Week 3: 6/29 & 7/1

This week I really got into the swing of things with Soraya and the class. Our team- teaching was much more natural, and I was much more comfortable with the portion of the class that I teach. Before we began the class, Soraya told me that her one suggestion for me was to not stick so strictly to the exercises in the book, and to vary a little bit when I review with the class. When we went over the reading chapter in True Stories, I did an impromptu exercise that turned into a mini lesson on pronunciation. This was the first time since I stopped teaching high school that I was in total charge of the class, teaching a lesson that I made up myself. I had forgotten how much fun I have when I teach, and I really liked the experience. A couple of students voiced their concern that pronunciation was giving them the most trouble so far in the acquisition process, and they asked me to find websites for them to help them practice pronunciation. Another student then asked with help identifying irregular verbs in the past tense. Soraya then asked if I could make a worksheet for students to help them with the problem. I asked the student to clarify, because making a worksheet with every irregular verb out there would be an extremely long worksheet. The student said she wanted help with all the verbs, but luckily Soraya told her there were way too many to list. She asked that I make a "top 10" type list for the students, creating sentences for some of the most common irregular verbs in the English language. That tasks sounded a little more manageable than the first task mentioned..

Week 2: 6/22 & 6/24

The second week was much more interactive than the first. As soon as I got to the class Tuesday morning, Soraya told me that I would be teaching the class alone on Thursday. She was summoned for jury duty, and had asked the ESL director if I could teach the class alone. The director said ok, so I would be flying solo in a couple of days. I was a little nervous about the idea, but didn't really have a choice. She explained what I should do, then we began class.

Soraya began by giving the class a photocopied picture from a work book. She asked them what was going on in the picture, and what they thought was happening. After talking about it, she told them that there was a story that goes along with the picture, and asked them what they thought the picture was about. After a little more discussion, she told them that they had just previewed the story. She explained what preview means, and other ways besides pictures that a person can preview a story. They then opened up True Stories and previewed the first lesson. She then walked through the format of the chapter, and how they would take on each chapter.

After previewing the first picture in the book, Soraya asked me to read the story to the class. She then instructed them to turn to a partner, and take turns reading the entire story. As they read, she told me how she wants me to work through the chapters with them, and strategies I should use.

Tuesday night Soraya emailed me and said she had gotten a deferment of some sort for her jury summons, so I was off the hook for Thursday. Much to my relief.

On Thursday Soraya explained the word journal assignment to the students. They need to compile a journal of at least 50 words they come across when they are reading. The word should have a definition next to it, the context and sentence from which they found it, and an original sentence using the word in the same way. So far, this aspect of the class seems to be the most beneficial to me. I'm not a big fan of the True Stories book, so the idea of using it every class period is not too appealing to me. It is Triton's policy that they use this book, so the instructor really has no say in the matter. Soraya shares my sentiment about the book, so she makes sure that she has plenty of supplemental work each session for the students.

On Tuesday I taught about half the 2-hour session, and same thing Thursday. We seemed to have established a routine of team-teaching that Soraya is comfortable with.

Welcome to Triton..! 6/15-6/17

My first day at Triton was pretty hectic, because I walked into the building blindly. I hadn't heard anything from my cooperating teacher, and the ESL director had never contacted me like she was supposed to. I knew the class was on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-10:50, but I did not know where the class met. I showed up at the main office of the ESL department at 8:45 Tuesday morning. After the director finally came out to talk to me, she told me where my cooperating teacher's room was. I hiked my way across campus, and made it to the room by 9 o'clock. My cooperating teacher, Soraya Salmasi, looked a little startled to see me. She explained that she was planning on calling me that afternoon, and that it wasn't necessary for me to be in attendance that day. She told me to leave for the day, and to return Thursday morning. So I did.

Thursday morning I got to class at 9 am. Soraya gave me the syllabus and handouts, and told me sit wherever I'd like. I sat in the back of the room, and observed the entire 2-hour session. Tuesday's class had been devoted entirely to registration, so Thursday's class was devoted to the syllabus. She reviewed the syllabus step-by-step, and explained how the class would work. It is an ESL Reading class at the intermediate level. The students who are registered are 21 in total, and range from age 18 to 50. Their native languages are German, Asian, Polish, French, but mostly Spanish. The book they use is True Stories, 3rd edition. Students are given homework on Thursdays, and it is due the following Tuesday. They are to buy a learner's dictionary for the course.

After class I stopped to talk to my cooperating teacher. She had a copy of Jessica's letter, and said she wanted to follow the guidelines Jessica outlined. That meant beginning with week 2, I would slowly pick up teaching time, then gradually decrease teaching time.