Day 2: A New Dynamic

Week two was a calmer, less anxious experience for me. I arrived early to the church and waited in my car while the others trickled into the parking lot. I was surprised to see that not all the students from day one were present at the de-briefing; I liked our group and seeing the separation was a little saddening. However, I realized that some students opted to only take this ESL class, including me, for only one credit hour, which means that not all meetings are mandatory. I immediately felt my mood shift when it hit me that this experience is only a quarter long and that most of the students will not return after the grading period in order to pursue a voluntary presence here.

I entered the church excited nonetheless and as the other students and I took our seats, I noticed that the body of spanish-speaking students had changed as well. This night I noticed some familiar faces, such as my previous partner, as well as a new, fresh face of a young woman in a stylish orange jacket. She looked so well-dressed, I felt a little too casual doning my sweatpants and oversized coat.

The students and volunteers were partnered up as usual and I was elated to be paired with the same student again from last week. However, the dynamic was drastically altered. Instead of teaching with another Service Learning student from my class, I was flying solo on this one. Without another volunteer, I was the main source of learning for the student and I was somewhat nervous to take on such an important role.

We went on to cover ten pages in the textbook in the two hours we were there, which doesn't seem like a lot of work, but in reality the lessons are dense and I made sure to go slowly to give him the opportunity to ask questions about word meanings, grammar, spelling and translation. The book assignments were similar to last weeks; reading passages, answering questions about the reading and choosing the correct words to complete a sentence were the main styles of learning in the book. I took a different approach, hoping to switch up the routine that he had been doing on a weekly basis since May of last year.

I decided to do some listening exercises, because being able to hold a conversation is the most significant part in learning a new language. I would say an English sentence such as, "Can you go to store with me?", and he would write the sentence in English as I said it. Next, I would say give a response to the question such as, "No, no I can't go to the store with you because I have to study.", in which he wrote down and after he would read what he wrote and we would converse using these sentences. From this basic sentence structure we were able to go through several examples of the use of "can" and "cannot". He seemed to retain the information better doing this technique and I noticed that he was much more attentive when he was writing and engaging in the language, rather than just reading from a page.

Overall, my experience was equally satisfactory as the first visit and I am looking forward to going back. I have realized that having another person in the group to teach English is beneficial in keeping the lessons fresh and unique as well as keeping the flow of teaching natural and casual.