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.