the english seep in, and letting the hope for consistent rules ooze out, I am in my own battle of figuring out how I can be of most help to both the students and the teachers. I'm revisiting the art of choral reading, learning through games, and the art of conversation. I'm googling flash cards and word searches, while trying to figure out how to explain why the phrase, "keep it up," has nothing to do with moving UP. I'm filling flash drives with pictures because even if I were to say the word, "quarry," a thousand times I would still be responded to with tilted heads and a clatter of "sorry? repeat?" I'm researching common terms in british english so I can blend into their existing knowledge. So I can make their british curriculum work for me. I'm hopping between the roles of teacher, helper, friend, disciplinarian, and therapist looking for the perfect fit. All in all, I'm feeling just as lost in my own language as they are.
I think that undoubtedly this is going to the one of the most eye-opening years I'll ever have. Watching the strides of the children as they wrestle with vocabulary and speech. I look forward to watching them grow and develop; witnessing their struggle with two syllable words move those that have five. I'm antsy to experiment with different tools and modes of teaching, while still remaining within the curriculum. All in all, I'm happy to simply be a witness to this kind of growth, but better yet, I'm ecstatic that I get to be part of it, no matter how bumpy this roller coaster ride may be.
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