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.