Volunteer Explorer

It's still surprising to me that, after living in Akron for 25 years, there are places I never knew existed. Or maybe I knew they existed, but only on a theoretical, almost mythical level. Experiencing them first-hand for the first time feels like discovery. My husband often takes the bus to his job in downtown Akron, and we use public transportation almost as a rule while on vacation in New York, Chicago, Paris, Prague. Deciphering color-coded maps and navigating labyrinthine platforms is part of the adventure of exploring a new city. Emerging from echo-filled subway halls to find ourselves in front of the museum or landmark we had aimed for is a singular kind of victory. And while I never balk at these kinds of adventures in other cities, I--like most other car-owners in the car-centric Midwest--have avoided public transportation in my own hometown. Until yesterday. I cancelled my Advanced Conversation Class last night so I could spend the full day with my hubby. He ...

"Why is there this American English and then the English that is used in England?" Rosa asked me this question in the middle of this week's Advanced Conversation class. I conduct this class for about half a dozen English language learners on Thursday evenings at the public library. My students have tested out of all the other levels of ESOL offered through Project Learn, but still wish to increase their fluency. These two hours become something of a hybrid between a casual conversation group and an English grammar class. When Rosa posed her question, we had been discussing the word "haste," both its definition as a noun and its verb form. I had mentioned that the verb "hasten" is not very common in American speech, that it might sound pretentious, and that Brits might use it more frequently than Americans. I countered her inquiry with one of my own. "So, why is the Spanish spoken in Mexico different from the Spanish spoken in Spai...

In one of my undergrad French classes, the professor took me to task for my minor mispronunciation of the words for sweater and chicken . The latter, une poule , employs a full, round "oo" sound, with a hint of a w at the end, much like the American word for a game of billiards. The former, un pull , since it lacks the o-u combination, must be a tighter "oo" sound. He described the latter as "saying an e sound, but with your lips in the oo form." Even as my fluency progressed and I expressed more and more complex ideas in written French, I could never hear or produce any difference in those two sounds. This humiliating experience, as it turns out, was excellent training for teaching ESOL. In Thursday's class at ASIA, Inc., we focused on parts of the body. This is always a nice, concrete lesson that students respond well to. And it's valuable, basic information they need for talking to doctors and understanding safety precautions in a j...

There's a lot of discussion about gender in news and social media outlets these days: gender bias, gender equality, gender ambiguity, transgender people, etc. I'm usually fascinated by these discussions because gender is at once very personal and almost completely socially constructed. I tend to lean toward a gender continuum, which is to say that I dislike the idea of a strictly binary gender model. Gender identity is a huge part of being human, and I believe gender is much more complex and nuanced than the male/female dichotomy Western society tends to embrace. Nevertheless, when it comes to teaching low-fluency English speakers, simplicity is paramount. I most often stick to really concrete subjects and examples, like objects in the room, or easily demonstrated activities, like walking or lifting. I am substituting for Mary at ASIA, Inc. on Tuesday and Thursday this week. That means I am teaching both the higher and lower levels of this class from 9:30 am until 3:00...

I have become accustomed to some of the bureaucracy one must deal with when working for agencies funded by government entities—such as using terms like "government entities." The six-weeks-on/two-weeks-off class schedules, the ridiculously low pay, the cramped and ill-equipped classrooms: all of these I am used to now. But it seems that whenever I get a teensy bit comfortable with how things work, another curve ball comes whizzing out of the blue to knock me on the head. I went bouncing on down the stairs to the Project Learn offices at the main public library Thursday evening, excited to meet my small class of advanced ESOL students. I knew it would be a small class this week; three students had emailed to say they couldn’t make it for various reasons. But one young woman was sure to be there, and Elizabeth had told me a new student would be attending this week, as well. I had a loose lesson plan and a good coffee buzz; I was ready and enthusiastic about the crazy conve...

"Today is our last class," Susan said while writing the date August 18 on the white board. "We will return to class in two weeks, on August 18 th ." She held up two fingers for emphasis. Bhudhav and Arya read the sentences out loud, softly, and several others repeated "two weeks." "You'll want to write this down in your notebooks," Susan instructed. Amita and Saradha looked at me with questions in their eyes, so I mimicked writing and pointed to their notebooks. They diligently made marks on their papers. "What does return mean?" Susan prompted. "It means come back. We will come back to class in two weeks." We had been through this routine several times over the past year. In trying to stretch its meager budget as far as possible, Project Learn instituted the six weeks on/two weeks off schedule for all of its classes last fall. The result is a constantly interrupted course of learning for people who need c...