First class!

I taught my first ESL (English as a Second Language) class last night! Well, my first class in 10 years that is. I hadn't taught a class since I got back from China.

It's our first week of classes, finally! It's taken quite a bit of work and planning to get these classes started, but thanks to a big group of volunteers, we were able to set up two classes per night Monday through Friday. I teach the Tuesday night 6:30 class along with an older guy named Russ. The students are almost all refugees who have recently moved to the U.S.

Our class had only three students - Dayneris, who is about my age and from Cuba; a middle-aged Iraqi man named Bahjat; and an older Iraqi woman named Sabiha.

I already knew all three of them just from hanging out at the apartment complex, so I knew how far along they were as far as their English proficiency, which was helpful. Knowing them made the class way more fun.

When I was in China, I didn't like teaching that much. I thought it was hard. It didn't help that I was teaching 1st - 5th graders with as many as 45 kids in each class. I have to say though that there was something I really liked about teaching last night - maybe it's that there were only three people in the class, or maybe that I knew them, or maybe just that they are adults.They seemed really grateful and eager to learn.

We started really basic with "My name is Cassie. What is your name?" and so forth. I have been in Sabiha's apartment on numerous occasions to hang out with Israa, her daughter, but I'd never heard her attempt a word of English. So it was really neat to hear her say "My name is Sabiha. I have five daughters and four sons." I admire her, being able to move so far away from home at such an old age; trying to learn the language and fit in.

I felt kind of bad for Russ. I think he had the idea that he would be able to tell all about his family, teach them a song and learn all about their lives. He would ask them a question and they would stare at him blankly. I don't think he was prepared for how "beginner" these folks really are. Teaching a language requires a huge amount of patience. You have to repeat the same sentence over and over and over.

I've never really thought of myself as an especially patient person, but strangely, last night, I had all the patience in the world. Maybe partly because I can relate to what it's like to be in a completely foreign country and cut off from all communication because you can't understand anyone. It's very isolating. Maybe I was meant to be a teacher afterall. We'll see.