Weeks have passed since I have met my student, Valentina, and with each class that we are both improving. I have gained some more confidence in teaching the material and have learned how to better prepare for each class. I am constantly modifying my style to better fit what Valentina wants. My student has mentioned that she wants to get better at conversational speech. At first I was wary of venturing away from the book but now I keep trying new techniques because my current strategies are not working. At first I started off with just going through the book’s suggested activities however they are only working to some degree. Whenever I would review the previous day’s material at the beginning of class, it would be as if my student was seeing the content we spent a whole class on, was new again. This worried me because it showed that I was not teaching effectively and I was letting Valentina down as a teacher. While experimenting, I next made flashcards for the day’s material because I figured that helps me when I study. This tactic only works to a degree because the examples are so specific to a particular type of sentence that it is hard to apply the new word in conversation. For example, using the word “on,” it makes sense that “I have class on Monday,” but my student is having trouble using the word in conversation when she talks to me. So I think my new idea for fluency in speaking is to start writing stories. I will use the words in the book as guidelines but I think it is best to step away from individual non-related sentences. I am also going to try the suggested “role play conversation” that was given from my last blog post. This week will be the first time I try this so hopefully it works better!
My relationship with Valentina has also dramatically improved. We are talking about more personal topics and I find it very easy to talk to her. Even though I am teaching her, she is becoming more of a mentor to me. Valentina once told me about how she studied for the immigration test for weeks in order to pass. I am still amazed by one question on the test in particular. One of the questions Valentina said she had to know was who said the quote, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Off the top of my head I thought it was, John Locke. Well I was wrong because the answer is Patrick Henry. What does this say about the credibility of the immigration tests? I, was born and raised in the United States, graduated at the top of my class in high school, a sophomore at one of the top State Universities didn’t get a question right on the test that would require me to live here. As Valentina continued with her experience, I was getting more and more upset. At the end of the story, I told Valentina, “it is crazy some of those questions you had to know, even ridiculous.” Her response took me by surprise. She just shrugged her shoulders and said “that is just what you have to do to become a citizen.” Here is a person who has reason to be bitter but in fact she is still humble and grateful to be an American citizen. That is amazing. We criticize, especially Latino immigrants, for coming to America illegal and not taking citizen tests but when they do, we fill these tests with information that many natural born Americans probably can’t pass. That is not fair.
