I recently accepted a position to
teach a class of low-beginning refugees for a refugee resettlement
agency in partnership with a local community college in suburban
Maryland. The class is held in a library not far from the complex
where most, (if not all) the refugees live. The class meets Monday,
Wednesday, Friday from 10am to 1pm.
The meeting room where the class takes
place is a public space in a library. The library maintains that the
room must be left essentially untouched or empty; save tables, chairs,
and trash can. This means teachers and students can not leave anything
on the walls. The room is therefore quite sterile. There is, however,
a sizable window which provides the room with sufficient natural
light, off-setting the cold institutional atmosphere.
Resources and materials may be kept in
a side closet which is full of roll-y carts, a desk podium, stacks of
paper, fans, and other discarded library items. The teacher(s) may
use two of the shelves closest to the door, next to a lumpy cardboard
box full of ratty and love-stained toys. On the shelf, there are
piles of books and workbooks for in-class use, although I'm doubtful
that all my students can use them. There is a large tupperware bin
full of paper and flashcards that needs to be organized. There is an
old plastic pen box labeled, “dry erase” that is empty and the
hinges have come undone. There are some dull number twos, smudged gray. And there is a CD-radio. This looks fine.
I scrounge for some paper and uncover a
packet of construction paper. Some of it has clearly been used to
occupy children of the students; there are thick marker lines written
with an unsteady hand littering the back sides of several of the
papers. I have the students fold the paper to make name tags that can
be propped up on the conference- style table we are sitting around .
On one side they write their names. On the other side they draw or
write three things they enjoy. Then the students share the
information with the class:
Student: My name is Tim*. I like to
read. I like English. I like to cook
Teacher: What's his name?
Students: His name is Tim.
Teacher: What does he like?
Students: He likes to read. He likes
English. He likes to cook
This activity takes up a rather long
time with several errors, indicating the students' low proficiency.
We go over the date and the confusing
order of things in the US (month, day, year - april 30th
2012- 4/30/2012, instead of day, month, year 30/4/12). The student
laugh as if to agree that America is indeed a strange, strange
place.
Then we move on to another speaking
activity. As a primer, we review the vocabulary, which are verbs,
that have explanatory pictures. “sell” is one of the words. The
students explain the difference between, “buy” and “sell”. I
role-play selling a pen to one student. I joke by pretending to
bargain with him. The students laugh. I ask them if it is ok to
bargain in the US. Some think about it. Some students add that it's
not ok at the grocery store. Another student remembers the phrase,
“fixed price.”
The students practice a dialogue on the
next page.
Now it's break time, I'm informed by a
student. This was the time the other teacher always did it. Then, two
students have to leave for work. Another student has forgotten her
glasses so maybe she should go home now. Another student would like
to go home with her preschooler, who has been incredibly patient,
silently drawing as his mother sits in class. Also, a couple in the
class has an appointment with a case manager. Then, a man comes in.
He rather urgently shows me a government notification. It says that
failure to come to such and such appointment (that happened two weeks
ago) would result in a termination some kind of temporary financial
assistance. He shows me the envelop that has a yellow label on it
that indicates that it was initially sent to the wrong address. He
just received it last week. He leaves with his wife, who is in the
class. The lady without the glasses (although she may not be able to
read with them) tells me that she was essentially orphaned or
abandoned as a child with “no one to take care of me” so she
didn't go to school, but she wants to learn now.
An hour left of class, I sit down with
the two students left. It is apparent that one has trouble writing
full sentences but he can still communicate the time of day and basic
vocabulary for routine ( wake up, eat breakfast, etc). The other
student has trouble reading the time and copying basic words.
One thing becomes apparent: These
students, especially unemployed and stuck in Maryland suburbia, spend
a lot of time watching TV.
We end early. They are tired from all
that English work. There is so much more to come, so much more to
come.
*pseudonym
