Teaching grammar

One thing that amazes me about the teacher I work with is her ability to seamlessly incorporate grammar into a contextualized writing lesson that draws from the experience of the students. Today we worked on questions starting with “Do you know how to” and “Would you like to.” My teacher wrote the following simple definitions after introducing questions one at a time:

Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?
Do you know how to = Can you

Would you like to know how to fly an airplane?
Would you like to = Do you want to

Students immediately understood the more complex way of asking the question after seeing the simple definitions. The teacher did not have to launch into a detailed grammatical explanation, but the students understood meaning through the context and practiced different forms of the answer, as they responded to the questions and asked their partner. (Yes, I do know how to ride a motorcycle. No, I don’t know how to ride a motorcycle. Yes, she/he does . . . No, she/he doesn’t . . . )

Sometimes grammar can feel very daunting to teach, but doing so in a manner where meaning is emphasized over a strict repetition of grammatical forms seems easier to both teach and understand. My teacher also does this with vocabulary words. Today she defined “ride” as “sit and go.” There was a collective “ohhh” of understanding as all of the learners instantly were able to envision the verb. Through the use of pictures and simplified definitions, my teacher is able to aid learners in grasping new vocabulary and structures of English.

What do you learn in school?

When asked in class today, here were some of the learner's responses:

• Reading, writing and speaking English
• Things about other countries from people in my class
• American culture
• How to look for and work at a job in Minnesota
• Computer skills
• Words to talk to my kid’s teacher
• Pronunciation
• Food safety
• English conversation skills that help me to have more opportunities

Clearly the skills they are aquiring go far beyond the classroom. It was a good reminder of why I volunteer and the impact adult basic education has on the lives of the learners.

Rules

This week we talked about childhood using the grid activity to practice past tense. One question that yielded really interesting results explored the rules parents had for the learners when they were children.

The teacher wrote the question on the board, and then asked the group to list the classroom rules. At this, the students became very animated and produced quite a list:

• Speak English in class.
• Sit next to someone who doesn’t speak your language if possible.
• Call if you are going to be absent.
• Don’t stand around in the halls at break time.
• No cell phones in class.
• Sign in and out on the computer when you come to class.
• Don’t park in the marked spots in the lot.
• Bring a pencil and notebook to class.
• Be on time for class.
• Have respect for everyone.

I was quite surprised at how quick and eager they were to rattle off the rules. After completing this list, the teacher asked the students to name some family rules from childhood. I realized that this had been an excellent teaching technique in that if she had just asked the question right away, many students wouldn’t have grasped the concept of rules. Now after practicing with the school rules, the students launched into a list that included:

• No hitting or bothering people
• Come home after school
• No stealing things from other people
• No watching bad movies
• No smoking or drinking alcohol
• Don’t fight with your friends
• Use good manners and say kind things to others
• Do your schoolwork before going out to play

It struck me that every one of the rules on the list had been a rule my parents had for me when I was a child. Everyone in the room, regardless of nationality, seemed to be nodding in agreement as the rules were shouted out. I think everyone in the classroom was surprised to discover that in spite of cultural differences, more familial rules were similar than different; they seemed to have a universal quality.

Shopping debates

Today’s topic for the grid activity was shopping. At first I doubted if it would be a topic that would fill up the entire class time, but I was definitely wrong! We had a lively discussion regarding the prices at Cub, Sam’s Club, Rainbow and Target. When asked what they liked to shop for, some students listed foods or clothes, while other students listed dream purchases like homes and fancy cars. Next time, it would be interesting to ask how shopping is different than in their home countries.

One student came back to class today after a long absence. Mandisa has been in our class since I started over a year ago. She was home sick for nearly a month which was troublesome as she is probably over seventy years old. The class nearly erupted in applause when she entered the room today! Unfettered by her age, Mandisa brings an energy and joy into the classroom with her stories and sharp wit. She came to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo more than ten years ago and worked as a seamstress. She and her husband have retired and live near the school in Columbia Heights. I asked her once why she was interested in learning English, and she said with a smile that she never wanted to stop learning until the day she died. Her slow progress never seems to blunt her enthusiasm to learn English as well as other languages. As we’ve discovered, Mandisa also dabbles in other languages, much to the delight of the Spanish speakers in the class. When she walks into the room, she often yells greetings in Spanish to other students, who really seem to get a kick out of it.

Fun with foods

Metro North has a partnership with the University of Minnesota Extension Simply Good Eating program. Every month, a dynamic representative comes to class to teach about an aspect of nutrition. It is always interactive, with fake food, real store ads to examine, food containers, food related prizes to take home and a snack at the end. Today’s topic was food safety. Learners had to take colorful pictures of various food items and stick them to the white board in the refrigerator, cupboard, freezer or counter section. Most students did pretty well, but others made some severe errors, such as leaving meat on the counter. It really made me realize the value of the activity, as clearly all of the students have had different experiences with food depending on their cultural background, education level and other factors.

By the end of the class period, all of the students seemed much more confidant in food safety and storage. Each student received a thermometer to take home and test the temperature of their refrigerator and freezer to make sure they were within safe ranges for food storage. It was quite a challenge to explain how the thermometer worked to some students, as some had never seen one before. Even many students who were familiar with a thermometer were baffled by the measurements. It was exciting to observe their enthusiasm to go home and practice what they had learned.

Participating in history

After class today, Aziza, one of the particularly inquisitive students called me over to her desk. She was holding a printed out copy of Obama’s presidential inaugural address and was attempting to read it. Clearly most of the vocabulary was far above her current level, but it was evident that she was doggedly plowing through it, as many sentences were underlined and notes were written in Somali in the margins. She asked me to define inaugural and a few other related terms, and then proudly told me she wanted to read the speech for herself, since she didn’t catch all of the words when she watched it on television yesterday. The image of her working so diligently to understand the declarations of our new president really made me appreciate the respect she has for her new country. While not abandoning her own culture and language, Aziza strives to be engaged and informed to positively contribute to her community. I’ve had that same experience with most of the students I’ve worked with, which I think contradicts many stereotypes people have about immigrants and refugees.

Back from break

There were only about ten students in class, which is quite low as we usually have over twenty. It was amazing to see how much more we were able to help students in-depth with fewer students in the class. It was nice to be able to spend more that a few seconds with each student before moving onto the next one. Today we worked on an activity in which there is a picture of an old man sitting on a chair, and in pairs, students get to make up a story from the prompts given about the old man. The worksheet called it a poem, and many of the students were unfamiliar with this word. I had a hard time describing what a poem using the limited vocabulary words they know.

Another thing that was difficult for the students was the concept of making things up. They kept motioning me over and asking me questions about the man. I had to tell them repeatedly that they were able to create the man’s story. After a while, they seemed to get the hang of it, and some of the answers were quite amusing. Each class period, the teacher and I try to encourage them to utilize words they don’t know in the class exercises. A picture dictionary is provided for this purpose. At the end of the class period, students read their poems to the class.