The Cellar » I became an ESL tutor for adults today. eek.

monster · 1/21/2021 12:01 am

(volunteer) It might be ok.....

It wasn't what I intended, but once I had picked myself up a little after beest died and then my job disappeared, I decided I maybe should be looking at volunteering again. Previously it had all pretty much been for organizations related to my kids so I thought long and hard about what I was passionate about and adult literacy popped up. In the store I encountered so many employees who were barely literate it was horrifying. I helped a few of them a little here and there and it was nice to see how surprised they were when they realized how useful it could be and how it wasn't really an unpleasant chore that they just couldn't do.

And then a few months ago, I saw an ad asking for volunteers to train as adult literacy tutors, so I did. But covid means there aren't so many people needing basic literacy tutoring right now because it's all virtual, and sadly if they can't read very well, they generally can't navigate their way round computers/smartphones/the interwebs if they even have access to one, and all public computer facilities are closed. So... they asked me to consider tutoring for an ESL (English as a Second Language) program for economically challenged parents with young children because they had a zillion people on the waiting list. So I did that training too, and was assigned a Learner within hours of the last session. Gulp. American English is my second language too -even after 20 years people still admit to not understanding a phrase or word I use. The most recent was "stodgy" pertaining to food (from a lockdown-related-Great-British-Bake-Off addict)

Anyhoo we had our first Zoom session today and got on great (I think). We have a lot in common and they are fairly high-level and needing help to improve their written English to get into college here, particularly with grammar and more complex vocabulary (irregular plurals, punctuation etc. They have a degree from their home country, but it is not accepted here. And they learned British English at school. Maybe it will be ok (blind leading the blind....?)

so there's that, anyway.

Limey · 1/21/2021 3:37 am

That sounds great!
It's always good to have an insider view, so that fact that Amurrican English is your second language too is a big bonus!

griff · 1/21/2021 7:10 am

That's cool! I've been surprised by the number of young parents aren't readers.

monster · 1/21/2021 9:24 am

Limey wrote:
That sounds great!
It's always good to have an insider view, so that fact that Amurrican English is your second language too is a big bonus!

yeah they were pleasantly surprised that I understood the frustrations they were having and was able to use stories about my challenges to break the ice. I hate being on video though, as you know from the virtual forkseses

glatt · 1/21/2021 10:18 am

I find that volunteering always makes me feel good, even if the actual task is difficult. I think you will like this.

Clodfobble · 1/21/2021 5:30 pm

This is awesome!

fargon · 1/21/2021 10:14 pm

Monster is awesome!

xoxoxoBruce · 1/23/2021 1:30 am

stodg·y /ˈstäjē/
adjective
1. dull and uninspired.
"some of the material is rather stodgy and top-heavy with facts"
2.BRITISH
(of food) heavy, filling, and high in carbohydrates.

That's interesting, I'd only heard/read the word applied to people, usually old, always boring people.
You'll be excellent at this because you know where they'll get tripped up on the British to American adjustment.

monster · 2/01/2021 7:50 pm

A little update...... it seems to be going really well, we've "met" 4 times now (plus several emails) and have spent most of the time working on the documents they need for the college application.

I told my mentor that I was horrified that the learner was trying to create all the essay docs etc. using their phone and asked if it was OK to suggest they might consider buying a blue tooth qwerty keyboard to use (improving typing speed is also a goal because college-level ESL tests are timed), and my mentor was able to furnish them with an old laptop and webcam that had been donated. So chuffed. I was also able to guide them towards the career counseling service that helped me, affiliated with Uni of Mich and aimed at all minorities (gender, ethnic, age.... basically anyone but old rich white men) and available to the local community, and my learner had an appointment with them this afternoon, hopefully to help with the resume/cv which is less my field of expertise. I haven't heard from them yet about how it went. Application deadline is Friday. Also I directed them to my favorite Thrift Shop to get a Thesaurus and they went and loved it and bought the one I had seen the day before and almost bought myself (for a whole $1). I restrained myself, and I'm glad it was still there and they chose that one, I thought it was the best by far. After this application is done, they really want to improve vocabulary, and I explained why I love to have hard copy reference books as well as using online ones..... (especially Thesauruseses)

So.... some work on the literacy, lots of success on the "tools for literacy".....I'm very nervous that they will not be accepted into this program -but they came to me with that aim, and I think I'm doing the best I can in the time available :/

In last week's vocab we covered mansplaining and ultracrepidarianism :D oops.

Clodfobble · 2/01/2021 10:02 pm

So cool!

monster · 2/01/2021 11:17 pm

oh and how to get a library card whilst the libraries are physically closed .....and how great the library here is. (I requested a Theramin for shits and grins yesterday)

Limey · 2/02/2021 2:55 am

Sounds like your clients are really lucky to have you!

griff · 2/02/2021 7:30 am

This is brilliant stuff. Nice job humaning.

monster · 2/02/2021 9:21 am

aw thanks. I only have one learner, but I'm pleased with how it's going. I think. Radio silence today though, I hope the career people didn't scare them off (learner is extremely ambitious and might be over-reaching with this application, but not my job to say so...)

monster · 2/25/2021 10:49 am

griff wrote:
That's cool! I've been surprised by the number of young parents aren't readers.

Yes, this particular program (LIFT -Learning Is a Family Thing) is grant-funded and aimed at parents with young children, and the families are referred by schools and other agencies. Learners can choose whether or not their children are involved in the sessions. (Not in our case)

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Wow hard to believe it's only been a month. My learner and I concentrated on their college application for the first couple of weeks because it had a due date of Feb 5th, and since then we've been working on vocab and speed-writing/brainstorming for writing.

I've had to do three trainings -the first two right before I was paired with a Learner, concentrating on this program in particular and in virtual tutoring techniques. The most recent one -the full chunky core one- was two hours every Tuesday night in Feb plus homework and finished this week. Hallelluiah -that was a drag tbh. Gor a start, that is beer time, and for me, most of it was obvious ....but I have spent many hours as a volunteer in schools and I taught my own kids to read. It did, however, give proper names to the strategies, so I can talk about them with mentors etc. and sound like I know some shit, and it served as confirmation that my gut instinct for approach was right -the very last homework about vocab and writing strategies could easily have been based on one of my sessions with my learner, so that was comforting.

I did introduce "penultimate" and "Don't count your chickens" yesterday (my learner loves learning idioms)

fargon · 2/25/2021 11:07 am

I just learned what "Penultimate" means. You snuck that in just so I would larn a new word.

2/25/2021 11:23 am

Maybe it won't be the next to last thing ya larn today.

monster · 2/25/2021 11:59 am

Penultimate is one of this family's favorite words, in regular usage. NOBODY here EVER says "last but one" or "next to last"

antidisestablishmentarianism is another

and I like
Sesquipedalian, Logodaedalian, and Ultracrepidarian -one of of which I introduced to my learner even earlier..... oops. It's a wonder I haven't been fired yet

fargon · 2/25/2021 12:34 pm

Of the three "Ultracrepidarian" is my favorite.

monster · 2/25/2021 1:03 pm

so you don't need me to mansplain it to you? (yes, we discussed that too, which was ...interesting....)

fargon · 2/25/2021 3:37 pm

Nope.